Its perplexing to me that Wichita State could be 8-0 on the road in the Missouri Valley, yet 5-3 at home. That doesn’t make any sense. I mean, if you flip-flopped those records, it would be pretty much what you’d expect from the team leading the league, right? Protect home court, win most of your road games, and you’ll compete for the title. Instead, the Shockers have done the exact opposite — the result is the same at the end, but its odd. After looking up their recent history to refresh my memory, though, maybe I shouldn’t be so perplexed: this is the fourth time in the last five years the Shockers have lost four or more times at home in the arena Shocker fans proudly boast is the Missouri Valley’s loudest. Huh. Clearly high noise levels don’t equate to wins.
Their fourth home loss this year came out of conference on Friday night when VCU kayoed the Shockers at-large hopes for the NCAA Tournament. That contest was a see-saw battle, with Wichita’s point guard, Joe Ragland, hitting two free throws with 4.9 seconds left to give them the lead — only to see VCU draw a foul on the other end with under a second left, hit both throws, and get the win. As Paul Suellentrop of the Wichita Eagle told us, “Without question it badly damaged WSU’s at-large resume, which was already on the border.”
Losing any game in that fashion is tough; losing the lead-off game of ESPN BracketBusters in primetime that way makes it harder to swallow, I’m sure. Its the type of loss that good teams take out on their next opponent, which just so happens to be the team they hate the most in Creighton. When you consider tonight is also Senior Night for their collection of excellent seniors, you begin to see why many Jays fans are pessimistic about their chances of even keeping things close. I’m worried about tonight’s game — not worried that they’ll lose, because most people figure they will, but worried that it’ll be ugly.
In the first meeting back in January, Creighton forced the Shockers into shooting 36% from the field and 9% from behind the arc (1-11) in the opening stanza en route to a three-point halftime lead. Like all good teams, the Shockers are a balanced team that can score and defend for 40 minutes, and when one facet of their game isn’t clicking, they can stay close enough until it is; in the game in Omaha, for example, when they were struggling to score, they ratcheted up the defensive pressure to flip the momentum. Creighton’s three primary interior players (Doug McDermott, Gregory Echenique and Kenny Lawson) had fewer shot attempts combined than Antoine Young did by himself. Seriously, that’s a real stat. McDermott attempted 7, Echenique attempted 5 and Lawson had 4 while Young took 18. That’s what their defensive pressure does to a team: it forces you into taking shots you don’t want to take. And in large part, its how they turned a three-point halftime deficit into a 14-point win. Those 18 attempts are significant in another way, too: Creighton is 13-1 this season when Young takes 11 field goal attempts or less.
They’re a team that doesn’t overwhelm you with star talent, but with outstanding depth. J.T. Durley is the closest thing to a First-Team All MVC player of their roster, but most observers would agree he’s not a lock to be voted onto that elite crew. Durley averages 11.4 points and 5.1 rebounds, good numbers to be sure but not the sort of numbers that make a player a unanimous first teamer. He’s backed by six other players who average 6.4 points or more a game, and four other players who average 3.75 rebounds or more a game. They have ten players — 10 — who have scored more than 115 points to date and there’s just a 6.7 ppg differential between leading scorer Durley and the number 10 guy on that list (Demetric Williams, who averages 4.6 ppg). They’re tough offensively not because of unstoppable talent, but because they have so many good players you can’t stop everyone — and because their defense forces turnovers, which leads to easy fastbreak baskets.
The Shockers average a league-high 73.5 points per game while giving up just 61.8 per game. They also lead the MVC in scoring margin (+11.7), rebound margin (+9.0), field goal percentage (.473), field goal percentage defense (.409), rebounding offense (38.0), rebounding defense (29.0), offensive rebounds (11.7), defensive rebounds (26.3), defensive rebound percentage (.752), offensive rebound percentage (.365) and assists per game (15.3). They have one of the toughest arenas in the midwest to visit in Koch Arena, where they’ve sold out every game this year. Its inexplicable how this team has lost four times at home. Can the Jays make it five? Oh boy, do I hope so — Wichita hasn’t swept the season series since 1988 — but I’m not counting on it.
If the Jays do pull off the stunner, Doug McDermott will be the centerpiece. He grabbed 16 rebounds to go along with 16 points on Saturday in their loss at Akron, which was the eighth time in sixteen MVC games that he’s had a double-double. That’s the most double-doubles for a Bluejay since Nate King had nine double-doubles for Rick Johnson’s final disastrous squad in 1993-94. His 16 boards also made him the first Bluejay since Bob Harstad in 1990-91 to have multiple games of 16 or more rebounds in the same season. Fun fact: No Bluejay has had consecutive games of 16 or more rebounds since Benoit Benjamin in 1985, and prior to this year, Creighton had not had a player grab 16+ rebounds in any game since 1995.
His total of 231 rebounds are also the most by any Bluejay since King’s 1993-94 total of 242 — a number McDermott should easily beat with a minimum of three games remaining. Here’s the thing that shocked me though: he currently leads the MVC with 8.0 rebounds per game, and if that holds, he’ll join Bob Harstad (in 1988-89) as the only Creighton players to pace the MVC in rebounding. Of course, the great Paul Silas and his insane rebounding totals played on the Hilltop during their days as an independent, but still.
About the Shockers: The Shockers eight straight road wins are tied with their 1982-83 team for most in school history; that team finished 8-1 away from home … In the past seven games, junior guard Ben Smith has led the Shockers in scoring three times. He scored 16 points against Bradley Jan. 29, 14 points against Illinois State on Feb. 5, and 17 points against Evansville on Feb. 15. He has hit 31 three-pointers on the season, while shooting 44% from behind the arc … Wichita State has won 19 of the 20 games it has led at the half … Since Gregg Marshall arrived, WSU has out-rebounded 99 of 127 opponents, which includes all but the San Diego State, Indiana State and Southern Illinois games this season. WSU now carries a plus-9.3 rebound margin, which ranks in the top five in the NCAA … The Shockers are shooting 73.3% from the line through 28 games, which would rank third all-time on the season team free throw percentage list if the season stopped today. Last year, WSU shot a WSU-record-high 74.6% from the line … Point guard Joe Ragland (88.1) leads WSU in free throw percentage … Senior forward J.T. Durley leads WSU in overall scoring at 11.3 points a game, and has scored in double figures in all but two Valley games this season. He is averaging 11.4 ppg in MVC play and had a season high 19 points at Southern Illinois.
One Big Paragraph with Lots O’Dots™: Creighton has allowed the Shockers to score 70 or more points in just seven of their previous 35 meetings, and in the 28 matchups the Shockers scored under 70, the Jays have won 25 … Creighton is 13-2 since 1994-95 in games vs. Wichita State decided by four points or less … Creighton has overcome a double-digit deficit to beat Wichita State five times since 2003, a list that includes a 57-55 win over the Shockers on Jan. 28, 2006 in which WSU had led 25-6 before eventually falling on a buzzer-beater by CU’s Anthony Tolliver … The only two Jays who were alive the last time Wichita State swept the season series from Creighton are Darryl Ashford and Casey Harriman … Creighton is 5-6 in its last 11 games, which includes a perfect 5-0 mark at home, but an 0-6 mark on the road. The five wins have been by a combined 68 points, while the six losses have been by a combined 28 points … Creighton is 0-3 on Fox Sports Net this season, has lost four straight on the network dating to last season’s MVC Tournament, and has not had a winning record in games on Fox Sports Net since 2006-07 … Antoine Young owns 397 points and 134 assists so far this year. It’s been 25 years since Creighton has had a player with 400 or more points and 130 or more assists, as Vernon Moore in 1985-85 (671 points, 159 assists) was the last to do so.
The Last Time They Played: Wichita State snapped a 17-game losing streak in Omaha with a 68-54 win over Creighton at Qwest Center Omaha on January 12. Creighton took a 28-25 halftime lead, led by seven points from Gregory Echenique and eight rebounds by Doug McDermott. Their largest lead came midway through the second half when Kaleb Korver drained a three-pointer to make it 41-35 Bluejays with 13:43 left. Wichita State answered with a 9-0 run to take the lead for good. After a Korver pull-up jumper in the lane cut Creighton’s deficit to one point (44-43), WSU used another 8-1 run to go ahead by eight, 52-44, with 9:38 remaining. The Shockers continued to expand their lead, going ahead by as much as 68-52 before one final basket from the Jays.
The Series: Creighton has dominated the series no matter which way you slice and dice the numbers. They lead the all-time series with Wichita State by a 52-42 margin, including wins in five of the past eight meetings, and have also won 28-of-36 and 35-of-46 vs. the Shockers in recent seasons. They had won 17 in a row at home before the loss this past January. And they haven’t been swept in the regular season since 1987-88.
Greg McDermott is 7-5 all-time vs. Wichita State (0-1 at Creighton), including a 2-3 record in road games. He has won both of his two most recent trips to Charles Koch Arena while at UNI. McDermott is 0-1 against Gregg Marshall, while Marshall is 3-5 against Creighton.
Gratuitous Linkage: What if there was a sequel to E.T., except this time the aliens weren’t just visiting, but were invading? Spliced together from clips of Henry Thomas movies hardly anyone has ever seen, along with clips from other more recognizable movies, this absolutely remarkable fake trailer shows us what that movie might look like. Its astonishing. Its awesome. And sadly, someone is Hollywood will see it and think its actually a good idea.
Out of Context Simpsons quote:
Homer – “Got any of that beer that has candy floating in it? You know, Skittlebrau?”
Apu – “Such a beer does not exist, sir. I think you must have dreamed it.”
Homer – “Oh. Well, then just give me a six-pack and a couple of bags of Skittles”
This Date in Creighton Hoops History: On February 23, 2002, Terrell Taylor came off the bench to score 19 points as Creighton clinched at least a share of the Missouri Valley title with an 80-64 win at Bradley. Kyle Korver added 13 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the Bluejays, who moved to 19-7 and 14-3 MVC with the win.
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day: Yup, this is happening.
The Bottom Line: I hope Creighton wins by 20. I think they’ll lose by 10. So lets be slightly optimistic here and go with this:
Wichita State 76, Creighton 67