Creighton 89, Northern State 61
Basketball season is back. I’ve been counting down the days to the first game, even though Friday night’s was an exhibition, just so I could get an excuse to finally see the Bluejays in action. I missed the open house at the CenturyLink to unveil the new logo and watch the team practice. I missed Bluejay Madness. So this was my first opportunity to see the 2013-14 Creighton basketball team. There is a lot to look forward to heading into the regular season.
The Game
The talk of the night wasn’t about Doug McDermott, Grant Gibbs or any of the returning players. Instead it was about JUCO transfer Devin Brooks. Brooks checked into the game at the 12:49 mark of the first half. He immediately grabbed a rebound and dished a quick pass to Avery Dingman for a three-pointer. A couple minutes later, Brooks dribbled through three Northern State defenders through the lane and put in layup. Oh, and a 30 foot behind the back pass to McDermott for a three? Yes, that happened too.
Brooks also had some other great looking assists for baskets. For the night, he had 6 points, 7 assists and a steal in 15 minutes of play. With the talk in the paper earlier this week, it seemed Brooks was struggling a bit on picking up what Creighton was doing. So it was very surprising and exciting to see what he did on the court tonight, the minutes he earned, and his ability to give the Bluejays a little something different on offense. Even head coach Greg McDermott recognizes his ability.
“Devin, when he’s in the game something’s going to happen. The 30-foot, left-handed, behind-the-back pass I’m not sure we’ll see that one again (he says this almost as a warning haha), but it worked tonight.”
McDermott finished the night as the only player in double-figures with 26 points. It was really a quiet 26 points, but you may not have also realized he led the team in minutes played for the night with 24. A large part of McDermott’s points (11) came from the free throw line. With the recent changes to the way referees will be calling college games this season, McDermott had a lot more opportunities to go to the free throw line along with the rest of the team. The Bluejays were in the bonus in the first half with 12:30 to go. If we had to pick on anything for the night, it was the Bluejays 20-of-33 shooting from the free-throw line.
I’m not sure if I am a fan yet of the new rules. There seemed to be more fouls called and the flow of the game seemed affected. It will be interesting to see what happens next week when the regular season starts. It may take a few games to get used to the new calls for things fans nitpicked about in the past and wished it was called. Be careful for what you ask for. Before we know it, we might be yammering for “let them play.” I’m sure there will be balance in this in the long run. Maybe McDermott’s acrobatic days are over too. I hope that isn’t the case. We need more jawdropping moves where we wonder how that ball went into the basket.
As for the other new guys, it was great to see Isaiah Zierden was one of the first ones off the bench after Ethan Wragge. He has definitely bulked up versus last season and also had the opportunity to show off his quick shot release from behind the arc. Wragge and Zierden combined to go 5-of-8 from three and being on the court at the same time will make defenses think twice when trying to guard the lane on a drive to the hoop.
Zierden talked about finding his role after the game:
“I’ve talked to a lot of people about it, and I’m just going to do what coach tells me I have to do,” said Zierden. “So if it’s to get out on the floor and continue to shoot, that’s what I’ll do. If he tells me I have to go out there and take three charges I’m going to try to do that. I’m just all about playing my role to try to help us win.”
Zach Hanson looks like he can play right away and he will likely need to in order to give Will Artino a break or if Geoffrey Groselle is still struggling with foot problems. Hanson looked a little nervous initially, but settled in pretty nicely. He also grabbed a bullet pass from Brooks for an easy layup. Good hands. Grant Gibbs talked a little bit about Hanson after the game
“Zach [Hanson] was pretty good,” said Gibbs. ” A lot of young mistakes, things you’d expect, but I thought everybody had their moments. They’ve all been progressing pretty well. It all comes down to finding your niche on the team, and your little spot where you can help. I think we’ve been happy with everybody’s progression. It was good to get them out there tonight in front of the lights.”
Everyone says that Toby Hegner and Darian Harris are likely to redshirt. If that is the case for Hegner, then we got some good flashes of what we can expect next season after McDermott and Wragge are gone. Hegner displayed some great ability by hitting a three pointer, scoring down low and showing some McDermott-ish moves. If he can step in right away next season to compensate for the loss of McDermott, I’m all for a redshirt year. Hegner finished 4-of-4 from the field for 9 points and two rebounds in only six minutes of play.
Overall the game was fun to watch and it was great to get into the groove of hoops again. I’m not sure how getting up to 20 players in a game will work during the season, but fortunately, head coach Greg McDermott has a lot of options this season and it should be a fun to see this first season in the Big East unfold.
The Environment
Friday night was my first time to see the new video setup at the CenturyLink Center with the new video/scoreboard setup. It is definitely impressive. The video was clear as could be to view alongside of the game, the stats were up the whole time, and the instant replays were generous. One thing to take note of, when they play the First National Bank show your card game, fans should be careful. With the clear and larger arena display, others could read your card numbers on your card, so make sure to cover them up when waving them around.
Everything is new this year–the scoreboards, the court, the electronic menu boards at the concessions, and the pregame videos. After having some lackluster presentations over the past few seasons, Creighton finally got an outside company involved again in producing video content to hype the Bluejays entrance and tipoff. Eleven Twenty-Three is producing the videos this season and I will say it is very impressive. Fans getting to the game early to see these should get excited. I”m not sure about the music associated with them, but I’ll let it grow on me. I’m looking forward to seeing whether there will be different ones put together for different games like Nebraska, Marquette, and Georgetown. Anything that will get the fans going and going early will be nice.
One ironic part of the “new” environment was an advertisement on the sideline video boards that encouraged fans to “Tweet from their seats.” Well those that tried to Tweet were probably disappointed. I had trouble sending them out myself and many fans around me and throughout the arena were expressing their own displeasure of the level of cell phone service and lack of Wi-Fi inside the CLink. My cell phone service was horrible throughout the game. There must have been too many people trying to Tweet to their friends. This is something that needs to be corrected immediately either by the CenturyLink, MECA or Creighton to enhance the fan experience at the game. The smartphones are the reality. At the same time, I like to follow the full stats of the game with the GoCreightonStats website. With a new arena down the road 50 miles offering fans free Wi-Fi, the pressure is on to offer some of the same amenities at the CenturyLink Center.
The crowd was what it always was–late arriving and leaving at the 4 minute mark or before. I was actually impressed with the Creighton student section being mostly full before the game almost outnumbering the rest of the people in the lower bowl several minutes before tip-off. I’ll still never understand the leaving early, but I guess that just means they miss the dunks by Mogboluwaga Oginni, who had a dunk in an exhibition game for the third straight season. We’ll put a collage of the dunks together for the fans later thanks to our WBR photographers.
Overall the night was great. It was an opportunity to see some hoops and take in the new environment before the regular season starts. Exhibitions help get the bugs out for the players as well as the fans. Next Friday can’t some soon enough. The Bluejays host Alcorn State at CenturyLink Center Omaha to kick off the season. I hope you have your tickets. It will be a fun ride.
WBR’s Matt DeMarinis contributed the quotes from the coaches and players for this recap.
