The Cardiac Q Lives! Creighton’s margin of victory in the Bluejays’ past three home games has decreased from blowing Drake out by 4, to barely beating Southern Illinois by 2, to surviving more late-game goofs and sending Gregg Marshall’s Shockers home on the wrong end of a 1-point margin (and yes, “blowing out” was facetious). Creighton led each team by 10 or more points at one time or another, yet surrendered what looked to be easily theirs almost as badly as Martha Coakley. Thus, the Legend of the Cardiac Q grows.
And what better way to plant the seeds for a surprise stabilization and rejuvenation of a once-lost basketball season than by continuing more than a decade of home dominance over a team that so badly wants to be Creighton’s rival that it conjures ill-supported conspiracies about referee bias and clock mismanagement? You know what I remember about the last time Wichita State won in Omaha? Nothing, because I was 12. Seriously. I’m sure I had fun at the game, and I’m sure I snagged some Skittles and Sprite (my snack of choice at the Civic). But I honestly can’t remember losing to Wichita State in Omaha.
But last weekend, after watching the Shox obliterate the Bluejays from the opening tip and then keep them at outreached arm like a bratty older brother keeping a punchy little one at bay, I admit my mind started to process the nightmare that is Gregg Marshall celebrating in his gangster suit on the Qwest Center Omaha floor. I never saw Mark Turgeon traipse off the Civic court with a win, and Randy Smithson never garnered a victory. But after watching Toure’ Murry and the rest of the Shockers last Saturday, I thought the momentum in the series had finally swung the way of Wichita State.
So, Panon and Paul and I brought some old friends back to town. Former college roommates and friends with whom I’d celebrated various wins against Wichita State dating back to February 1999. They were with us to watch Larry House light up the Shox for 28 points on Senior Night in 2003, right before we turned off the lights at the Civic forever. We watched together the season before, when freshman Tyler McKinney scored a driving layup with less than a second left for a win. And we watched senior Ryan Sears and sophomore Kyle Korver each score 16 points in a home win over WSU in the 2000-2001 MVC Title season.
But the last time we all watched a CU-WSU game in Omaha together happened to be four years ago to the month, when Anthony Tolliver beat the Shockers with a baseline jump shot as time expired. Come to think of it, the closest Wichita State has come to actually leaving Omaha with a win in their last 17 trips to Omaha was when The Voice of the Valley, Mitch Holthus, mistakenly claims “Wichita State has won the game” at the :30 mark of the video below.
Much has changed in our lives since then. Moves. Marriages. And impending births, as was the reason for bringing a bunch of college buddies to town for the weekend. A bit of a “man shower,” if you will. Some beers, some basketball, and some reminiscing. And nothing jogs the memory quite like getting together to watch the Bluejays play, a common bond that keeps us together hundreds of miles and multiple life-altering events away from each other.
So why did Marshall seem fixated on ruining a perfectly good Saturday afternoon? His team couldn’t score (56 points total, on 36% shooting). His team kept fouling the Jays, over and over again it seemed (25 total fouls, with 6 players recording 3 or more personal fouls). Yet the Bluejays would somehow cough up another double-digit halftime lead. All the while, I was transfixed on the hissy fits Marshall continued to wage with the refs. All of them. Sometimes multiple officials at once, but always at least jawing toward one of the men in stripes.
We sit just a few rows behind the visitors bench, in the glorious (and Dance Cam-favorite) Section 123. And I don’t get the benefit of watch Altman interact with the officials throughout the game. But hands down, from my completely unbiased (but somewhat embarrassed) perspective, Marshall spends far more time talking (if you could call it that) to the refs than any other visiting coach I and those in my section observe during the course of the MVC season.
He complained so adamantly, I felt compelled to rewatch the game tonight, once my buddies had left town and I had a clear view (and a clear mind) of the action. What had I missed? I saw a few tick tack fouls benefit both teams. And I saw Wichita State kill the Jays on the boards (I hadn’t dreamt that during the game, after all). But my feeble basketball mind could distinguish very few segments of play in which Marshall’s pleas for whatever he wanted (CU fouls, I suppose) were warranted. The Shockers are physically stronger than the Bluejays; there might be no team in the MVC Creighton matches up against worse than WSU. And they were aggressive for most of the game. Couple those two factors with a renewed sense of effort and consistent communication between Creighton players on the defensive end, and you’ve got all the makings for a Valley game in the high 50s to low 60s between two talented, albeit cold-shooting, teams. You know, like in ’06, when CU (57 points on 33% shooting) beat WSU (55 points on 42% shooting) while losing the battle of the boards but winning the number of trips to the foul line. Ugly? Sure. Satisfying? Every bit as much as the previous 16 in a row in Omaha were against the Shockers. Even the ones I can’t remember.
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All told, 11 Bluejays saw 7 or more minutes of action Saturday, and each contributed in one way to the win. Justin Carter kept the Jays in the game early with some free throws and some rebounds, even though the rest of the team’s shots weren’t falling. Darryl Ashford started and scored just 2 points, but his long arms at the top of the defense helped alter some Shocker passing lanes. Casey Harriman and Chad Millard continued their emotional efforts, taking charges and setting solid picks and screens, and converting a perfect 4-4 combined from the free throw line.
And while Kenny Lawson recorded another solid line (11 points, 7 rebounds) even though he had some short jumpers rim in and out, P’Allen Stinnett and Cavel Witter rose from the bench to put the Bluejays on their backs offensively when the Jays and the crowd needed it most. They struggled from the field just like everyone else in the game, but Witter and Stinnett kept attacking, kept their heads up. Stinnett finished with 14 points, Witter with 10; it was the first time either players had scored in double figures since the team’s trip to Indiana against Indiana State (Stinnett’s 19 points) and Evansville (Witter’s 12 points). Neither looked good against the Shockers a week before, yet both played integral parts down the stretch during Saturday’s win.
And now the Bluejays, fresh off two home Ws against SIU and WSU, head to Normal to face an old nemesis, Osiris Eldridge. It will be anything but easy, just like seemingly every minute of this season so far.
