You sort of knew this would happen at some point. After the loss by Creighton women’s basketball team to in-state rival Nebraska on Thursday night and the heart wrenching loss by Creighton men’s soccer team in the college cup semifinals on Friday night, things were setting up to be quite a disappointing weekend for Creighton sports. The Bluejay men’s basketball team kept track of the soccer match during practice Friday night and with the Creighton student-athletes being a close knit community, maybe the loss in soccer may have had a more of an effect than we realize.
Ok, that might be a stretch trying to rationalize that as being the reason Creighton lost the basketball game against St. Joseph’s on Saturday afternoon 80-71. You knew coming into this game that it was one that was going to be tough. The last two games against St. Joe’s came out as victories behind herculean efforts from behind the three point line by Ethan Wragge last season and Booker Woodfox at the Palestra a few seasons ago. Saturday’s game looked like it was going to be on the shoulders of Doug McDermott as he hit a couple of three-pointers in the early stages of the game and scored 10 of Creighton’s first 15 points in a variety of ways.
But then for the next 20 minutes, the Hawks found a way to keep McDermott under wraps limiting looks or even letting the Creighton guards get the ball into him. McDermott then was able to get his first basket of the second half at the 9:34 mark to get the Bluejays back within five points. He did finish with 26 points and 10 rebounds but it wasn’t easy.
St. Joseph’s always had an answer and went on some runs to keep the distance a little too far away for the Bluejays to catchup. The Hawks did what San Diego State did not–they continued to play the way they played the whole game and all Creighton could do was just keep pace. Antoine Young and McDermott did their best at the end but it wasn’t enough.
Creighton has not had much success in the Eastern Time Zone. From Rob Anderson’s game notes and a graphic on the TV broadcast early in the game, I felt that was a bad omen. The Bluejays have now lost nine straight games in the eastern time zone since New Year’s Eve 2008 against Indiana State. Check out these losses:
- A 90-80 loss at Dayton to start the 2009-10 season that many would like to forget.
- The Bluejays lost the three games in the Old Spice Classic against Michigan, Xavier and Iona.
- A late technical against Dana Altman that cost the Bluejays against George Mason
- The last two games at Indiana State, including a last second layup last season.
- The Bracketbuster game at Akron last season.
Those were some pretty key games in the eastern time zone. The game against St. Joseph’s will be the last game in that time zone for this season until the regular season finale, a conference game at Indiana State. The early line on the Bluejays if they make the NCAA Tournament this season–don’t bet your paycheck if they get sent to a location in the eastern time zone. But that may be hard to avoid.
This was one of those games where even though the Bluejays lost, you cannot fault the effort. It was also a game where I think in the long run, they will benefit more from the loss than escaping with a win. Getting this out of the way now can let the focus return and some things to learn.
1. Getting Gregory Echenique involved in the game early will be important as Creighton moves forward
There are some Creighton fans who have been expressing their disappointment in how Gregory Echenique has been playing to start the season. I think he is doing fine, but he needs to find ways to get more minutes and to get his confidence up. Getting him going in the second half of this game against St. Joseph’s was very important and could be the turning point in the season for Echenique. I think the biggest part of his game is getting his confidence up.
I can’t imagine how tough it is to try and figure out each game how referees are going to handle things with the big guy. Early in the game, the referees will be quick to call fouls on Echenique, or at least it has seemed to be that way the past few games. But by the second half, he seems to get a lot more leverage in the block and has been effective. I’m not sure what that balance is, but by conference season, I think that will be worked out. Remember last season when he became eligible and how his game evolved by the end of the season? It is a time of adjustment again after playing all summer in Venezuela. The game is played differently between the two environments.
2. Rebounding is very important, especially giving up offensive rebounds.
One thing that has been a challenge the past few games is on the rebounding side of things, especially giving up offensive rebounds. The Bluejays lost the rebounding battle against St. Joseph’s 40-28 including 12 offensive rebounds, to Creighton’s 6, that led to 10 second chance points.
Against Nebraska, the Bluejays gave up 13 offensive rebounds that gave them 16 second chance points. In the first half of the game against San Diego State, the Aztecs grabbed 7 offensive rebounds for 12 second chance points. Against Campbell, the Jays lost the offensive rebounding battle 13-6, and gave up 9 second chance points.
Through the first four games of the season, the Bluejays outrebounded their opponent on the offensive rebounding 52 to 38.
3. There are more challenges ahead.
After finals are completed this week, the Bluejays get to ease their way back onto the court with a game against Houston Baptist on Saturday night. But then it will be time to buckle down and get back to business with a stretch of games that could be some barnburners. They make a trip to Tulsa, host Northwestern from the Big 10 right before Christmas, and then open conference season with Missouri State and a trip to Wichita State on New Year’s Eve. All of these teams are high quality opponents that could become huge once it is time to look at the postseason. This season there are not a lot of throwaway games as there have been in the past. Each one will be important from here on out.
At this point in the season, the Bluejays will be fine. If anyone had predicted before the season that the Bluejays would be 7-1 by this point, many would be ecstatic. Getting ranked this early in the season has put a bigger target on their back. From this point on, everyone will give Creighton their best shot. It won’t be easy, but there seems to be a little more backbone to this team this season and it should make for a fun and exciting run that at least won’t end on penalty kicks.