Creighton wraps up the non-conference portion of their schedule Thursday against the UMKC Kangaroos. Picked seventh in the preseason WAC poll after finishing 10-22 (5-9 in the league) a year ago, things have more or less gone as predicted so far for the ‘Roos.
They began the season 0-6 and their fortunes haven’t turned around much since. Among those six opening-season losses were a 31-point drubbing against Loyola-Chicago, a 14-point loss at Iowa, a 28-point loss at UCONN, and a home loss to the Fightin’ D-Rock’s of Drake University. They’ve won five games since, one against an NAIA team (Avila), two against sub-300 teams (McNeese State and Elon), and two against middle-of-the-road types (IPFW and South Dakota).
5’8″ junior guard Xavier Bishop leads them in scoring and assists with 17.0 points and 4.5 assists per game, and was named to the Preseason All-WAC Second Team. Last season, Bishop started 28 games for the Roos, leading the team at 11.6 points and 3.3 assists, while adding 2.9 rebounds and nearly a steal a game. Though he led them in scoring a year ago, he topped the 20-point mark just three times; he’s done that four times already this year including 27 against Drake (on the strength of 9-of-11 shooting inside the arc), 28 at Eastern Washington (thanks to making 8-of-10 free throws and 4-of-7 from three-point range), and 23 against Morehead State.
Bishop is hard to keep from scoring if he can get to the rim; almost 40% of his shot attempts are the result of him driving at the rack off the dribble and creating a shot for himself, and he makes them nearly 70% of the time. But if you can stop his dribble and force a mid-range jumper? He makes just 25.9%, which is obviously a huge drop-off. He is a pretty good shooter from behind the arc, curiously, making 38% of his threes.
Rob Whitfield is the only other player averaging in double-figures, scoring 13.4 points with 3.2 rebounds and just under a steal per game. Almost 70% of his shots have been three-pointers, and for good reason: he’s made a whopping 45.2% of his threes this season, has connected on at least four treys in a game five different times this year, and has made three treys four in four other games. He’s really good at making threes, and really consistent, in other words.
Brandon McKissic averages 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds, and has scored in double figures eight times including 15 at Loyola-Chicago (3-of-3 from three-point range), 14 at Iowa (2-of-4 on threes), and 10 at UCONN. His splits aren’t nearly as extreme as Whitfield; McKissic’s shots are almost evenly distributed between attempts near the rim, two-point jumpers, and threes. He’s had moments where he shoots well from long range, but generally speaking is an average shooter from more than five feet out (he shoots 51% near the rim, but just 30% on mid-range jumpers and 34% on threes).
Danny Dixon is their leading rebounder, at 5.1 per game, and also contributes 9.0 points. A 6’10”, 230-pound junior, Dixon primarily plays near the rim on offense and nearly 60% of his shot attempts have been layups or dunks. He does have decent touch on his jumper, though, making 41.5% of his jump shots inside the arc.
Other players of note include Jamel Allen, a 6’7″, 210-pound junior who averages 7.7 points and 4.5 rebounds per game; Jordan Giles, a 6’7″, 225-pound junior who scores 8.1 points and grabs 2.9 boards a game; and Marvin Nesbitt, Jr., who averages 3.3 rebounds a game.
- Tip: 7:00pm
- Venue: CHI Health Center Omaha
- TV: FS1
- Announcers: Steve Physioc and Nick Bahe
- In Omaha: Cox channel 78 (SD), 1078 (HD); CenturyLink Prism channel 620 (SD), 1620 (HD)
- Outside Omaha: FS1 Channel Finder
- Satellite: DirecTV channel 219, Dish Network channel 150
- Streaming on FoxSportsGO
- Radio: 1620AM
- Announcers: John Bishop and Josh Dotzler
- Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
- For Cord Cutters
- UMKC head coach Kareem Richardson spent four seasons (2003-07) as assistant coach at Evansville when current Creighton assistant to the head coach Steve Merfeld was the head coach of the Purple Aces.
- In UMKC’s win over Elon on December 22, Jamel Allen was one of six Roos in double figures with a career-high 18 points. Brandon McKissic and Marvin Nesbitt Jr., each scored 15, Xavier Bishop and Rob Whitfield each posted 13 and Jordan Giles chipped in 10. It’s the second time this month UMKC had six players hit double-digits.
- The Kangaroos average 72.5 points per game but allow 74.6 per contest. UMKC has also been outrebounded by 3.7 caroms per contest. One positive note (because I’m trying to end this nicely!): they do average 8.5 steals per game.
- Creighton has made 12.17 three-pointers per game so far this season, easily its most ever if it were to hold up. Last season finished as the best in school history with 10.39 threes per game; the 2013-14 team finished with 10.17
- Creighton was +32 on the glass in its last outing vs. Coe, outrebounding the Kohawks 46-14. It was Creighton’s best rebound differential since Nov. 30, 1990, when Creighton outrebounded Texas-San Antonio 53-21 in a 93-47 victory. Coe did not record an offensive rebound, the first Bluejay opponent without an offensive rebound since No. 16 Villanova on Jan. 2, 2016.
- Creighton allowed just five two-point baskets to Coe last Thursday in 19 attempts. It was the fewest two-point shots by a Bluejay opponent since March 2, 2007, when Indiana State shot just 3-for-20 inside the arc in a 59-38 Creighton win at the MVC Tournament. The Sycamores made 7-of-23 trifectas that day, and 11-of-12 free throws.
Creighton and UMKC have met 12 times, with the Jays winning nine, and five straight. All three losses came on the road at UMKC during the early 90s, the last a 72-70 OT loss in 1995. The Jays have won the last five in the series, and are 7-0 against the Roos in Omaha.
Greg McDermott is 4-1 all-time against UMKC, going 2-1 at UNI and 1-0 at Creighton.
The last time they met, Justin Patton nearly had a double-double in his first collegiate game, logging 12 points and 8 rebounds in an 89-82 win to open the 2016-17 season. On back-to-back possessions early in the game, he took a lob pass and threw down an alley-oop, giving an early glimpse of what was to come from the rising star.
After building a 76-48 lead with around 14 minutes left, Creighton’s reserves very nearly allowed UMKC to pull off an unbelievable comeback. That was just two years ago, and Davion Mintz and Martin Krampelj were both among the reserves who were on the floor when UMKC mounted their run — I’m guessing they remember that pretty well, and will make sure their teammates don’t take their foot off the gas pedal if they get a lead on these guys again.
We’ve picked a fun afternoon road game for our first viewing party of the 2018-19 Creighton men’s basketball season — that’s right, White & Blue Review is hosting a viewing party at Scriptown Brewing Company next Monday (New Years Eve!) for the Providence game!
Join us for:
- FREE PULLED PORK SANDWICHES (while supplies last)
- FUN JAYS-THEMED DRINK SPECIALS
- and, of course, CREIGHTON @ PROVIDENCE!
Join fellow CU fans and let’s paint the Blackstone District BLUE on NYE afternoon!
All the info is on the Facebook event page.
Yikes, has December 27 been a rough day in CU history or what? They haven’t played on this date at all since 1991 (a loss at Northwestern) and have lost their last five games dating back to 1979. The last win on December 27? A 71-70 over Wichita State in 1977. Before that? Three more losses, and you have to go back to 1946 (!!) to find the next win. It’s one of the losingest days on the calendar in CU program history.
That 1977 win was a rather significant one, historically: It was the Jays’ first MVC game when they re-joined the conference 29 years after they left. CU trailed most of the game, and might well have lost had Lynbert “Cheese” Johnson — the Shockers’ star forward — not fouled out. He’d scored eight straight points to give Wichita a 68-61 lead, Levitt Arena was engulfed in chants of “Cheese! Cheese!”, and then he bowled over Rick Apke while driving towards the basket. He was called for charging, his fifth, and then he vehemently protested the call to earn a technical on his way out of the game. In the days before the three-point shot, the opportunity to score three or more on a single possession was huge — and CU did just that, as Apke made the technical free throw, and Randy Eccker hit the charging free throws. That cut the deficit in half, and then their defense stopped the Cheese-less Shockers the rest of the way en route to a 6-2 run over the final two minutes.
It’s been a tradition in the Primer, going back nearly 15 years, to stick Wham’s “Last Christmas” here in the last Primer before Christmas. Well, I didn’t file a Primer for the Coe College game because a regular season game against a D3 school didn’t warrant the full Primer treatment, in all honesty — for me to scout, research and write, and for you to read!
So we’ll do it now!
The Bottom Line:
Creighton builds a big lead, and unlike the 2016 meeting, holds it.
CU 89, UMKC 67
