Creighton faced Houston Baptist twice before Saturday night, destroying the Huskies in both instances. Those two CU teams (2007-2008; 2009-2010) were vastly inferior to this year’s version. Sure, it’s like comparing apples to rotting oranges, since those Houston Baptist teams have nothing to do with this current squad. But the people expressing concern about the Huskies before Saturday’s game — “They beat Campbell this week!” — must have been looking for something to fret about during the finals week lull following the Jays’ first loss of the season. Other than the games against Chicago State and North Carolina A&T, was there any game that seemed more of a gimmie before the season started than a Saturday night home date with Houston Baptist?
That’s how I felt driving to the game, and that’s surely how I felt 10 minutes into the game. How do I put this nicely? Houston Baptist was bad Saturday night. Here were the scores at the media timeouts in the first half:
- Creighton 10, HBU 0
- Creighton 16, HBU 3
- Creighton 26, HBU 5
- Creighton 34, HBU 10
It took the Huskies until 5:02 in the first half to score 10 points; the Jays accomplished that before the first media break. Creighton didn’t exactly fire flawlessly, looking very much like a team consumed with tests in the week between games and thus a bit rusty. But even though the Jays hit just 3 of 13 treys in the first 20 minutes, the dominating play of Doug McDermott and Gregory Echenique kept Creighton’s offensive focus in the low blocks. McDermott scored 15 points in 12 first-half minutes, while Echenique shook off a few early misses and had a better stat line in the first stanza (13 points, 12 rebounds, 4 blocks) than in any full game he’s played this season.
Doug McDermott (scoring) and Grant Gibbs were efficient in limited minutes against the Huskies (Mike Spomer/WBR)
A few days before the Bluejays wrap up the non-conference portion of their schedule (aside from the ESPN-staged BracketBusters home game in mid-February), a solid Creighton effort coupled with a horrific Houston Baptist showing allowed McDermott (6 minutes) and Echenique (4 minutes) to spend more time resting on the bench than risking injury and fatigue in the second half. All told, Creighton starters played 30 of a possible 100 minutes in the second half. This paved the way for reserves like Austin Chatman and Avery Dingman to see more of the floor in the second 20 minutes than the two experienced in any of the previous three CU games. And the blowout allowed for Creighton’s walk-ons to celebrate the end of the first semester with more playing time than many have ever experienced.
McDermott got his (his 25 points kept him at second in the nation in scoring), Echenique got going, and the Jays got an easy win before a tough week that sees them travel to Tulsa and host Northwestern. Here are a few other thoughts following a thorough thrashing of the Huskies.
Against Houston Baptist, Creighton rebounded well from a subpar rebounding effort in the previous game.
Austin Chatman got plenty of minutes at the point against Houston Baptist (Mike Spomer/WBR)
In the loss against St. Joe’s, the Bluejays lost the battle of the boards 40-28. Halil Kanacevic had as many offensive rebounds (6) as the entire CU squad. A week later, against a less athletic team in Houston Baptist, the Jays snared 56 rebounds — the program’s highest single game total since a 66-rebound effort in December 1988.
Against the Huskies, Creighton grabbed as many offensive rebounds (22) as Houston Baptist snagged defensive boards (19). McDermott didn’t clean the glass as frequently as his average, but Echenique (14 total rebounds) was more than effective and Ethan Wragge (8) and Jahenns Manigat (5) chipped in season highs in rebounds.
Monday marks the start of difficult two-week stretch.
Creighton begins league play with a difficult one-two punch: hosting a Missouri State team against which the Jays went 0-3 last season, and traveling to Wichita State on New Year’s Eve. The Bears are just inside the RPI Top 100, while Wichita State sits just inside the RPI Top 50. But before the Jays can entertain dreams of a 2-0 start to Valley play, they must hit the road to play at Tulsa (175 in Sunday’s RealTime RPI) and host Northwestern (42 in Sunday’s RealTime RPI).
Both opponents offer challenges. Aside from the difficulty of going on the road, Creighton will face in Tulsa a team that is arguably the best 5-6 team in the country. Here’s a nugget from Rob Anderson’s pregame notes:
TU’s losses have come against Northwestern (69-65), Saint Joseph’s (79-75), Missouri State (69-64 in OT), Oklahoma State (59-56), Arizona State (67-64), and Wichita State (77-67).
Notice anything from that list? Besides the closeness of the losses, Tulsa’s schedule shares a lot of common opponents with Creighton. They lost a nail-biter to St. Joe’s, the only school to beat CU so far, and dropped close games to Missouri State and Northwestern. The Golden Hurricane had a big lead against the Shockers but ended up losing. And later this year Tulsa will tangle with UAB, another familiar Creighton foe. The Blazers might not be the difficult road opponent Bluejays fans thought they would be before the season started, but 11 games in Tulsa looks like a legit challenge. The Jays didn’t fare well in their last roadie, and it will take a terrific effort to beat the Golden Hurricane at Reynolds Arena.
Win or lose, the Wildcats await later this week. John Shurna and Northwestern beat the Bluejays last season in Evanston, and Creighton hopes the return game will give them three wins over Big Ten teams in 2011. With and RPI in the mid-40s and playing in the nation’s top RPI conference, the Wildcats will have plenty of opportunities to improve their mark through the season — and give the Jays a bump, too. Bracketologists can circle Thursday’s game as a head-to-head meeting of teams that could potentially share the bubble come March.