People call Chad Millard “The Wizard”, for reasons I don’t know. After his Chris Andersen impersonation on Wednesday night, I’d simply call him The Birdman. Forced into action at the 11:38 mark of the first half because of Kenny Lawson suffering from back spasms that limited his minutes and foul trouble for Wayne Runnels, Millard turned in a virtuoso tough guy performance.
The play everyone was buzzing about afterwards, obviously, was the skirmish he got into with Nick Evans of Southern Illinois. From my seats behind the basket opposite the students, I had an excellent vantage point of the action. With 2:29 left in the first half, Evans and Millard got tangled up after P’Allen Stinnett stole the ball from Evans. For reasons unknown, Evans took a cheap shot swing (more of a rabbit punch, really) at Millard, connecting on the side of his head. With the aggression hidden from view of the refs due to the scrum for the ball, Evans ran back down the court to play defense like nothing had happened. People sitting around me were outraged, of course, having a perfect sight-line into the tussle. Most of the arena had no idea. They soon would.
Millard, like an enraged bull, charged off down the court after Evans, not willing to let it slide. When he caught up to him, he gave him the business with what was presumably a verbal barrage of nouns and verbs not fit to print (“It’s a homonym, not an antonym you bloody fool!”). Face to face, things were a split-second away from really getting out of hand when the referees pulled them apart and assessed double-technical fouls. But after reviewing the film, they changed Millard’s infraction to an “Unsportsmanlike Penalty”, whatever that is, and ejected Evans from the game.
Millard gave Evans a mocking military salute from the bench as the ejection was announced, which was absolutely hilarious and instantly became my favorite moment of the season. The Wizard Salute. You bet.
Three things that must be noted about that play. One, coach Chris Lowery did not protest one word, and for a coach who doesn’t hesitate to, ahem, speak up when he feels slighted, his silence spoke volumes. Two, Evans ran to the locker room faster than he’d moved all night, probably to get away from Lowery’s wrath. And Three, SIU fans almost universally ripped Evans for his cheap play on their message boards.
While that was a memorable moment, my favorite Millard moment was actually his stone-cold screen on Kevin Dillard. Most of the Jays players set screens by half-heartedly getting in front of a defender and being content to shield them from guarding a teammate temporarily. Not Chad. He flattened Dillard like a linebacker, knocking him down so hard he actually stayed on the ground for five seconds before getting up. Perfect, textbook set screen, executed with a tough, hard-nosed attitude that set a tone for the rest of the game. That was an old-school Jays screen. LOVED it. Millard gets his money worth from every play: if its a screen, he plants a guy; if he fouls, the guy is going to feel it; if he’s chasing you down the court, you’ll get burned by The Wizard’s fire.
Of course, what had initially endeared Millard to the fans on this night was his pair of old-fashioned three point plays, which came 90 seconds apart on nearly identical dribble drives to the hoop right after he entered the game. Jays fans haven’t seen that kind of confidence from Millard since very early in his CU career, before injuries sidetracked him.
Its easy to forget now, but this kid was a highly-sought after recruit who initially signed with Rick Pitino at Louisville. His first game as a Jay against DePaul was full of plays like we saw last night, and was overshadowed by P’Allen Stinnett’s debut and 20-point second half outburst keying a comeback. Creighton fans thought they really had something in Millard. Maybe his offseason of hard work will finally pay off with some increased playing time now that’s he’s both healthy and proven he can provide a spark off the bench.
To that end, my section did our part to make sure Dana Altman and his staff knew how we felt. We gave Millard a standing ovation when he came off the floor after chasing down Nick Evans. We chanted “Chad! Chad! Chad!” as he sat on the bench after the timeout. During the next dead ball, we chanted “We Want Chad! We Want Chad!”, until more and more joined in, making the chorus from behind the basket so loud the coaches couldn’t help but hear us.
We appreciated his effort, chip-on-his-shoulder attitude and relentless energy, three things that haven’t always been in great supply this year for the Jays. He deserved the affection of the crowd.
Millard wasn’t the only story, though. This game was another in a long-line of Creighton-SIU battles, with 10 ties and 12 lead changes. A clean game, Creighton turned it over just 8 times, SIU 11 times. A game Creighton won when Antoine Young hit a running jumper with 1.6 seconds left. In many ways, it was a wonderfully entertaining basketball game played in front of a raucous, enthusiastic crowd.
I’d love to sit here and tell you Millard’s, and this team’s, effort will carry over into Saturday and beyond, that his spark will finally turn this team around. But before we get carried away thinking ahead (or get into good-natured arguments with fans who disagree with that hope), lets just applaud the effort and appreciate what was a fun game to witness. Worry about Wichita State tomorrow.
You bet.
