When I think back to my first full basketball season at Creighton in 2001-02, I think of Jackie Stiles’ MVC and NCAA legacy wrapping up at (Southwest) Missouri State the year prior, Creighton’s own Christy Neneman establishing herself as the next great thing in the league and a young Jacqui Kalin breaking in with the Northern Iowa Panthers. Friday night, Kalin will make her ninth and final appearance in Omaha as a member of the Panthers. What a great decade-plus it has been. “Grandma” Kalin has been granted a record four medical redshirts and played in nearly 300 NCAA games! Quite an accomplishment for the most seasoned Valley player to ever lace ’em up.
In all seriousness, Kalin, the 2010-11 MVC Player of the Year and the 2007-08 MVC Freshman of the Year is in her sixth season at UNI, having been granted a pair of redshirts from the NCAA. An ankle injury cut short her sophomore season in 2008-09 and she tore her ACL prior to the 2011-12 campaign. After a year of rehab, she’s back and the super senior, who turns 24 on Sunday, is apparently no worse for the wear. The 5-8 point guard leads the MVC and ranks 37th in the NCAA, averaging 18.4 points per game. She also ranks second in the NCAA, shooting 94.5 percent (69-73) from the free-throw line this season. Her career free-throw percentage of 91% with more than 400 career free-throw attempts is the best in league history. No one in the MVC has made more than her 46 three-pointers this season. She’s never had fewer than 100 assists in a full season. She’s second in school history with better than 1,700 points. It’s because of these impressive numbers that, despite missing all of last season, she was still on the forefront of voters minds enough to earn preseason all-MVC recognition before her sixth and final(?) campaign. I could go on, but to summarize – she might be “old,” but she’s still really good.
Beyond Kalin however, UNI does not have an all-conference caliber player. The Panthers are 8-9 on the year (3-2 MVC), having won three of their last four after getting crushed by Illinois State 72-41 in their MVC opener. Two of their three MVC wins have been close, as they edged Indiana State by two and squeaked by Bradley 77-72 last weekend in Peoria.
Only once this season has Kalin not led the Panthers in scoring, she leads the team in nearly every statistical category. Kalin and Brittni Donaldson are the only two Panthers to start every UNI game this season, as Creighton Hall of Famer Tanya Warren has started eight different players this season. Warren uses a nine-player rotation, with Kalin being the only Panther averaging more than 27 minutes, while seven other players average between 19 and 26 minutes per game.
UNI and Creighton will match up similarly, in that UNI will not play with much of a post presence, opting for smaller, four-guard lineups a majority of the time. Redshirt freshman Jen Keitel has established herself as a presence for the Panthers, as the 6-3 forward is second on the team in scoring (8.4 ppg) and rebounding (5.6 rpg). The DeWitt, Iowa, native has a team-best 44 offensive rebounds and is shooting a team-leading 44.1 percent from the field. Senior forward Amber Kirschbaum missed three games in December with an injury and lost her starting position once returning. She’s come off the bench in all five MVC games, but still leads the team with 6.1 rebounds per game, despite playing less than 20 minutes per game.
The Panthers will rival the Bluejays in three-point shooting as well. (UPDATED) Creighton now leads the NCAA with 9.3 three-point field goals made per game and its league-leading three-point field goal percentage (.381) is seventh in the nation. UNI’s long range numbers aren’t too shabby either. The Panthers are 10th in the nation, knocking down 8.2 treys per game and rank 33rd in the NCAA in three-point accuracy (.348). The teams are also nearly identical in three-point field goal defense – CU allows opponents to make 28 percent from beyond the arc and UNI’s opponents are shooting 28.1 percent from deep.
Bluejay freshman Marissa Janning still leads the MVC in three-point shooting, making 42.5 percent of her triples – which ranks 17th in the country this week. Beyond Janning, three other Bluejays rank in the MVC top-15 in three-point accuracy; Sarah Nelson (10th, .377), Ally Jensen (11th, .368) and Jordan Garrison (15th, .333).
While Kalin leads the MVC with 46 three-pointers, she does so with a good deal of accuracy as well – ranking sixth in the MVC by shooting 39.3 percent from long range. She is also joined by three other Panthers in the MVC top-15 this week; Brooke Brown (3rd, .419), Jess McDowell (4th, .410) and Brittni Donaldson (14th, .338).
I’ll do the math for you, of the league’s top 16 (there’s a tie at 15) most accurate three-point shooters, eight will be playing in Omaha on Friday night.
One of the things UNI will not do is take the ball from Creighton, at least on paper. The Panthers rank 338th (of 343) in the NCAA with just 5.4 steals per game. Creighton’s assist-turnover ratio of 1.1 is 22nd in the nation. Don’t look for a lot of turnovers from either side, as both team are in the top-60 in the nation in fewest turnovers per game.
The Bluejays return home after splitting the Wichita State and Missouri State road trip. The Jays struggled in their worst loss of the year, falling to the Shockers 67-45 last Saturday. The Creighton bench scored a season-low three points at Wichita. The Jays shot just 33.3 percent from the field and from three-point range, made just half of their 16 free-throws, were out-rebounded by eight and turned the ball over 22 times in the 22-point loss.
Creighton (13-4, 4-1 MVC) bounced back with a Monday night dismantling of a downtrodden Lady Bear squad. CU’s 73-53 win was their largest margin of victory ever over MSU in Springfield as the Jays drilled 13 three-pointers to eclipse 10 threes in a game for the seventh time this year.
Nelson posted her fourth double-double of the season on Monday, with 10 points and 10 rebounds at MSU. She’s scored in double figures in each of Creighton’s last four games. McKenzie Fujan (or Fujan McKenzie if you’re a local sports anchor) dropped in a game-high 15 points at Missouri State, her first double-figure scoring game in the last 10. After scoring more than 10 points in just one of her first 12 games, Ally Jensen has scored at least 10 in three of her last five games, including a 12-point outing on four three-pointers Monday night. Carli Tritz hasn’t scored more than eight points in any MVC game this season, but leads the team with 23 assists in six league contests.
As you can see from the numbers, the game should be a fun one if both teams are doing their usual thing from three-point range. Come on down and be part of the TV crowd for the lone home television broadcast of the season.
Random Links, Thoughts and Numbers
– Creighton’s official NCAA RPI slipped to 32 (from 25) after its loss at Wichita State. However, WarrenNolan.com still has Creighton’s RPI at 23 with its strength of schedule at 34.
– The Jays are still in Graham Hays’ mid-major top-10, falling from third to fifth.
– There must be something in the water in Sioux City, Iowa. Two of the city’s greatest ball players will be on display Friday night at D.J. Sokol Arena, with Jacqui Kalin (North) and Carli Tritz (Bishop Heelan) battling it out. Nate Funk and Kirk Hinrich are also from Sioux City, not bad.
– Carli Tritz’s lone career double-double came against UNI in the quarterfinals of last year’s MVC Tournament. She had 11 points,10 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals in the win. She’s twice grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds, both times against UNI.
– After scoring in double figures in seven straight games, Marissa Janning scored just one point at Wichita State, but bounced back with a 9-point night at Missouri State, including a buzzer-beating half court shot to end the first half. That play was 6th on the SportsCenter Top 10 on Monday night.
– Janning not only leads the MVC and ranks 15th in the NCAA in three-point accuracy, she’s the country’s top-shooting freshman from three-point range.
– Ally Jensen enters the weekend with 194 career three-pointers, six shy of becoming the fifth player in school history to reach 200 triples. Once she gets to 202 three-pointers she will crack the MVC top-25.
– Sarah Nelson leads the MVC with her 50.9 field-goal percentage and 23 blocked shots.
– You may be familiar with Flan’s Gagnam Style video (which can only be played on the big screen at Sokol when Creighton is leading by 20), but did you know that both UNI women’s basketball and the University (Panther Style) did Gagnam Style parodies? I would apologize for bringing these to your attention, but since I’ve been exposed to them, I want as many people as possible to suffer along with me.
– UNI is also sexy and they know it – at least they were last year.
– Kalin already owns the school records for career three-pointers and free-throw percentage, she will soon become the all-time leading scorer in school history and has an outside shot at becoming the UNI leader in career assists.
– To put Kalin’s sixth year in context, when she was a senior in high school, her freshman teammates this season were in seventh grade.
– UNI’s head coach Tanya Warren is one of two players in school history to have her number retired. Her No. 10 hangs from the Sokol Arena rafters along side Connie Yori’s No. 25. Warren played at Creighton from 1983-88. She still owns the single-season (228) and career (650) assists records. She’s a member of the CU Athletics Hall of Fame and was Flan’s Associate Head Coach 2004-07.
– Watch Coach Warren talk about her team with a small preview on her thoughts about this weekend’s games near the end of the interview.
– A scheduling conflict will keep me and Brad Burwell off the radio airwaves on Friday night, but we’ll be back on Sunday for the Bradley game.
– If you aren’t coming to D.J. Sokol Arena on Friday, you can watch the MVC TV production on Fox Sports and Comcast – check your local listings.
– If you’re outside of the six-state MVC footprint, you can also watch the game on ESPN3.com.
– Live stats are a good thing too.
– On a personal note, outside of Jim Flanery, since 2001 no one has seen more Creighton women’s basketball games than me. Since the game will not be broadcast on radio, Friday night will be the first time I will attend a Creighton women’s basketball game in a non-working capacity. If you find me yelling out random stats or talking to myself with a headset on, please smack me.
– In honor of tonight’s game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU4pyiB-kq0
Rob Simms worked in the Creighton athletic department for 11 years, primarily working with the men’s soccer, women’s basketball and softball teams. He now serves as the color analyst for women’s basketball home radio broadcasts. He tweets about Creighton a lot @IamRobSimms
