After playing just twice in the previous 13 days, Creighton is set to begin a crucial stretch of five games in the next 14 days that will have a lot to say about their fate in March. They begin that stretch with Houston Baptist on Saturday night, followed by a road trip to Tulsa on Monday, a home game with Northwestern on Thursday, and then a one-two punch to open MVC play: Missouri State at home and Wichita State on the road. After Saturday’s appetizer, the four remaining games before the calendar flips to 2012 represent probably the toughest stretch of the season.
Creighton is also coming off both Finals week and their first loss of the season, making an otherwise ordinary December game a bit more interesting. How will they respond to their first taste of adversity? How will they play in a game that would be awfully easy to look past? Can they get Gregory Echenique back on track after struggling early on this season? There’s a lot to be curious about Saturday night, a lot more than there normally would be for a game against an opponent that won only five games a year ago.
Creighton and Houston Baptist have tangled twice before. In 2007, they were a provisional member of Division 1, didn’t have an RPI, were in the midst of an 18-game (!) road trip, and Creighton scored 61 second-half points to win 110-73. In 2009, they were a full-fledged member of Division 1, had the worst RPI of any team in America the day of the game, were 1-11 against a schedule that ranked in the bottom five in the country, and the Jays won 85-56.
Leading up to that 2009 matchup, we heard that while Houston Baptist was struggling in the first years of their move to D1, they believed they’d be competing for an NCAA tournament bid sooner rather than later. Two years later, they’re not quite to that level, but they’re certainly a heckuva lot more competitive than either of the previous two times they’ve ventured into Omaha. They’ve won four games already, after winning just five a year ago. Their RPI resides at 266, after being 341 and 327 the previous two seasons. And they’re coming off a win over Campbell, an impressive 8-2 team whose only losses are to Houston Baptist and the Jays.
Art Bernardi, a 6’9″ 225 pound behemoth, is their leading scorer at 14.5 points a game. He was ineligible the first six games of the season, and has made a huge impact upon his entry into their lineup. Playing next to 6’11”, 275 pound center Joe Latas (10.3 points, 6.1 rebounds a game), you might think they’re a big team. You’d be wrong. Those two are the only players taller than 6’5″ who get big minutes, and their up-tempo playing style favors the smaller, quicker players on the roster. That’s evidenced by the fact that they’re out-rebounded by an average of five boards a game.
That run-and-gun style is something head coach Ron Cottrell brought with him from his days as an assistant at Arkansas, where he learned under Nolan Richardson. Rather than the “40 minutes of hell” Richardson used to unleash via an intense pressure defense and fastbreaking offense, the Huskies’ version of up-tempo is more about scoring in bunches and getting opponents into foul trouble.
In fact, they seem to be allergic to defense — they’ve allowed 73 points or more in every game this season, and 80 or more points to six of its 10 opponents. That’s great news for the Jays, who have won 83 straight home games when scoring 68 points or more (going back to 2005), 48 straight games when scoring 90 points or more (dating to Jan. 11, 1988) and 17 straight when scoring 100 points or more (all the way back to Feb. 26, 1977). Suffice it to say, if this turns into a shootout, it’s all but certain that Creighton will win.
Of course, like every game Creighton plays anymore, what the game really boils down to is can Houston Baptist slow Doug McDermott down? He has a double-double in four straight games, the first Bluejay to do so since Nate King in 1993, and with one tomorrow night, will be the first since Benoit Benjamin to do it five straight times. For the record, Benjamin did it 28 — yes, TWENTY EIGHT — straight times during the 1984-85 season.
The consensus from the two people around Houston Baptist’s program that we spoke to was that this will likely turn into a 20+ point win for the Jays, and another big performance for Doug McDermott. Let’s hope they’re right on both counts.
Meet the Houston Baptist Huskies: Starting with their win over Campbell earlier this week, HBU plays six straight games against teams with winning records — Creighton, Santa Clara, New Mexico, Duquesne, and Eastern Illinois … HBU head coach Ron Cottrell is in his 21st season with the Huskies and notched his 400th career victory with the win over Campbell. He is by far HBU’s all-time winningest coach, with 171 more victories than Gene Iba, who ranks second … HBU lost 76.7 percent of its scoring from last season, when it was led by the nation’s sixth-leading scorer, Andrew Gonzalez, who averaged 22.9 points per game … Houston Baptist will join the Southland Conference in the 2013-14 season … Houston Baptist was an NCAA Tournament team in 1984, an impressive feat because the tourney had yet to expand to 64 teams. That team was coached by Gene Iba, the nephew of legendary Henry Iba. However, they dropped to NAIA status in 1991 and just returned to D1 in 2007 … The Huskies first year of men’s basketball was in 1963, and they have fielded a team all but three years since then.
One Big Paragraph with Lots O’Dots™: Creighton has never lost a game to a team with a losing record at CenturyLink Center, going 54-0 against such teams since moving into the building in 2003 … Sophomore forward Ethan Wragge has 97 career three-pointers through his first 51 career games. With three more trifectas, he’ll become the 20th player in CU history to make 100 or more treys … Antoine Young figures to pass Dane Watts for most minutes played in CenturyLink Center history Saturday night, as he has played 1,509 minutes in his 59 career games at CenturyLink Century Omaha, just 12 shy of the current mark … Creighton has won 34 straight non-conference, regular-season home games against unranked foes since falling to Drexel on Feb. 17, 2007.
The Last Time They Played: On December 22, 2009, Creighton jumped out to a 14-1 lead in the opening 4:20 of the game, as P’Allen Stinnett dished four straight assists followed by a three-pointer of his own. Meanwhile, the Huskies would miss their first eight shots from the field, and the Jays were off and running to a 85-56 win. Creighton dished out an arena-record 28 assists on 32 made baskets in improving to 5-6 on the season.
The Series: Creighton leads 2-0, also owning a 110-73 win in 2007. This will be Greg McDermott’s first matchup with them during his tenure in Omaha, but he does own a 1-0 record against them by virtue of a 64-56 win during his final season in Ames.
Gratuitous Linkage: Before there was YouTube, people with strange or bizarre videos who wanted to share them with the public had to put out a VHS tape. That meant awesomely bad cover art. Sometimes, those videos were pretty damn entertaining though. Ah, Found Footage Festival, you’re the best.
Out of Context Seinfeld Quote: “You ever dream in 3-D? It’s like the Boogie Man is coming RIGHT AT YOU!!” -Cosmo Kramer
This Date in Creighton Hoops History: On December 17, 2007, the Jays played Houston Baptist for the first time. It was a blowout from the start: after taking a 49-37 lead into the half, Creighton would score the first 10 points of the second half and force a Houston Baptist timeout. A 12-1 run a few minutes later gave the Jays a 77-42 lead, and they wound up with 110 points, the fourth-most in school history. The Jays made a season-high 14 three-pointers in 29 attempts from downtown while making a season-high 55.1 percent of its overall shots from the field. Eight different players nailed at least one three-ball, including three each from reserves Cavel Witter, Kaleb Korver and Booker Woodfox (in his first of several amazing games as a Bluejay).
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day: I watched the documentary “Pearl Jam Twenty” the other night, and was completely enthralled. Great movie making, and a lot of stories I’d forgotten (the MTV launch party for “Singles” where the band goes absolutely NUTS, in particular, I’d somehow forgotten all about). Seattle grunge music was the soundtrack of my high school years, but I was never much for wearing flannel, preferring a wardrobe of ironic t-shirts instead. I did enjoy blasting music out of my car through amps, bass boosters and subwoofers, however, and to that end I once blew out a set of speakers playing “Superunknown” by Soundgarden at insanely loud volumes. True story. Little harder to blow speakers to Pearl Jam, but they’re the video of the day nonetheless.
The Bottom Line: Creighton wins this one going away. Pizza by the under-eight timeout.
Jays 93, Houston Baptist 70