Things I’ve never seen before: Sasquatch, Hailey’s Comet, a good Don Johnson movie, any movie with Philip Michael Thomas, and general admission seating in the lower bowl at a Creighton game.
Things I have seen before: A big (human) foot, the Shoemaker-Levy 9 Comet, a good Edward James-Olmos movie, and Creighton blowing a double-digit second half lead.
Another night, another (near) meltdown by the Jays. With just under nine minutes, they led by 12, yet as the game wound down, they found themselves in a one-possession game, needing to make free throws to hold on. And of course, if there’s one thing this team is consistent at, its making free throws. What’s that you say, they’re actually terrible at making free throws? Oh boy.
On Sunday, the play of Kenny Lawson and Justin Carter were widely credited with saving the team from themselves on the road at Evansville. And while both of those players had big roles in Wednesday’s game again, it was another player who somewhat surprisingly took on the role of leader: Casey Harriman.
Harriman got his first start of the season on New Years Day in Terre Haute, which most people (myself included) believed was more a desperation move than one of merit. Harriman has been a solid bench contributor at times over his first two seasons, but never one of the best five guys. Then he started again on Sunday in Evansville after a pedestrian game in his first start. And against Drake, he got the start again, except this time, the reason became obvious.
Who was the guy huddling the players together during dead balls on the court? Who was the guy talking to his teammates on the court and making sure they were staying focused? Who was the player knocking down tough shots and playing solid defense? Who was the guy getting in Kenny Lawson’s face (!) after an unfocused turnover with 11 seconds remaining nearly cost the team the game?
Casey Harriman. That he might be emerging as the sorely-needed leader of this team would be a surprise to many. But listening to his quotes on the local news after the game, it was clear that’s exactly what’s happening. He’s sick of losing. He knows something has to change. He knows no one else is stepping up to lead the team. So he did what leaders do: he decided to do something about it. Doling out criticism and encouragement in equal doses, the guy who has always been the unquestioned toughest man on the team is morphing into its most vocal. Frankly, I couldn’t be more pleased to see him take on the role.
Most of the game was rather unremarkable: a decent, not great but decent, effort that allowed the Jays to hold Drake at arms length and behind by double-digits the majority of the night. Kenny Lawson had 17 points, 6 boards and 3 blocks in another great game. Ethan Wragge hit three clutch three-pointers and grabbed three tough rebounds in 15 minutes of action, a nice bump in minutes for a guy many fans wish would play more. The aforementioned Harriman was 3-5 from three-point range, had 10 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists in 25 minutes. Justin Carter had 17 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists. So there were some really nice individual stat lines in this game.
The crowd, announced at just shy of 15,000, was nowhere near that big. I’d guess it was half of that, maybe. The people who were there were quiet, but I think that comes with being the only one in your row. Its hard to be obnoxious when you’re alone. During the under-12 timeout of the first half, the PA Announcer turned the Qwest Center into California during the Gold Rush, as he encouraged anyone sitting in the upper bowl to move down and find an empty seat in the lower bowl. At least around me, this brought some rowdy folks down who made the atmosphere much better. Conflicting reports have trickled in from other areas of the arena (notably, Patrick in his Wrap earlier this morning), but I thought where I sit improved with the addition of the upper bowl fans to my section.
The offense, once again, stalled at the exact same time the defense started giving up easy baskets. With 8:56 to play, Creighton led 60-48. Over the next five minutes, Drake chipped away, slowly cutting into the lead, and with 3:21 to go it was 64-60 Creighton. A maddening series of missed free throws allowed Drake to further chip away, and the lead was just 71-67 with 17 seconds to play. What happened next was completely inexplicable, but I’ll do my best to explain it.
Drake inbounded the ball, and came upcourt. Josh Young drove into the lane and hit a layup to make it 71-69, and instead of handing the ball to Creighton to inbound, the referee under the basket blew his whistle. Timeout Drake, right? Well, Drake didn’t have any timeouts to call. When the refs didn’t immediately whistle their bench for a Technical Foul, the fans blew up into an uproar. How can you call a timeout you don’t have and not get T’d up? I understand not wanting to effect the outcome of a game with a call (believe me, after the George Mason game, I know), but rules are rules. So what gives?
Apparently, the referee under the basket anticipated Drake would WANT to call a timeout given the time and score, so he blew his whistle. Except Drake coach Mark Phelps, knowing they didn’t have a timeout, didn’t call one. So…it was an inadvertent whistle. Wait, it gets better.
There were several players waiting at the scorers table to check in on the next dead ball, and upon hearing the whistle, the scorers table sent them into the game. Problem was, without an actual timeout being called, the players couldn’t check in. So now the refs are trying not only to explain their inadvertent whistle to the coaches, they’re trying to sort out the mess of players who were now in the game who shouldn’t be. Meanwhile, the fans are in an uproar, not realizing it was an inadvertent whistle at the heart of this fiasco, not understanding why a T wasn’t called. And in the midst of this circus, Drake is getting the full two-minute timeout the refs assumed they wanted in the first place, but couldn’t grant them. Wait, it gets better yet.
Upon sorting out the mess, Dana Altman realizes he doesn’t have Cavel Witter, a superior free throw shooter, in the game for Antoine Young, who’s been struggling, because the refs had called off the subs (of which Witter was one). So he calls a :30 timeout to get Cavel in, at which point the crowd goes berserk, assuming Dana is calling timeout to lash at the refs. You have to understand, basketball isn’t like football, and the refs don’t talk into a mic to explain calls. So no one explained the inadvertent whistle to the crowd, which would have gotten the fans off their back. Most of the fans were furious. I yelled some things I wouldn’t exactly want my name to be attached to, and got a stern look of disdain from one of the referees after digesting some of what I was screaming. Great moment in my life, let me tell you.
What a sequence. With that finally sorted out, Creighton inbounds the ball with 11 seconds remaining, but their primary ballhandlers are well-covered so the pass goes to Kenny Lawson…who immediately finds himself trapped in the corner. Instead of calling timeout, he panics and throws the ball toward the other end of the court, where it is intercepted by Drake’s Ryan Wedel, who shoots and misses a layup. Josh Young rebounds the ball and HE misses a layup. Finally Cavel Witter grabs the rebound for Creighton and is fouled. Witter sinks both free throws, and Creighton wins 73-69.
Underrated moment: Dana Altman calling the :30 timeout after the referee fiasco to get Cavel into the game. Why is that important? All he did was grab the game-clinching rebound AND sink the game-clinching free throws.
Wild, wild finish. As I said, its almost inexplicable.
You bet.