Let’s cover the positives first, OK?
Doug McDermott continues to improve as a freshman phenom in the Missouri Valley Conference. Sunday’s 18-point, 8-rebound effort leaves him sitting in fourth place in scoring (14.7 ppg) and third place in rebounding (8.0 rpg) in Valley games. It still remains to be seen how he’ll respond physically to the February stretch run, whether as a freshman he can succeed in the face of the extended season compared to the high school level. But honestly, when was the last time you were this excited for a kid as a freshman? Sure, Kyle Korver showed flashes of what would be during the last fourth of his first season at CU. But who? Bob Harstad?
One game after he had to hoist 18 shots, only making a handful, against Wichita State, and a week following a three-turnover game at Evansville, Antoine Young bounced back for one of his better games during conference play. His 9 assists tied a career high, he made half his field goal attempts (9 points total), and he offset his 1 turnover by snaring 1 steal. He’s still leading the Valley in assist-to-turnover ratio, and he’s still second in the league in minutes played per game. Greg McDermott continues to lean heavily on the broad-shouldered junior, and for the most part Young fails to disappoint.
Gregory Echenique had another solid effort. Sure, he turned it over 5 times, but he erased 6 Indiana State field goal attempts with blocked shots. He grabbed 6 rebounds and added 9 points, too, in 29 minutes of action. When Creighton’s guards could get him the ball, Echenique found himself with quality shot attempts against a slighter and shorter Indiana State frontcourt.
And that’s about it. One weekend after sweeping Southern Illinois and Evansville on the road, and elevating the hopes among Bluejays fans in the process, Creighton coughed up a second-half lead and lost to Wichita State Wednesday and then dropped a more than winnable roadie in Terre Haute. Here’s the recap, if you don’t know what happened. Leading by 2 with less than 2 minutes to play and with the basketball, Creighton couldn’t convert two jump shots by Doug McDermott. After the first, Indiana State tied the game. And after McDermott missed a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left, ISU’s Carl Richard rebounded an errant long-range heave by Jake Odom and converted a reverse lay-up with no time remaining. Victory, Sycamores.
So what happened? I’m still not exactly sure. The Sycs poured in 9 3-pointers in the second half, led by 5 of 7 shooting by Aaron Carter from long range. The Jays held another second-half lead, pushing it to 8 points with 13 minutes to play, but couldn’t get stops against a suddenly 6-1 Sycamores squad. CU finally got some bench scoring, with Darryl Ashford (6 points), Josh Jones (4 points), Jahenns Manigat (3 points), and Wayne Runnels (3 points) chipping in a few points. But meanwhile, Kaleb Korver (3 points) and Kenny Lawson (4 points) didn’t get many open looks.
Creighton needed to compile more meaningful possessions. Sure, the Bluejays shot about 46% against the Sycamores, compared to 36% for the home team. But the Jays attempted 48 field goals to Indiana State’s 66. The Jays have won a few of their games from the free throw line, but could muster only a measly 8 attempts from the charity stripe in Terre Haute. The Bluejays average 11 turnovers a game but committed 15 against the Sycs. In turn, the Trees outscored Creighton 18-10 off turnovers.
But perhaps the most telling statistic, the red flag so vibrant and alarming Greg McDermott addressed it ad nauseum after the game, was the discrepancy in rebounding in general (and offensive rebounds specifically). The Sycamores snagged 20 offensive rebounds, 11 more than the Jays collected and double what CU usually allows opponents this season. How active was Indiana State on the offensive glass? The Sycs collected more offensive rebounds (20) than defensive boards (18). And for the game, ISU outrebounded a CU team that up until the past few games had prided itself on winning the war for rebounds. The result was a 17-11 edge for Indiana State in second-chance points.
Heck, the game-winning shot came off an errant long range heave that two Bluejays (Runnels and Ashford) failed to box out for and collect. Watch it here, if you haven’t seen it yet. It is hard to say what fell the Bluejays more during Sunday’s loss, the failure to beat ISU on the glass, or the Sycamores’ scorching 3-point shooting during the second half. But the two are definitely related, as Young told the Omaha World-Herald’s Steve Pivovar:
“We were a little lazy and had some miscommunication on a few of the 3s,” Young said. “But they got a lot of their 3s on kickoffs because we weren’t rebounding the ball. I thought man-to-man up top we did pretty well, but they just killed us on the boards.”
After the Wichita State loss, I wrote in this space about McDermott’s focus on mental toughness. Obviously, allowing an opponent to dominate on the offensive glass can be classified as the opposite of being mentally tough. But how do the Bluejays improve? Coach Mac’s team lost the last two games, during which his squad lost the rebounding battle. Lawson couldn’t snap up one rebound against the Sycamores in 19 minutes of play. After tying his career high with 7 rebounds against Evansville last weekend, Ashford couldn’t grab one against the Trees in 25 minutes. Doug McDermott, who led the team in rebounding each of the past three games and in four of the past five contests, can’t do it alone, can he? Sure, Echenique is helping, but his 4.7 rebounds per game are about half of what he recorded on average during his freshman season in the Big East.
Let’s be honest: this was a game Creighton could have easily won. Maybe even should have won, going away. And that leaves a lasting sting, considering the Jays are likely fighting the Sycamores and the Northern Iowa Panthers for the third seed in Saint Louis. With seven games in the books, the Shockers and Sycamores have a two-game advantage (6-1) over CU and UNI (4-3). But the Bluejays have road games in hand over the two teams chasing them at 3-4 (Evansville and Southern Illinois), a home win over Drake (2-5), and a road win against Illinois State, one of the league’s two winless teams. I don’t think anyone outside of Coach Mac’s locker room, a few offices in the Ryan Center, and the most die-hard of Jays fans’ homes expected CU to win at Wichita and Springfield before the season began, let alone now that those two teams have proven themselves as the best teams in the Valley through the first third of conference play. But Creighton’s inability to pick up a win at home against either WSU and MSU leaves them needing a big break to entertain visions of a #1 or #2 seed.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Seeding for Arch Madness won’t matter if McDermott’s team can’t shore up the mental toughness issue in short order. Bradley brings an 0-7 record to Omaha Wednesday. It would be a good opportunity to get back on track, to discover the type of tenacity this team will need to rely on if it wants to turn some heads and send some opponents packing in late February and early March.