On Saturday, Creighton’s men and women played a basketball doubleheader, albeit in separate venues. I attended both games, and came away thinking that the two contests symbolized the respective teams’ seasons.
In the women’s game versus Evansville, they struggled with leading scorer Megan Neuvirth out with a sprained ankle. Struggled to rebound, struggled to score, and struggled in general. Yet in a tight game, they made the plays necessary to win — Chevelle Herring hit two free throws to bring them from down one to up one with 18 seconds left, then the defense blocked the Aces first game-winning shot attempt and rebounded the second game-winning attempt as the horn sounded.
Meanwhile in the men’s game, the Jays outhustled Illinois State but did not outplay them, and they needed to do both to win. And in a tight game, they did not make the plays necessary to win. First, trailing by one with 39 seconds left, they fouled big man Dinma Odiakosa, whose free throw stroke if I may be so bold as to use a pun…is odious. That was on full display when he made the first free throw but missed the second…yet inexplicably, inexcusably Creighton did not secure the rebound. Later, trailing by two with 22 seconds left and the ball, they drew up a play to get a wide-open three, actually got it…and the player passed it up, opting instead to pass it back and restart the offense with four (!) seconds left.
Both end-of-game scenarios were microcosms of the respective teams’ seasons, with the women having the confidence to make the plays to win a close game (even without their leader and best player) and the men failing to have the confidence to make plays — or in one case, failing to have the confidence to even attempt to make a play.
And in one particularly amusing sidenote that is probably only amusing to me, even the fans participating in the promotional games were metaphors for the action on the court. At the women’s game, one fan successfully “found” Billy Bluejay in the video board favorite, while another sank a halfcourt shot for free tickets to the MVC Women’s Tourney! At the men’s game, not only did a fan fail to find Billy Bluejay in the same video board game, the fan in the shooting contest at halftime struggled to draw iron even on the free throw, much less make the halfcourt shot. Heh.
In the absence of Neuvirth, the women needed someone else to step up, and while two players provided standout performances, the win was a team effort. Sam Schuett had 22 points and 13 rebounds, her sixth double-double of the season. Kellie Nelson recorded 12 rebounds and 5 blocked shots. Herring hit the two clutch free throws to win the game. Kelsey Woodard blocked the would-be game winning shot by Evansville. Good stuff from a good team.
Meanwhile in the men’s game, the finish is the part getting the most attention. Its pretty easy to blame Kaleb Korver because his decision to pass up a shot had an immediate and glaringly obvious impact on the outcome of the game, and lots of fans took that easy route by placing the blame squarely on him. In the immediate aftermath of the game, I was pretty steamed at Korver, too.
But then while I was at the bar following the game — funny how a few cold brews exponentially increase my ability to critically analyze a situation — I decided that blaming Korver was actually quite disingenuous.
If Antoine Young doesn’t get hurt on the previous possession, I’m almost certain the final play would have been designed as a pick-and-roll with him and Kenny Lawson, or perhaps as an iso play to get Young to the rim for a layup (even as bad a free-throw shooter as Young has been, there’s no way the Redbirds foul there.)
If Darryl Ashford hadn’t fouled out, I’m fairly certain the play Dana Altman drew up would have resulted in Ashford being the open man in the corner, not Korver.
As it was, everyone in the building assumed with Young and Ashford out of the game, the play would be designed to get Ethan Wragge an open look. Wragge is a freshman, but he’s also the Jays most consistent outside shooting threat. Illinois State rightly took Wragge away, forcing the play to the other side of the court where the struggling Korver stood wide open, with the Redbirds daring him to shoot.
Even taking away the last possession, failing to make a free throw in the final eight minutes is a much bigger cause for blame than a bench player low in confidence turning down a shot. Giving up 36 points in the paint is a much bigger cause for blame. As there has been all season, there’s plenty of blame to go around — the mess that was this game isn’t any one person’s fault just like the mess that is this 13-13 season isn’t any one person’s fault.
While the women’s game was a metaphor for a season in which a good team finds ways to win and succeed even when they aren’t playing their best, the men’s game was itself a metaphor for a season in which a mediocre team lacks the confidence or the on-court leadership to win close games.
One team is going to be a tough out in March. The other’s season is nearly over. Can you guess which is which?