[dropcap]Twenty[/dropcap]-second ranked Creighton opens the regular season Friday night against the UMKC Kangaroos, a team picked to finish fifth in the eight-team WAC. The ‘Roos were 12-19 a year ago, but they return three senior starters, three senior reserves and eight players overall from that squad.
Leading the way is senior Martez Harrison, the 2014-15 WAC Player of the Year and AP Honorable Mention All-American. Though his numbers as a junior were down from the stellar sophomore campaign that earned him those honors, they were plenty impressive (averaging 15.4 points, 4.2 assists, 3.7 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 33.3 minutes played per game). The 5’11” guard is adept at driving into the paint and drawing fouls, and averaged nearly seven free throw attempts a game last year, making 77% (154-201) of them. That’s nothing new for Harrison; he attempted 238 free throws as a sophomore, eighth-most in D1. By comparison, Mo Watson attempted 161 free throws in five more games (35) a year ago, and CU has only had three players EVER attempt more than Harrison’s 238 in 2014-15 — Elton Tuttle (313 in 1953-54), Bob Harstad (273 in 1989-90) and Ray Yost (243 in 1953-54). So, yeah, he gets to the line a lot.
Fellow senior guard LaVell Boyd averaged 14.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists per contest last year. The 6’0” Boyd was lethal from long-range, sinking 42% of his three-point attempts (81-193) and making three or more in 14 games. He’s more than just a spot-up shooter from the perimeter, however, as he was 68-152 (44.7%) on two-point baskets last year and also got to the line a bunch (59-73, 81%).
Their head coach, Kareem Richardson, aims for “40 frenetic minutes from the Roos every game — high-pressure, up-tempo defense with arms everywhere backed by a soundtrack of shoes screeching” according to an article in the Kansas City Star. In Richardson’s first two years at UMKC (2013-14, 2014-15) they were among the top teams in D1 at forcing turnovers and steals, and were successful at scoring in transition at a high rate. They abandoned the up-tempo pace a year ago due to an injury-depleted roster, but have the personnel this year to get back to that style.
The combination of Harrison and Boyd in the backcourt will be a tough test defensively for the Bluejays, and whatever chances the Kangaroos have for an upset lie almost entirely with them torching the Jays.
That’s because UMKC is undersized even by WAC standards. They have just three players with D1 experience taller than 6’5”, and their starting center, senior Darnell Tillman, stands just 6’8” (though he is beefy at 250 pounds). Tillman started seven games a year ago in his first season at UMKC, and averaged 2.7 points and 3.0 rebounds a game, though he was much better by seasons’ end as first-year JuCo transfers tend to be, and against power conference foes he was able to battle well on the boards — he had six rebounds in a loss at Iowa, and eight rebounds in a loss at Louisville.
The other starters are Kyle Steward (6’7”, 195 pound senior guard) who averaged 6.8 points and 3.9 rebounds a year ago, and Dashawn King (6’3”, 205 pound senior guard), who scored 8.3 points a game in 2015-16 and scored in double-figures 12 times. King is a good shooter (43% from the field) and had 30 steals a year ago. Their top returning bench player is Broderick Newbill, a 6’5” senior guard who averaged 6.1 points and 3.3 rebounds a game last year and scored 10 points in their exhibition win over Missouri S&T last weekend.
A whopping seven newcomers round out the roster. Xavier Bishop, a 5’8” freshman guard, led the team with five assists in the Missouri S&T win, while 6’7” freshman Jordan Giles had a team-high seven rebounds.
UMKC’s lack of size and depth in the frontcourt should allow Creighton’s big men to have a big night, though the downside is the ‘Roos won’t do much to prepare them for what’s next — #9 Wisconsin’s top-notch collection of bigs on Tuesday night. On the other hand, with CU’s inexperience and limitations due to injury inside, UMKC could be just what the doctor ordered. Getting confidence for Justin Patton and Martin Krampelj, and getting the rust off for Zach Hanson, could all prove to be key developments before the Badgers arrive in Omaha.
Quick Notes on the Kangaroos:
- The University of Missouri-Kansas City is back to being referred to as “UMKC” following their move to the WAC; they’d branded themselves at “Kansas City” during their tenure in the Summit League, which included their last meeting with Creighton
- Harrison leads all current WAC players in career scoring (1,553 points), points per game (16.7), field goals made (469), field goal attempts (1,156), made free throws (496), free throw attempts (696), assists (369) and steals (148).
- Over the last two seasons, UMKC has earned victories over SEC opponents Mississippi State (12/12/15) and Missouri (11/14/14).
- UMKC head coach Kareem Richardson spent four seasons (2003-07) as assistant coach at Evansville when current Creighton assistant to the head coach Steve Merfeld was the head coach of the Purple Aces.
Bluejay Bullet Points:
- Creighton has won every Friday home game it’s played since December 2, 1989 by double-digits. In fact, the last time Creighton lost a Friday home game came on December 12, 1975, when Greg McDermott was 11 years old, and it was nearly 23 years before current Bluejay freshman Davion Mintz was born.
- Including last year’s 93-70 win versus Texas Southern, Creighton owns an 83-15 record (.847) on opening day, including wins in 18 of its last 19. Creighton has won 12 of its last 16 season-openers by 20 or more points.
- Creighton hasn’t trailed in its home opener in eight of the past 16 seasons. In 222 games at CenturyLink Center Omaha all-time, Creighton has not trailed in 61 of those contests, a staggering 27.5 percent of the time. Under Greg McDermott at home, Creighton is 87-20 and hasn’t trailed in 36 of those games.
The Series:
Creighton and UMKC have met 11 times, with the Jays winning eight, and four straight. All three losses came on the road at UMKC during the early 90s, the last a 72-70 OT loss in 1995. The Jays have won the last four in the series, and are 6-0 against the Roos in Omaha.
Greg McDermott is 3-1 all-time against UMKC, going 2-1 at UNI and 1-0 at Creighton.
Gratuitous Linkage:
Nick Bahe previewed the Big East in a video chat on his Facebook page earlier this week. The Bluejay radio and FOX TV analyst has been posting blog-type posts to his Facebook page frequently, which we at WBR are very excited about — the more analysis from a great basketball mind like Nick Bahe, the better!
What the Other Side is Saying:
In the Kansas City Star, Blair Kerkhoff writes that this should be UMKC’s best team in Kareem Richardson’s tenure as head coach, poised to break through and compete for a WAC title.
This Date in Creighton Hoops History:
Ironically, the last time Creighton and UMKC met was on this date three years ago — November 11, 2013, with the Jays winning 96-70. Doug McDermott led the way with a quiet 37 points (as quiet as that can be, anyway):
“Doug McDermott scored 37 points on Monday night, and he wasn’t even named Player Of The Game inside the arena; as fans filed out, P.A. announcer Jake Ryan proclaimed that Austin Chatman took those honors. Certainly, Chatman’s near triple-double (12 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds) was worthy of praise, but it’s indicative of how commonplace an offensive explosion from McDermott is that scoring 37 points barely registers.
In March of 2008, Cavel Witter scored 42 in a game against Bradley, and people freaked out — it had been ten years since a Bluejay had scored 40 or more in a game (Rodney Buford, 12/30/1998), eight years had come between Buford’s big night and the previous 40+ game (Chad Gallagher, 2/7/1990), and it had only happened eight other times TOTAL in the entire history of Creighton basketball. It was a rare occurrence. Then Doug McDermott came along and did it twice in two years, with a 39-point game thrown in for good measure, and suddenly it wasn’t such a big deal anymore. At the postgame press conference, McDermott wasn’t even asked about his big offensive night until the second-to-the-last question — he almost left the dais without being asked about it. 37 points on a frigid Monday in November?
Eh. It was only the fourth highest-scoring game in his career, so where’s the excitement in that?
He does this so often, fans and media are almost used to it at this point. I’m as guilty of it as anyone, but we need to take time to appreciate what’s happening here before he’s off in the NBA. This kind of player doesn’t come along very often, and may not come along in a Creighton uniform again for a long time. As someone on the Bluejay Underground wrote after the game, ‘Man, are we spoiled…enjoy Doug everyone. He is just on another planet at times.’ Indeed.”
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day:
This is the tenth season of the Primer — the eighth on WBR proper, with two on my standalone blog prior to that — and it’s almost always tipped off with Guns N’Roses “Welcome to the Jungle” because I’m damn near 40 years old and hair metal from the sunset strip was the soundtrack of my pre-teen years and remains a not-so-guilty pleasure a quarter of a century later. I’m also far more superstitious than I’d like to admit, and after the Jays’ losing season in 2014-15, I changed it up last year. That season turned out much better, so let’s do an encore.
The Bottom Line:
UMKC’s backcourt is good. Creighton’s backcourt is better.
Bluejays 97, Kangaroos 75
