On January 16, 1990, the Jays and Cyclones played a double-overtime thriller in Ames won by Creighton 99-94. It was an epic game, made moreso by the fact that Bluejay all-everything center Chad Gallagher fouled out with almost five minutes to play in regulation, forcing the Jays to employ a small lineup during the final 14:12 as others stepped up to fill his void.
That small lineup — 6’6″ Bob Harstad, 6’4″ Darin Plautz, 6’4″ Matt Roggenburk, 6’2″ Porter Moser and 5’10” Duan Cole — turned out to be a blessing in disguise of sorts. It forced Iowa State center Victor Alexander, all 6’9″ 265 pounds of him, to defend on the perimeter and chase Plautz around. Playing so far out of his comfort zone, Alexander allowed two huge three-pointers to Plautz, the first to tie the game at 88 late in the first overtime, and the second to give the Jays the lead for good 91-90 in the second overtime.
The game had all kinds of great individual performances, as many double-OT games do. Alexander had 37 points and 17 rebounds in 44 minutes for the Cyclones. Gallagher had 21 points and 11 rebounds while playing all 36 minutes before he fouled out. Harstad had 31 points and 13 boards in 44 minutes. And Plautz had 18 points with 9 rebounds, including those two big three pointers while being guarded by Alexander.
As exciting as that game was, the Jays cannot win a game played in the 90s on Sunday. If Iowa State scores 80 or more, Creighton may find itself on the wrong side of a similar score to ISU’s 91-43 thrashing of Drake on Wednesday, because they simply do not have the shooters or the firepower to keep up in a game played at that pace. Otter broke it down yesterday numerically, and proved what was painfully obvious to anyone who watched the first three games: Creighton is not a good shooting team, but thankfully, has played good defense so far. Its likely that in order to win games this year, they will have to plod, slow the tempo, get to the line, and hold down the score. They simply cannot win a shootout, so they have to do what they can to prevent games from heading that direction.
That’s what makes Iowa State such a dreaded opponent this weekend upon first glance — in addition to the aforementioned 91-43 destruction of Drake, they dispatched with Northern Arizona 78-64 and Alabama State 74-47. In those three games, they’re making 42.6% from behind the arc and have made an average of 8.7 three pointers in each game. Those are alarming numbers given the Jays propensity for giving up threes in bunches and for leaving shooters open on the perimeter.
However, the Cyclones have been a much better transition team than half-court team offensively, and most of their success from behind the arc has been in transition. That gives Jays fans some hope, because if the team can continue not turning the ball over, and can continue crashing the boards, they can effectively limit the Cyclones transition chances — and force them to execute their offense in the half-court, where they’re much less effective. Keep this game in the high-60s and low-70s, and Creighton has a great chance to win. If the score gets much above that, their chances diminish.
The Cyclones may not be terribly deep, with just ten players eligible (one of which is a walk-on), but they have what’s been called the “Best scout team in America” by FoxSports’ Jeff Goodman. Among the players on the scout team that Creighton will mercifully not see on Sunday include former five-star recruit Royce White, who transferred from Minnesota; Chris Babb, a transfer from Penn State who averaged 9.3 points and 3.2 rebounds while making 37% of his shots from long range for the Nittany Lions; Chris Allen, a transfer from Michigan State who led the Final Four Spartans in three-point shooting, scored in double-digits 15 times, was third in assists and started 27 games; and Anthony Booker, one of Chris Lowery’s heralded recruits at Southern Illinois who didn’t pan out, but nonetheless averaged 6 points and 4 rebounds for the Salukis a year ago. That’s a formidable group for 2011, no? Certainly its one heckuva practice squad.
Among players the Jays will actually see on Sunday, Diante Garrett is the most important to keep an eye on. After averaging 9.2 points, 2.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists a year ago, the latter good for third in the Big XII, he’s taken his game to a new level in his senior season. He has an average of 7.3 assists through three games, and is scoring 15.3 points a game.
Junior guard Scott Christopherson is a marksman from the field, as well, and is coming off a perfect 11-11 night against Drake where he also made 5-5 from three-point range and both of his free throws. At the 8:29 mark of the second half, he’d scored more points (29) than Drake’s entire team (28). And senior Jamie Vanderbeken, at 6’11”, has a unique ability to stretch defenses with his jump shooting prowess; he’s averaging 13 points through three games, while making 10-21 from long range (47.6%).
Of course, the sideshow to all of this is the return of Coach Mac to Des Moines to take on his former school. Cyclone coach Fred Hoiberg and his players have said all the right things this week leading up to the game; fans on message boards have not been as kind. Four years of mediocre basketball soured the Clone faithful on Coach Mac, and they’re out for blood on Sunday. The atmosphere should be electric.
The game comes down to tempo. If its played mostly in the half-court, the Jays have the advantage and will likely win; if its played in transition with lots of quick shots, the Cyclones have the advantage and will likely win. Whichever team is more successful at dictating their preferred tempo is the team who will succeed.
One Big Paragraph with Lots O’Dots™: In the 104-year history of the Iowa State men’s basketball program, the Cyclones have never competed against a team with a former head coach leading the program … This will be the third game Iowa State has played in the Wells Fargo Arena, owning an 0-2 record lifetime in games played in the arena (losing to Ohio State 70-67 in 2005 and Bradley 76-66 in 2006). Creighton has never played in the building … Iowa State has lost two-straight games to non-conference opponents on neutral courts (Northwestern, 67-65 and Duke, 86-65 in 2009-10) … Fred Hoiberg is just the fourth Iowa State coach to begin his career at 3-0, while Greg McDermott is just the fourth Creighton coach to begin his tenure at CU 3-0 … The last time the Jays played a combined three Big Ten/Big 12 teams in pre-conference action was 2004-05, when Creighton beat Missouri and Ohio State on a neutral floor and also won in Lincoln, Neb., against Nebraska. Since 1997-98, Creighton is 14-4 against the Big 12 and 3-1 against Big Ten teams in regular-season play, including a combined 10 straight home wins against those two leagues … In the previous 12 years, Creighton is 8-4 in its first non-home game of the season, which includes a 3-0 mark when that game takes place on a neutral floor.
The Last Time They Played: While the 1990 tussle was a classic, the last meeting between these two teams was nothing of the sort, as #14th ranked Iowa State took down Dana Altman’s first Jays team on January 18, 1995 in Omaha, 70-52. Julius Michalik led all scorers with 16 points, while center Loren Meyer had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. For the Jays, Nate King led the way with 12 points and 13 (!) rebounds in 27 minutes, with the only blemish on his stat line being a 2-8 effort at the charity stripe.
The Series: Creighton and Iowa State have met 30 times, with each school winning 15 times. Creighton won the only previous neutral-site match-up, a 1941 district qualifier played in Kansas City that advanced Creighton to its first NCAA Tournament. Meanwhile, Greg McDermott is 1-4 in his career against Iowa State, with all those match-ups coming when he coached at Northern Iowa from 2001-06; he has never coached against Fred Hoiberg.
And of course, Bluejay assistant coach Steve Merfeld led 15th-seeded Hampton to a memorable upset of second-seeded Iowa State in the 2001 NCAA Tournament. At the time, the Pirates were just the fourth 15th-seed to ever win an NCAA Tournament game, and the joyous celebration of Merfeld racing across the court and being hoisted by Hampton forward David Johnson has been a staple of CBS’ March Madness coverage ever since.
Gratuitous Linkage: GQ has an excellent piece on the forgotten man in the late-night wars, Jimmy Kimmel, including some behind-the-scenes info on his scathing decision to host an entire episode of his show in a fake chin as “Jay Leno” last winter during the height of the NBC power struggle. His resulting take-down of Leno on his own show the next night was at once among the most awkward and most hilarious moments in late night history, in my opinion.
Out of Context Simpsons quote: “Why…why was I programmed to feel pain?” -A robot, smoldering in flames
This Date in Creighton Hoops History: Dana Altman wins his second exhibition of his first season on the bench, 88-78. Tad Ackerman led the way with 18 points on 4-7 shooting from long range; Randall Crutcher contributed 15 points and 8 rebounds. Its the only game, exhibition or regular season, the Jays have ever played on November 21.
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day: The first few bars of this song were played over the PA at last night’s Nighthawks game, and it made me want to watch the bizarre video with Billy’s head inexplicably floating in space. It does not disappoint.
Prediction: The Jays will successfully dictate the tempo, and keep the score at a manageable level, Kenny Lawson will have a big day in the paint, and the Jays will win a nailbiter 70-68.