[dropcap]This[/dropcap] is uncharted waters for Bluejay Basketball. Their four-game losing streak is the longest the program has endured in 15 years; their 0-3 start in league play is the worst since 1993-94. The streak has plunged them from a team with a 9-3 record and mildly optimistic fans to a team with a 9-7 record and scores of angry, pessimistic fans.
It doesn’t help that the next opponent is the 19th ranked Seton Hall Pirates, who are coming off a loss at Xavier on Wednesday night. It really doesn’t help that there’s few teams in America that are better at defending the arc — The Hall has now held nine of its last 10 opponents to under 30% from three-point range and have limited their first three conference opponents to a 22.0% mark (13-of-59). On a national scale, only Pepperdine (24%) has posted an opponent 3-point field goal percentage lower than Seton Hall’s 25.6%.
They’re led by sensational guard Sterling Gibbs, who averages 16.0 points, 3.9 assists and 1.6 rebounds a game. He’s an excellent shooter; not only has he made a team-high 35 three-point shots, he leads the Big East in shooting percentage from three-point range at a Wragge-esque 47%. Notably, in their overtime win against Villanova last week, he played 41 of 45 minutes, scoring 20 points on 8-20 shooting with four assists and two steals, one of six times he’s led the team in scoring this year. He scored 17 points on 6-10 shooting in the game in New Jersey a year ago, but did not play in the return matchup in Omaha.
Playing alongside Gibbs in the backcourt is Jaren Sina, and the two have combined to sit out only 19 of a possible 250 minutes combined in conference play, while racking up 25 assists against only 10 turnovers. The 6’2″, 180 pound sophomore guard from nearby Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey averages 7.4 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game. The vast majority of his shots come from three-point range (73 of his 95 field goal attempts), though he makes a pedestrian 34% from behind the arc. In two games against CU last year, Sina scored a combined nine points with six rebounds and five assists.
Their second leading scorer is Isaiah Whitehead, a five-star recruit who was averaging 11.9 points a game and just starting to figure out how to be an impact player in college basketball before suffering a stress fracture in his foot. He’ll miss Saturday’s game, but the Pirates hope he’s back later this month.
Brandon Mobley is the second-leading active scorer, and averages 10.1 points and 5.1 rebounds a game. The 6’9″ senior is a versatile scorer, with nearly a third of his field goal attempts coming from behind the arc. He’s also versatile at stuffing the stat sheet, as evidenced by his 10 points, six rebounds, four blocks and three steals against #6 Villanova, and 13 points and 10 rebounds against #15 St. John’s.
Their third scoring option is Angel Delgado, a 6’9″ freshman who averages 8.8 points and 8.7 rebounds a game. He’s had four double-doubles so far this season, with the latest coming against St. John’s where he recorded 13 points and 12 rebounds. He did not start in their last game at Xavier (though he played extensively and grabbed six boards off the bench), but is expected back in the lineup on Saturday.
Seton Hall is a tough matchup, with their elite three-point shooting defense and strong, athletic guards with length, and they’re coming off a road loss to Xavier where they didn’t play particularly well. They’ll be locked in and focused, so the Jays will have to be, too — they aren’t talented enough to have mental breakdowns or lapses in play, as we’ve seen far too often so far this year.
You hate to put the “must win” label on an early January game, but if ever there was one, this is it. A loss and the Jays are 0-4 with three of their next four games on the road, including trips to Butler and Villanova. A win, and the Jays have a chance to begin an ascent — there’s a winnable road game at Marquette and a home game against Providence to follow.
One thing’s for sure — we’ll have a pretty definitive answer about which direction this season is going after Saturday.
Quick Notes on the Pirates:
- Seton Hall bench players have grabbed 50 rebounds in 218 combined minutes in conference play. Starters have accumulated 59 rebounds in 407 minutes
- Sterling Gibbs is tied for first in the Big East in assist/turnover ratio since the start of conference play (4.8 – 19AST / 4TO)
- The Pirates are shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc in the second half (12-30) during conference play as opposed to 21.9 percent (7-32) in the first half
Bluejay Bytes:
- Since February of 2000, Creighton has suffered consecutive home losses just twice, as it fell to Kent State and Wyoming in 2004 and in 2011 it fell to Missouri State and Wichita State in consecutive home games. Creighton has followed all but two of its previous 28 home losses with a win in its next home game by an average of 15.11 points, including 17 double-digit triumphs
- From 1989-2013, Creighton hosted two ranked MVC teams (Greg McDermott’s No. 25 Northern Iowa team in 2006 and No. 22 Drake in 2008). Saturday will mark the second ranked Big East team Creighton will host in the past 11 months, and the first of what is likely to be several this season
- Creighton doesn’t have many four-game losing streaks, as this is the first four-game skid since the 1999-2000 season. In that same span, other Midwestern schools have had all sorts four-game losing streaks, including Nebraska-Lincoln (13), Iowa (12), Nebraska-Omaha (9), Missouri (4) and Wisconsin (2). Saturday’s foe, Seton Hall, has had 11 losing streaks of four or longer in the same time frame.
Possibly Motivational, Probably Hilarious Quote of the Day:
“It became very clear to me sitting out there today that every decision I’ve made in my entire life has been wrong. My life is the complete opposite of everything I want it to be. Every instinct I have, in every aspect of life, be it something to wear, something to eat – it’s all been wrong.”
-George Costanza, Seinfeld
The Series:
Creighton and Seton Hall have met nine times, with the Pirates winning six of them. CU swept two games from them a year ago, however. The first six meetings came between 1949 and 1962; before last year, the only meeting since the Kennedy Administration came in the 1991 NCAA Tournament. The Pirates defeated Creighton 81-69 in the second round of the West Region.
Greg McDermott is 2-0 vs Seton Hall, but Kevin Willard is 1-2 vs Creighton — his Iona Gaels picked up a win over Creighton as part of the “Lost Weekend” in Orlando at the 2009 Old Spice Classic where the Jays lost three games in three days.
The Last Time They Played:
On February 23, 2014, Creighton narrowly defeated Seton Hall 72-71 in Omaha despite missing 11 free throws. It was one of the wildest finishes in recent memory, so it’s worth revisiting the Morning After from that game. Here’s a snippet:
Wragge pounced on it, and was fouled with four seconds left. He’s an 87% free-throw shooter, so again, just who you’d want at the line if you’re a Creighton fan, right? You’d think so, but unfortunately, he missed the first free throw, and with a sense of panic-slash-doom engulfing the arena — the groans were audible and the panic was palpable — he also missed the second.
With no timeouts, Seton Hall’s Stephane Manga grabbed the rebound and appeared indecisive on where to go with the ball. He took several dribbles upcourt, and by the time he got it to Edwin, the clock was already nearly at triple-zeros. All he could manage was a 45-foot desperation heave at the buzzer, which clanged off the glass harmlessly.
I looked around after the horn, and it seemed like half the arena was completely dumbfounded at what had just occurred, and the other half was letting out a HUGE sigh of relief. Part of it was the way the wheels fell off — two possessions without a basket and four missed free throws in the final 90 seconds of the game. The other part was how quickly it ended. Since Seton Hall had no timeouts, literally four seconds of time elapsed between the devastation of missing a fourth straight free throw and the Pirates missing a desperation shot. There was no time to process it, no time to worry about what they might draw up, just…four seconds, most of which went by before you could catch your breath.
Gratuitous Linkage:
South Orange Juice broke down the Xavier game with some great postgame quotes from Kevin Willard and analysis of the action. Among the tidbits: this was the first time the absence of Isaiah Whitehead really hurt Seton Hall because Xavier shut down their guards.
What the Other Side is Saying:
“A commitment to Angel Delgado on offense. If Seton Hall’s guards are struggling, perhaps the ball needs to get down low to Angel Delgado more often. The freshman has proved to be more than capable on the offensive end and was able to get his points against Matt Stainbrook on Wednesday. Delgado’s offensive rating against Xavier was the highest on the team.”
Previewing Creighton and Seton Hall, South Orange Juice
This Date in Creighton Hoops History:
On January 10, 1991, Creighton won the 1,000th game in program history by defeating the Drake Bulldogs 82-67 at Veterans Auditorium in Des Moines. The Bluejays burst out to a 21-5 lead six minutes in, and grew the lead to 37-13 with eight minutes to go in the half thanks to a pair of three pointers each from Duan Cole, Darin Plautz, and Matt Petty.
“We wanted to shoot the threes early,” Coach Tony Barone said later. “We jumped off to a big lead and we started to coach — we decided to get the ball in to Bob and Chad, which seemed to be a halfway intelligent idea at the time but turned out to be pretty foolish.”
Gallagher and Harstad struggled to score, and adding insult to injury, Gallagher picked up his second and third fouls six seconds apart, forcing him to the bench. The latter foul earned his coach a T when he argued it vehemently, and Drake cut the lead to 14 at the break.
A 10-0 run early in the second half put the Bulldogs away for good.
The moment of the game undoubtably came when a Drake fan, who’d been heckling Tony Barone the entire game, finally caught his attention. Here’s what Michael Kelly wrote about it in the World-Herald the next day:
Barone drew a big laugh in the second half by finally acknowledging a portly heckler. “Hey, Tony,” the fan shouted from the balcony, “get some suspenders so you don’t have to keep hiking your pants up like that.” Retorted a smiling Barone: “You should talk.”
HA! You gotta love Tony Barone.
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day:
This has worked so many times to break a Bluejay losing streak, I stopped counting when I ran out of fingers. Marginally entertaining song with great historical memories of the Funk/Tolliver Era Jays, though. WE READY FOR YA.
The Bottom Line:
It’s extraordinarily tempting to pick Seton Hall. They’re favored, they’re ranked, they’re almost certainly the better team. Call me crazy, but I just have a feeling about this one.
Bluejays 70, Seton Hall 69
