You know, its really too bad that Mother Nature has such a terrible sense of timing. First, she dumps a ruler-and-a-half of snow on Christmas Eve ruining many people’s holiday plans. Now, she starts the latest round of snow/blizzard winds today rather than tomorrow, ruining a perfectly good metaphor I was excited to use for tonight’s game (i.e. ‘The Calm Before The Storm.’) Jeez. Thanks for nothing.
The Drake Bulldogs, two years removed from their once-in-a-generation greatness, come into tonight’s game in last place, losers of their last five games, winless in three MVC games, and sporting a 5-10 record. Despite all that, tonight’s game is important to the Jays for a couple of reasons. One, a win gets the Jays back to even in the league (2-2). Two, the toughest six-game stretch of the season immediately follows: road games at Wichita State, Illinois State and Bradley, home games with Southern Illinois, Wichita State and Missouri State. Bookending that six-game stretch is games with Drake, and following the rematch on January 30 is a reasonably favorable homestretch of games taking the team into St. Louis.
Beyond their records and place in the standings, the story of Drake and Creighton this season sounds eerily similar. Drake has played seven teams who played in the postseason last season, winning just two. And the Bulldogs record could easily be as good as 13-2, but eight of their ten losses can be blamed on their inability to finish off games. Sound familiar?
They blew an 11-point second-half lead in the opener against IUPUI, while making just one of its last eight shots to close out the game en route to suffering an 88-82 loss. They had a 42-39 advantage against Indiana State on Sunday with 8:52 left, but then made just two of their last 11 shots and lost. They had a 39-34 lead against Bradley in its MVC opener but then made just six of their last 18 shots and lost.
Clinging to a 57-55 lead with 3:11 remaining against 2009 NCAA Tournament qualifier Akron, the Bulldogs made just one of their last nine shots en route to falling 63-59, in the Glenn Wilkes Classic in Daytona Beach, Fla. The next day, trailing 51-50 to Central Florida with 6:08 left, the Bulldogs ended the game by missing their last seven shots while committing three turnovers in a 59-50 loss. They saw a 58-52 lead against SIU Edwardsville with 2:33 left evaporate as the Bulldogs closed out the game missing their last four shots en route to a 60-58 setback in the Hy-Vee Classic. Drake made just one basket in the last 2:14 of the game en route to dropping a 71-67 decision at Iowa. And after owning a 62-54 against 2009 NIT semifinalist San Diego State with 4:54 left, the Bulldogs made just two of their last seven free throws to close out the game.
OUCH. And we thought Creighton was frustrating. Holy cow.
As for the Jays, their success not only tonight but the rest of the season would seem to depend on consistent play from Kenny Lawson, an opinion underscored with something called facts by Patrick’s solid “Win Scores” article showing Kenny has been the most important player on the team this season. As he goes, so go the Jays. Now, asking him to duplicate his sick 18-11-7 game against Evansville on a night-in night-out basis is obviously ridiculous…the last player to best that feat in a game was Benoit Benjamin in 1985. That’s so long ago, Phil Collins was actually cool. Even expecting a double-double every night is probably a bit much. But averaging 16 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks isn’t ridiculous. He’s shown he’s capable of it from time to time. If he could ever do that regularly, permanently establishing a true inside-out game for defenses to plan for…the Jays would be awfully tough.
I made the mistake earlier in the year of calling his double-double against Nebraska a “coming out party.” I’ve been ridiculed for that, perhaps rightfully so. But this time, I’m telling you, Kenny is ready to dominate. Back-to-back double-doubles is not just a hyphenated fiesta, its a throwing down of the gauntlet. As Artis Gilmore might say, watch out below, Big Man coming through! Oh, and seal off the baseline. You bet.
One Big Paragraph with Lots O’Dots™: Drake opens a two-game road trip in Omaha tonight, with a trip to Carbondale on tap before returning to Des Moines … The Bulldogs have more first-year players, 11, on their roster than any team in the MVC. Newcomers are contributing 60.8% (41.0 points) of their scoring. Five newcomers are averaging at least 13.5 minutes of playing time: freshman Seth VanDeest has started all 15 games at center, while freshmen Ben Simons and Aaron Hawley have shared starting duties in all 15 games at small forward … Preseason All-MVC pick Josh Young finds himself in the unenviable position of mentoring the youngest team in the league just two years after a historic NCAA Tourney run. He’s on pace to become Drake’s career scoring leader, needing three points to become the sixth player in school history to reach the 1,500-point plateau. He enters tonight’s game with 1,497 points, putting him just 160 points behind Drake career scoring leader Red Murrell (1955-58, 1657 points) … Coach Mark Phelps, a 1996 graduate of Old Dominion, is 22-26 in his second year on the Drake bench. Phelps, a longtime assistant to Herb Sendek at North Carolina State and Arizona State, replaced National Coach of the Year Keno Davis when Davis left for Providence two years ago … The Bulldogs average 66 points per game while giving up 70, a key reason for their 5-10 start. For the season, they shoot just 42.2 percent from the field, 37.0 percent from downtown and 74.3 percent at the line.
The Last Time They Played: The teams split the series a year ago, with each team winning on the road. Drake won 74-62 in Omaha, while Creighton won 79-68 in Des Moines. Drake’s win in Omaha was their fourth straight in the series, the first time they’d accomplished that since winning seven straight from 1992-96. Craig Stanley and Jonathan Cox both recorded double-doubles for the Bulldogs in their win, with Stanley putting up a 16-12 line and Cox a 14-13 line. In the return game, Booker Woodfox scored 15 second-half points to rally the Jays. His three three-pointers highlighted a 17-7 midway through the half that gave Creighton a lead they would not relinquish.
The Series: Creighton has played Drake more than any other opponent — 143 times. The Jays lead 87-56, and are 52-19 in Omaha.
Official Old School TV Sports Intro of the Game: Because nothing beats old-time TV sports theme songs or animations for getting me pumped up for a game.
Gratuitous Linkage: Have you ever wondered what Nic Cage would look like as…well, everyone? Me neither. But its still entertaining.
Official Gametime Snack: This.
The Totally Random Song I’d Play Right Now if I was Still a Radio DJ: Stop snowing, please.
Prediction: Creighton 76, Drake 61. Book it, Danno.