The Creighton Bluejays defeated long-time conference rival Southern Illinois 59-45 on Tuesday night in front of a subdued crowd of 17,311 at the Century Link Center in Omaha.
Creighton (22-6, 11-5 MVC) went inside early starting with a backdoor alley-oop from guard Grant Gibbs to center Gregory Echenique. Shortly after that Echenique was on the receiving end of another alley-oop, this one from guard Jahenns Manigat as Creighton stormed out to a 12-2 lead over Southern Illinois (11-16, 4-12 MVC) in the first six minutes of the first half.
The Salukis struggled on offense early, shooting just 2 for 12 from the field in the first nine minutes. They were able to keep Creighton within striking distance despite the poor shooting. Once they started finding the bottom of the net,Creighton’s lead was cut to 18-16 on a layup by freshman guard Jalen Pendleton with 7:15 left in the 1st half.
Artino comes up big off the bench (Spomer/WBR)
Two buckets by sophomore center Will Artino inside extended Creighton’s lead to 24-18 with 5:36 left. After a jumper by Pendleton, Creighton’s junior All-American Doug McDermott scored on a nice feed by second year point guard Austin Chatman to give the Bluejays a 28-22 lead late in the half. Neither team scored in the final minute and a half of the opening period.
McDermott and Echenique led Creighton in scoring with six points apiece in the half. Gibbs scored just two points in a team-high 18 minutes in the first half, but he did have four rebounds and five assists.
Saluki senior guard Jeff Early led the visitors with seven points and three rebounds in the first half.
SIU continued to hang around early in the second half despite their poor shooting. The Saluki defense forced five Creighton turnovers to start the half. Creighton built the lead back to nine points thanks to an offensive rebound putback by Artino and a couple of layups down low on back to back possessions to give the Bluejays a 39-31 lead with 11:18 to play. The play of Artino gave the Jays a spark they sorely needed. He finished with a game-high 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the field. He also pulled down five rebounds, dished out two assists, and had one steal while not turning the ball over at all in his 17 minutes off the bench. “Without his effort I don’t know how it would have turned out,” said Gibbs, after the game when asked about the performance of the young Bluejay center. “He took advantage of the moment, and we needed it. It was huge.”
Two free throws by redshirt freshman Nevin Johnson restored the double-digit lead from early in the game for Creighton. After a three by SIU senior point guard Kendal Brown-Surles, Johnson pushed the lead back to nine with a layup on an assist from Artino. With a little less than eight minutes to play in the second half and Creighton leading 46-36, SIU head coach Barry Hinson received a technical foul for arguing an offensive foul on his fifth-year senior off-guard T.J. Lindsay. McDermott, who finished with 10 points and a game-high seven rebounds, stepped to the line and hit the technical free throws to give his team a 12-point lead. SIU didn’t get any closer than nine the rest of the game. After the game, Hinson addressed the technical foul and the officiating after the game, saying, “It didn’t hurt us, and I’d had enough. I deserved the technical, but I was right for what I said.” When asked about what he said, the colorful coach replied, “if I [repeat it] my mother would ground me.”
Senior guard Jeff Early, who didn’t play in the Salukis 81-51 home loss to Creighton back in January, led his team with 12 points and three steals.
While the win keeps the Bluejays in the race for the Missouri Valley regular season title, most of the talk after the game centered on rediscovering the things that made Creighton successful earlier in the season. Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said, “We’ve got to find a way to get that swagger back. Our message in the locker room was that we have to find a way to capture that enthusiasm and the enjoyment with which these guys have played with each other in the past.”
He went on to list some of the reasons for the recent slide,
“Part of it is certainly the pressure of being on this team with the expectations that have been place upon these guys throughout the season. That’ll wear on you – its human nature. Part of it is the bumps and bruises that go with a long season, but we have to find a way to find ‘it’. It’s an unbelievable group to coach. If they have a fault their fault is that they’re too good of guys, and they probably don’t demand as much of each other as they should demand of each other at times. Those attributes are going to get them a long way in life. They’re going to be really successful because of that. They’re going to be great husbands. They’re going to be great fathers, but it takes a little bit more to be a teammate sometimes. That’s what we’re trying to capture, and I think we can get there, I really do.”
McDermott closed by saying, “There are a few changes that have to be made if we want to win a championship. And a championship still comes through Omaha. We still control our own destiny.”
Creighton’s road doesn’t get any easier while they continue to try and find the things that made them so dangerous in the first half of the season. The Bluejays will now step out of conference for a BracketBuster match up with standout point guard Matthew Dellavedova and the Saint Mary’s Gaels (22-5, 11-2 WCC) of the West Coast Conference. Tip-off between the Bluejays and the Gaels is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. central time from McKeon Pavillion in Moraga, California, this Saturday, February 23.
Game Stats:
Southern Illinois / Creighton
Score: 45 / 59
FG/FGA/FG%: 18-51 (35.3%) / 20-39 (51.3%)
3FG/3FGA/3FG%: 3-13 (23.1%) / 2-9 (22.2%)
FT/FTA/FT%: 6-10 (60.0%) / 17-22 (77.3%)
Rebounding: 27 (Off: 9, Def: 18) / 31 (Off: 4, Def: 27)
Assists: 9 / 16
Turnovers: 12 / 15
Steals: 7 / 4
Blocks: 1 / 0
Scoring Leaders: Early (12) / Artino, Gibbs (13)
Rebounding Leaders: Beane, Jr. (6) / McDermott (7)
Assists Leaders: Brown-Surles (5) / Gibbs (5)
Steals Leaders: Early (3) / Gibbs (2)
Blocks Leaders: Pendleton (1) / None