With Tom attending to some personal business, Patrick will try to give a preview of tonight’s game against UAB. But it will not totally be rad like Polyfro’s Primer.
Creighton starts the meat of their season tonight with a game in Birmingham, Alabama against the UAB Blazers. We have all been gushing over Creighton’s first two wins against North Carolina A&T and Chicago State to go along with the preseason hype. But the reality is that in this young season, Creighton has not been tested or proved anything to anyone yet other than winning games that they are supposed to win.
Creighton has been spectacular through the first two games with Doug McDermott and Jahenns Manigat leading the way averaging 17 and 16.5 points respectively. In fact, the Bluejays have shown they have a lot of scoring weapons with Grant Gibbs and Will Artino averaging 10 points and Ethan Wragge with 9.
The Blazers will give the Bluejays a bigger test. Last season UAB went 22-9 and went to the NCAA Tournament. They have lost some players, but are still predicted to finish in the middle of the pack of Conference USA. With Mike Davis is beginning his sixth season at the helm there are some staggering factors in their favor:
- Davis is 32-0 against non-conference competition since he came to UAB
- UAB is also riding a 38 game regular season home game winning streak.
At Bartow arena, UAB hardly ever loses, so this will be an interesting first ever meeting between these schools. UAB returns two starters and seven lettermen from their NCAA Tournament team. Forward Cameron Moore is the key for the Blazers averaging 14 points and more than 9 rebounds per game. He was named the preseason Conference USA Player of the Year. The other returning starter is the other forward Ovie Soto who averaged 9 points and about 6 rebounds a game. There should be some good matchups in the post between Gregory Echenique and Doug McDermott in the frontline. The Blazers were were hoping to add in 7-footer Todd O’Brien, a graduate from St. Joseph’s, but have had some troubles getting a ruling on whether he is eligible or not.
The challenge that UAB will have is in the play of the guards with Quincy Taylor taking over the point guard position. He did play in all 31 games last season and even started 5 games, so he is not without experience. Preston Purlfoy also has experience appearing in all 31 games last season. The transition to the starting lineup could show once the game gets started.
This will be the first regular season game of the season for UAB, so there will be a lot of excitement for fans in Bartow Arena as well as the players. However there is also some challenges because it is the first game of the season. Creighton has a lot of momentum coming into the game with their two dominating wins, but last season struggled on the road going 3-11 last season and losing all of their non-conference contests. The Bluejays need to prove early that they can win on the road with additional non-conference games against Tulsa, St. Joseph and the neutral site game against Iowa on Sunday.
UAB is a slight favorite, so tonight’s game could go either way, but it will be decided by the play on the boards with the two veteran frontlines. The Bluejays didn’t have too much of an edge over their opponents in rebounding through the first two games, but at the same time they didn’t need to. However, the rebounding will be the key tonight.
Last time they played: UAB and Creighton have never played each other so this will be their first meeting. However, Greg McDermott is 3-0 against Conference USA.
Completely Random Music Video of the Day: I can’t live up to doing these Primers with my musical taste. So to commemorate Nickelback being confirmed as the halftime show for the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day, they get a little love here. Plus the Bluejays are going to burn it to the ground tonight.
Final Prediction:
The Bluejays are out to prove themselves this season and it would be quite impressive if they can give Mike Davis his first regular season home loss at Bartow arena as well as breaking a 38 game home winning streak. Creighton will surprise them with their experience and will walk away winners 69-64.