When ESPN The Magazine ranked all 345 D1 teams earlier this month, they put Longwood at 342. Yes, you read right: there’s only three teams in America worse than the team coming to Omaha to play the Jays tonight (at least according to an arbitrary list by the Worldwide Leader).
It’s the devil in the details of big holiday tournaments. In exchange for games against big-name opponents on national TV, you get one or two games at home against teams that are complete pushovers. Presbyterian, who the Jays beat by 29 on Sunday with their starters playing barely half the game, was the first such game; Longwood is the second. Presbyterian plays in Madison tonight hoping to play Wisconsin closer than they played the Jays, while Longwood played at Arkansas on Sunday and was on the business end of a 112-63 pasting.
However, the Longwood team that went 10-21 last year and earned the ire of ESPN’s rankings has given way to a team of young players — just one starter returns from that squad. Among the newcomers is a player their fans affectionately call the “Swiss Army Knife”, Michael Kessens. The 6’9″ freshman from Switzerland does a little of everything (hence the nickname), averaging 15 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 2 steals a game. He leads the team in all four categories. His supporting cast includes Tristan Carey, a 6’4″ guard who averages 11 points and 4.3 boards a game and had 104 assists vs just 70 turnovers a year ago.
With two pretty solid pieces — one each in the front and back court, no less — like Kessens and Carey, you might be wondering why this team isn’t better than it is. One answer lies behind the three-point arc, where they’re 10-53 on the season (18.9%). They have no legitimate threat from three-point range, which makes it difficult for them to stretch the defense. Carey is their best shooter, and he’s 4-20 from long range. David Robinson (no relation to The Admiral) is probably their second-best shooter, almost by default — he’s 3-13 from three-point range, and though that’s only 23%, only two other players have made even a single three-pointer.
Another reason for their struggles is that their point guard is a freshman, Nik Brown, who thus far is turning it over twice as often as he dishes out an assist; they hope as he gets further into his freshman season he can become more sure-handed. For the purposes of tonight’s matchup, though, he’s a turnover-prone freshman in his fourth game playing in a hostile environment.
In a way, that makes Kessens success even more impressive, since the big man is operating against defenses packing the lane, given the inexperience at point guard and lack of success their shooters have from long range. He had a monster game against Arkansas, putting up 17 points on 5-6 shooting and snaring 11 rebounds, while blocking two shots and stealing the ball three times. Keep in mind, that came against a middle-of-the-pack SEC team predicted to be an NCAA bubble team come March. His more impressive performance came against Norfolk State, though, when he scored 17 points on 7-10 shooting, grabbed 15 rebounds — 9 of them offensive! — and blocked four shots.
Can the 205-pound freshman put up those kind of numbers against Gregory Echenique in the paint? If he can, Longwood can probably keep the game competitive. And by “competitive”, I mean “within 25 points.” If not, this game gets into uncharted waters and the students will be chanting “We Want Joe” by the under-16 timeout of the second half.
About the Lancers: Longwood has traveled to 33 different states and Washington, D.C. while playing 149 games away from Farmville during the last eight-plus years of Division I scheduling (2004-05). That’s an average of 18.4 non-home games per year, and includes totals of 128 true road games and 21 neutral-site games … Later this year, they’ll travel to Georgetown and VCU, among 18 true road games on their schedule … Longwood University became the newest member of the Big South Conference on July 1, 2012, cementing their move to D1 and allowing them to compete for a NCAA Tourney berth for the first time … Longwood traveled to 12 states for 16 true road games and three neutral-site games last year, traversing approximately 19,772 miles: 11,997 miles on airplanes and 7,775 miles on chartered buses. It’s approximately 2,675 miles from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles, California; thus, Longwood traveled the equivalent of 7.39 trips across the United States from East Coast to West Coast.
One Big Paragraph with Lots O’Dots™: Gregory Echenique is 12-for-13 (92.3%) from the field this season after going 3-for-4 vs. North Texas, 5-for-5 vs. UAB and 4-for-4 vs. Presbyterian. Through games of Sunday, Echenique’s accuracy led the country among players with 10 or more field goals made … Last week against UAB, Echenique had 13 points, 16 rebounds and four blocked shots, becoming the first Bluejay with at least 13 points, 16 rebounds and four blocked shots in the same game since Benoit Benjamin had 15 points, 17 rebounds and four swats on Feb. 28, 1985 at Dayton … Creighton is ranked 12th in this week’s USA Today Top 25 Coaches poll and 14th in this week’s Associated Press poll. Both are season-bests.
The RUN-DMD Show: Doug McDermott outscored Presbyterian 20-17 in the first half in Sunday’s win. It was the second-most points McDermott has ever had at halftime, and the fourth-highest half of his career. McDermott’s highest scoring half was 31 points, done last year in the seocnd half at Bradley when he scored a career-best 44 points. Last season McDermott scored 15 points or more in 17 different halves, and Creighton won each of those games.
The Last Time They Played, and the Series: Creighton and Longwood have never met. Greg McDermott faced them when he coached at Northern Iowa, however, beating the Lancers 84-63 in a game that was part of the 2004 Las Vegas Classic.
Gratuitous Linkage: Jim Polzin of the Wisconsin State Journal has a great piece on a player Creighton fans will become familiar with on Friday night in Vegas, 6’1″guard Ben Brust who has two double-doubles already this season.
This Date in Creighton Hoops History: On November 20, 2000, Creighton nearly doubled-up Western Illinois in the season opener, winning 96-50 at the Civic. A stifling press and three treys by sophomore forward Kyle Korver pushed the Jays to a 15-0 lead at the 16:05 mark, as they coasted to their fifth-largest margin of victory in nearly 600 games at the venerable building.
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day: It’s not like I need an excuse to show MC Hammer, but when he performs with Psy on a mashup of Gangnam Style/Too Legit 2 Quit, I’m legally required by the laws that govern Polyfro Primers to play that video.
The Bottom Line: More big minutes for the bench in this one. You know what that means: another huge dunk by Mo Oginni!
Creighton 90, Longwood 57