For the second consecutive Saturday, Creighton and Wichita State will battle on the ESPN family of networks. Tomorrow’s rematch in Omaha should be interesting, because once the initial energy and push from Wichita State wore off last Saturday, the teams more or less played a close game, although its to Wichita’s credit that they kept Creighton at arms-length. Its also been designated as a “White-Out” game, giving me a great excuse to bust out my Rodney Buford-era “1999 NCAA Tournament” t-shirt from Orlando, which is the only non-blue item of Jays clothing I own. Its getting a little thin so I have to be judicious with how often I wear, and thus launder, the shirt.
Gregg Marshall’s Shocker team continues to roll along, winning by 11 in Terre Haute earlier this week. They sit at 16-2 overall, with a 5-1 record in the MVC and are tied for second behind Northern Iowa. A sweep of the Jays would be their first in almost 20 years, as the Shockers haven’t won in Omaha since 1992. That’s 16 consecutive losses, if you’re scoring at home. The last win was in February of 1992, and featured a big performance off the Shocker bench by backup center Paul Wight, better known by his WWE stage name “The Big Show.” The seven-footer played a career-high 18 minutes in that game, scoring eight points and grabbing seven rebounds.
That streak isn’t going to continue forever, and Gregg Marshall’s style of play is well-suited to take on the road in tough environments and play well. They rely on tough defense, solid rebounding and high-percentage shots, which are things that replicate well away from home. Creighton played much more physical on Wednesday against Southern Illinois than they have at any point this season. My question is whether that was a one-game aberration, or whether they can continue do play that way. They’ll really need to tomorrow, because we know the Shockers will play with a chip on their shoulder, determined to leave Omaha with a win for the first time in 17 years.
In their first meeting, Wichita State came out blazing and took a 8-0 lead to start the game. They were up 11-1 when Kenny Lawson Jr. dunked home CU’s first field goal with 16:02 left in the first half. Wichita State led 13-3 at the first media timeout and maintained that lead at the second media timeout, still leading 20-10. The Jays would never get closer than 10 points the rest of the day.
They shot just 40% from the floor, and made only 2-11 from three-point range. Their 59% free-throw percentage continued a disturbing trend. And their defense allowed four Wichita State players to score in double-figures, led by 17 points from Graham Hatch.
There were some bright spots in the game, however. Lawson had 15 points and a team-best six rebounds, while Antoine Young tied a season-high with 10 points. They beat the Shockers on the glass by a 34-33 margin, just the second team to out-board WSU all season.
Its a big game tomorrow. Win and go to 4-3 in the league, climb back to .500 overall, and continue to carry some momentum into Normal this week. Lose and fall to 3-4 in the league, 8-10 overall, with losses to the two top teams in the league on your home court.
One Big Paragraph with Lots O’Dots™: If the game is close, the huge disparity in free throw shooting between the team’s point guards could be key. Clevin Hannah leads the nation with a 95.2% accuracy at the foul line, while Antoine Young is under 50% … The Shockers only losses are to Pitt (on a neutral court in Kansas City) and at Illinois State. Not coincidentally, those are the only two games all season in which they’ve scored fewer than 60 points … Wichita State allows just 59.2 points per game, good for 16th best nationally … Toure’ Murry leads a group of three Shockers who average in double-figures. Murry averages 13 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists per game, and also tops the team with 31 steals this season … Junior big man JT Durley averages 12 points and 5 rebounds, while senior point guard Clevin Hannah averages 11 points and 5 assists per game. His 72 assists lead the team … Wichita State is coached by Gregg Marshall, a 1985 alum of Randolph-Macon University, who owns a 44-39 mark in his third year with the Shockers. That moves his career mark to 238-122 in 12 years.
The Last Time They Played: Last Saturday’s 70-58 Shocker win was recapped by both Otter and Patrick Marshall here on White & Blue Review.
The Series: Creighton leads the all-time series with Wichita State by a 51-41 margin, including wins in four of the past six meetings. The Bluejays have swept the season series with the Shockers in nine of the last 15 seasons, and they’ve won 27 of the last 34 and 34 of the last 44 vs. the Shockers.
Further, Altman is 29-8 all-time vs. Wichita State, including a 26-7 mark since coming to Creighton. Altman’s 29 wins over Wichita State are five more victories than any other school he’s beaten. And lastly, Altman is 4-2 against Gregg Marshall. You bet.
Catching Up With…: Remember Jamar Howard? Yeah, he got arrested this week after nearly four years as a fugitive listed on an Arkansas county’s Top Ten Most Wanted list. Rare is the guy who is a team’s best player AND biggest head case. It was so easy to get inside his head and take him out of his game, something which happened frequently on the road in the MVC and perhaps played a role in Wichita State struggling to get over the hump during Howard’s years. They made their big NCAA Tournament run the year after he left.
Gratuitous Linkage: In December of 1970, Elvis visited the White House and met Richard Nixon. Everybody’s seen the photo. What you probably haven’t seen (or read) is the story behind how that meeting came to be. Its a fascinating tale of Elvis stopping off to buy a donut, fighting off some punks who admired his gold chains, bringing a loaded gun onto a plane in open sight, bringing that same loaded gun into the White House to present to Nixon…and none of those things are even the funniest part of the story. Trust me, this is a fantastic read.
The Totally Random Song I’d Play Right Now if I was Still a Radio DJ: Creighton won on Wednesday when I played Van Halen’s “Hot For Teacher”, so let’s keep a good thing going. More Van Halen, comin’ up!
The Pick: I think a big Saturday afternoon crowd is going to be the X-Factor in this game. A loud, feisty crowd that gives the team energy, like they did on Wednesday, will propel the Jays to a big, big win. Close game throughout, though.
Creighton 73, Wichita State 67