Creighton gets their first look at the Drake Bulldogs tonight, and they will present a unique set of challenges to the Bluejays. The Bulldogs start 6’8″ Jordan Clarke at center, and surround him with four wing players in their starting group which will make for some interesting matchups defensively as they try to contain Doug McDermott and Gregory Echenique inside. That goes both ways, though: the Jays will have to chase those four wing players around defensively.
The small lineup is not by design. 6’8″ forward Reece Uhlenhopp suffered a stress fracture in his right foot during preseason drills, and missed the first six weeks of the season. After returning in late December, he aggravated the injury last week and will not dress for tonight’s game. 6’11” center Seth VanDeest has missed the entire season so far with a shoulder injury that required surgery, and will likely apply for a medical hardship. The absence of those two leaves the Bulldogs extremely shallow in the front court — 6’9″ Kraidon Woods is their only other regular player from a year ago taller than 6’5″. Role players like Ben Simons, Aaron Hawley and Cory Parker have been thrust into bigger roles, with mixed results. Simons has exceeded all expectations, while Hawley and Parker have struggled.
You might be wondering, how in the world does Drake manage to compete with such a patchwork front court? Look no further than Rayvonte Rice, their sensational sophomore guard. He averages 18.3 points a game while shooting 49% from the floor, both steady increases over his freshman year, which is impressive given that opposing defenses are no longer surprised by his skills and scheme to shut him down. Stopping opponents’ top scoring threat has not been the Jays issue this year however — it’s been allowing a secondary scorer to have a career night. Which brings us to the aforementioned Ben Simons, a 6’8″ junior that has taken his opportunity for a big role and run with it. He averages 15 points and 3.5 rebounds a game, double his averages of a year ago in both categories. Creighton’s defense will be geared to slow down Rice, so if the Bulldogs are to have any chance of pulling the upset, it’s likely to come from Simons doing what Drew Crawford of Northwestern and Anthony Downing of Missouri State did — having a career night.
Drake has succeeded in recent years in getting Creighton’s post players into foul trouble early in games, and then capitalizing during their absence. That would seem to be their best hope tonight, as defending Echenique and McDermott for 40 minutes with guards and forwards likely leads to defeat even IF Rice and Simons have career nights.
Should things turn into blowout city, there’s two fun subplots to discuss while you enjoy your favorite beverage. Tonight marks the first meeting between the schools since Feb. 20, 1999 where neither side will have a member of the Korver family. Each of the previous 25 matchups have had a Korver on the bench for one team or the other. Kyle played for Creighton from 1999-2003, Klayton played at Drake from 2003-08 and Kaleb played for Creighton from 2007-11.
And then there’s this: One of Drake’s assistant coaches is Brett Nelson, who is facing Creighton for the first time since March 15, 2002. Astute Jays fans might remember Nelson, then a junior at Florida, as the player who was guarding Creighton’s Terrell Taylor when Taylor hit a game-winning three-pointer with 0.2 seconds left in double-overtime in a first-round NCAA Tournament game in Chicago. For the record, Nelson finished 4-of-19 from the floor in that game, playing 47 of the 50 minutes.
Catching Up with the Bulldogs: Drake is one of six MVC schools listed in the top 100 of the NCAA’s latest RPI rankings, coming in at No. 95 … Rayvonte Rice ranks third in the MVC in scoring (18.3; #48 NCAA D1), is tied for third in steals (1.8), and has scored 20 or more points in three of the last four games. He also ranks third in scoring in MVC-only games (19.0) and is tied for second in steals in such games (2.5) … Rice was named last week to Collegehoops.net’s Pre-League Play All-MVC team along with Creighton’s Doug McDermott, Missouri State’s Kyle Weems, Evansville’s Colt Ryan and Bradley’s Taylor Brown … Jordan Clarke leads the team with an average of 7.8 rebounds per game, (tied for 4th in the MVC), and has pulled down double-figure rebounds in three of Drake’s last four games, including a career-high 12 vs. Indiana State. He has collected at least eight boards in five of the last six outings, and in 8 of 13 this season, and is averaging 9.0 rebounds per game in MVC games (4th) … Ben Simons ranks second on the team in scoring at 15.1 points per game, with outputs of 24 (tied career high) and 22 points, and adds 3.7 rebounds per game, well above his career averages of 7.0 and 2.1, and his 2010-11 averages of 8.1 and 2.0. He leads the Missouri Valley Conference in three-point field goals (32), while ranking second in minutes played (34.9).
One Big Paragraph with Lots O’Dots™: Creighton outscored Wichita State by 25 points (50-25) in the 26 minutes Grant Gibbs played on Saturday, and the Jays are now 8-0 when he dishes six or more assists … The team to score more points in the second half has won all 13 of Creighton’s games this season, and during the Greg McDermott Era, the Bluejays are 28-1 when outscoring their foe after halftime … For the season, CU’s reserves have outscored the opposition 310-272. Its 23.8 points per game average is well ahead of last year’s 18.6 points per game off the pine … Including last Saturday, Creighton has now overcome a double-digit deficit to beat Wichita State six times since 2003. Creighton trailed 39-28 late in the first half at Wichita State before posting a 68-61 win … Creighton has lost a total of 25 home games in the last 12 seasons, including last Wednesday’s setback to Missouri State. Following almost every setback, Creighton has taken out its frustration in its next regular-season home game — they’ve followed all but two of their previous 24 home losses with a win in its next home game by an average of 14.54 points, including 12 double-digit triumphs.
The RUN-DMD Show: Doug McDermott currently ranks atop the Jays’ career three-point percentage list at 45.8 percent for his career, ahead of MVC Players of the Year Booker Woodfox (45.5%) and Kyle Korver (45.3%) on Creighton’s all-time chart. Ethan Wragge is eighth on the list at 42.1 percent, just behind Jahenns Manigat at 42.2 percent … Doug ranked second nationally in scoring at 23.8 points per game through games of Jan. 1st, still trailing Damian Lillard of Weber State, who averages 25.2 a game … Doug has scored 12 or more points in all 13 games this season, making him the only player in the MVC to score in double-figures in every game this season, and one of eight players with 12 or more points in every team game this winter … Doug owns 891 career points in his career. According to research by Creighton Sports Information’s office, that leads all active sophomores through games of Jan. 2nd, 46 points more than Ohio State’s J.D. Sullinger.
The Last Time They Played: Drake used an 11-3 second-half run to take an eight-point lead and held on for a 67-64 win at the Knapp Center on February 8 of last year. It was Drake’s second win in a row over Creighton at home. Ben Simons (18 points), Rayvonte Rice (16) and Jordan Clarke (12) each scored in double-figures and Simons pulled down a career-high eight rebounds. Antoine Young led Creighton with a career-high 24 points.
The Series: Creighton leads the all-time series with Drake by an 89-58 margin, including a 54-19 lead in Omaha. CU’s 89 wins and 147 meetings with Drake are easily its most against any foe. Creighton has won 15 of the last 23 and 22 of the past 32 meetings between the schools.
Greg McDermott is 10-6 in his career against Drake. He was 8-2 while in the MVC at Northern Iowa, 1-3 while at Iowa State, and 1-1 at Creighton. McDermott is 2-2 in head-to-head meetings with Mark Phelps.
Gratuitous Linkage: This article from two weeks ago might be a tad old, but it outlines Drake’s road woes pretty nicely, and has some great quotes from Ben Simons in it.
This Date in Creighton Hoops History: On January 3, 1990, Creighton defeated Notre Dame at the Civic, 77-75 in overtime, after blowing a nine-point lead in the final 1:41 that forced the extra period. Irish coach Digger Phelps told the media after the game, “Creighton is a very talented team and they play to their talent. They’re very tough when it comes to what they want to do inside with their big people and Harstad and Gallagher are as quality an inside game as anybody we’ve seen or anybody that’s out there.”
Bob Harstad scored 25 points and made his first five shots as Creighton built an early 12 – 7 lead. Chad Gallagher added 20 points and both players grabbed nine rebounds. Notre Dame’s LaPhonso Ellis beat them both, however, pulling down 24 (!!) rebounds.
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day: I used another of their songs as the soundtrack for the December Plays of the Month, so I’m kind of in a Damn Yankees/Ted Nugent kind of mood now.
The Bottom Line: Drake can’t muster enough scoring to overcome their lack of size.
Jays 84, Drake 71