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Men's Basketball

Morning After: Creighton 81, Southern Illinois 51

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[Box Score]

Key Stats: Creighton outrebounds SIU 18-4 in the first half (including just two defensive rebounds for the Salukis) and 39-19 for the game. Creighton shoots 73% in the first half (17-23) and 5-7 from three-point range, and 63% for the game.

Favorite Moment: Early in the second half, Greg McDermott yelled to his players during a timeout to run their press-break offense…only to have SIU coach Barry Hinson yell in his direction, “We’re not pressing!”  A few minutes later, Hinson yelled to his players to put on the press, and then glanced in McDermott’s direction smiling. The lesson, as always: Barry Hinson is the best. (Anecdote reported by Rob Anderson via Twitter)

500-ish Word Recap: The beginning of Sunday night’s game was reminiscent of previous trips to SIU Arena, back when the Salukis were a powerhouse and a Creighton-Southern Illinois matchup was the hottest ticket in the conference. Ugly turnovers on the Jays’ first two possessions led to baskets on the other end for Desmar Jackson, and a quick 4-0 lead for SIU. A 9-0 Creighton run, started by a Doug McDermott three and ended by a Will Artino layup, was answered by back-to-back three pointers by Jackson to keep SIU close.

The rest of the game was reminiscent of last year’s trip to SIU Arena, when the Salukis allowed Creighton to shoot historic percentages from the field in a blowout win. After the second of Jackson’s threes made it 11-10 Creighton, the Jays went on a 13-4 run to take a double-digit lead, and instead of easing up, they pushed down on the gas and took a 21-point lead late in the half. Much like last year’s trip to Carbondale, the Jays did it by shooting video-game percentages from the field, making 17 of 23 shots in the first half overall, and five of seven from behind the arc.

They also did it with defense. Jackson’s second three that cut the lead to 11-10 was his tenth point of the first five-and-a-half minutes. He finished with 16, and attempted only three shots in the second half as a smothering defense refused to give him touches, much less open looks.

There weren’t many rebounds to go around, what with Creighton barely missing in the first half, but to grab two (2!) defensive rebounds for an entire half? That’s something I’ve never seen before. To be fair, the suspension of Jeff Early for the game, the Salukis leading rebounder, hurt them on the glass. Then again, there have to be missed shots for there to be rebounds — it’s science — and when your opponent misses just six shots in a half, not even Jeff Early would have made a difference. Heck, not even a clone of Dennis Rodman would have made a difference.

Quotables:

“I’ve been feeling more comfortable every time I get on the floor. For a while, every time I got into a game it felt like it was the first time I’d ever touched a ball. But now, I’m more relaxed out there.” -Andre Yates on AM590 postgame

(On the transition from being the transition from high school to college) “I just looked back on my freshman year in high school, where we had a good team, and I had to wait my turn. So my biggest thing coming in here was I’m playing with a ranked team, playing with a bunch of veterans, with guys who had paid their dues, so I needed to pay attention and learn so when it’s my turn and do some things, I’ll be well prepared.” -Andre Yates on AM590 postgame

“Coach McDermott preaches to us to pay attention to detail. In high school, you might know a player’s tendencies, but you can usually out-athletic them. In college, you can’t rely on that, you have to know their tendencies and the gameplan, and pay attention to detail to succeed.” -Andre Yates on AM590 postgame

“This arena’s been good to Ethan and myself. Last time we came here we were on a three-game losing streak and kind of the same thing happened, so it feels good that shots are falling again. My job on the team is to be a good go-to defensive guy and be a leader vocally, so I do what I need to do and if shots happen to fall, I’m really happy about that.” -Jahenns Manigat on AM590 postgame

“Desmar Jackson is a tough matchup. He’s another guy who’s taller than me, probably more athletic than myself, he has a 15-footer but can also step out and hit some threes. A guy like that can score in a lot of different ways, so you just have to try and stay in front of him and contest his shot the best that you can. In the second half, the guys that were on him — myself, Nevin (Johnson) and Avery (Dingman) — did a better job of that. We need to do a better job of not letting guys get going early, because it’s harder to stop them later on.” -Jahenns Manigat on AM590 postgame

“It was a good win, I’m proud of the guys. They did what we wanted them to do, executed pretty well defensively, and offensively I thought we were sharp. When we didn’t turn it over, they didn’t stop us. We didn’t put together a complete game offensively, because of the turnovers, but 81 points on 62 possessions is still a pretty efficient offense.” -Greg McDermott on AM590 postgame

“Andre’s practiced well. Taylor Stormberg got a deep thigh bruise, and he was hampered this week which gave Andre an opportunity to get some reps in practice. I thought he was locked in and really engaged defensively with what we trying to do, and for him to come in on the road when the game’s on the line and get three assists to no turnovers is a sign of good things. That gives us confidence in him, Andre confidence in himself, and his teammates confidence in him that he can go in and do the job. I give him a lot of credit, he’s kept a positive attitude, kept working hard, and it’s nice to see good things happen for him.” -Greg McDermott on AM590 postgame

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