What was Ben Stein’s line in that 1980s classic movie? “Buer? Buer? Buer?” Close enough right?
The Creighton women (16-6, 8-3 MVC) look to get back on track after suffering two road losses last weekend at Indiana State and Illinois State. With five of their final seven games at home, they have a chance to right the ship and make a stretch run starting Thursday night against Missouri State – and junior guard Karly Buer (not Bueller, for those of you who missed the opening line correlation).
Why highlight a guard who is averaging just 8.0 points per game? Because in my mind, she is a difference maker for the Lady Bears. Missouri State (12-11) is 4-7 in MVC play, but after losing five of their first six Valley contests, they are 3-2 over there last five and a lot of that credit can go to Buer. Not only has she helped MSU pick up their play over the last handful of games, her performance during MVC play last year propelled the Lady Bears to the regular-season title. In mid-January of last year, Buer was re-inserted into the starting lineup and the Bears promptly rattled off 11 straight wins. The 5-foot-7 guard scored in double figures in 14 of MSU’s final 18 games last year, helping them win the title and a pair of WNIT games.
She’s back at it again. She enters the weekend fifth on the team in scoring, but over her last five games she’s nearly doubled her scoring average. She’s scored in double figures in four of the last five games and she’s averaging 15.2 points per game in that span. Not coincidentally, her scoring numbers have skyrocketed as her minutes have. Against Creighton last month, Buer came off the bench and played just 15 minutes in the 73-53 Bluejay win. She returned to the starting lineup and played 23 minutes in her next game, and over her last five games, she has played 184 of 200 possible minutes, averaging 37 minutes per game.
Since scoring just 53 points in consecutive losses to Creighton and Evansville, the Lady Bears have averaged 81.2 points per game in their last five – while allowing 77.4 points. Missouri State will simply try to outscore its opponent, not necessarily try to stop them from scoring. This is evidenced by their national statistical rankings. Out of 343 Division I teams, MSU ranks 337th in team defense, with opponents scoring 74.8 points per game against the Lady Bears this year. Opponents are shooting 36.3 percent from three-point range against the Lady Bears – only two teams in the entire nation (Mercer, Western Michigan) are worse at defending the three than that.
As you may expect, MSU has a winning record because they have a more-than-capable offense. Three Lady Bears average at least 10 points per game to help them rank 28th in the NCAA with 72.0 points per game. Senior Whitney Edie is having a breakout season, leading the team with 15.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game – after averaging just 4.2 points per game through her first three seasons. The 6-foot-1 forward also tops the team with eight double-doubles. Redshirt freshman Kenzie Williams adds 11.3 points per game and a team-high 33 three-pointers, while all-MVC forward Christiana Shorter is averaging 10.0 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.
Creighton hopes to return to form after a pair of down performances on the road. The Bluejays scored a season-low 41 points and had their worst shooting performance (.228) in three years during their 58-41 loss at Indiana State last Friday. They followed with 29 solid minutes at Illinois State, but couldn’t hold on in a 66-60 loss to the Redbirds. ISU put together a 21-3 run over the span of eight minutes to flip a 49-41 Bluejay lead into a 62-52 Redbird lead and take control of the contest.
While on their three-game road trip, the Jays may have experienced a “changing of the guard.” As Steve Pivovar pointed out in the Omaha World-Herald, Carli Tritz’s knee is not treating her well. Anyone who has watched Creighton play this year could have told you as much, but the numbers back it up. After a six turnover performance at Indiana State, Tritz was not in the starting lineup at Illinois State, as rookie sensation Marissa Janning made her first collegiate start. It was the first time since the ninth game of Carli’s freshman season that she came off the bench.
Tritz, who has not scored more than nine points in any MVC game this year, is just 1-for-9 from three-point range with seven turnovers and zero steals in her last two games. Prior to her long range shooting slump, Tritz was connecting on 47.1 percent of her threes. The junior guard still leads the team and ranks second in the MVC with 85 assists, but her 7.9 points per game are down from 14.4 points she averaged during her first-team all-MVC campaign last year.
Janning is averaging 17.6 points per game over her last five, to lift her season scoring average to a team-leading 12.6 per game. She leads the MVC and is 12th in the NCAA in three-point accuracy, making 42.5 percent. While her shooting and scoring are impressive, one of the things that tends to go unnoticed about Janning’s game is her decision making. The rookie is third on the team in assists with 51, but she also has just 38 turnovers. With as much ball-handling as she does, to have a positive assist-turnover ratio as a freshman, may be just as impressive as her shooting ability.
I’ll be spending my fifth Valentine’s Day with the Creighton women’s basketball team this evening and I invite you to do the same. Honestly, do you really want to go out to dinner when the rest of the world is out to dinner too? That’s no fun. Come cheer on the Bluejays at D.J. Sokol Arena.
Random Links, Thoughts and Numbers
- Despite two losses last week, Creighton’s official NCAA RPI is still a very respectable 32.
- Creighton’s “worst” loss of the season is to Indiana State, which currently has an RPI of 121. CU’s other losses and their RPI numbers in parentheses; Oklahoma (22), Kansas (40), Minnesota (71), Wichita State (78), Illinois State (85).
- Creighton (8-3) is two games out of first place after Wichita State (10-1) finally lost its first MVC game last weekend. WSU plays five of its final seven games on the road, while CU plays five of its last seven at home.
- Creighton still leads the NCAA with 9.5 three-pointers made per game, while they rank 8th in 3FG% (.377).
- Creighton has won its last three “dates” on Valentine’s Day and is 5-4 all-time on Feb. 14.
- Carli Tritz enters the weekend with 990 career points, 10 shy of becoming the 12th player to reach 1,000 in three seasons and the 24th 1,000-point scorer in CU history.
- Ally Jensen enters the weekend with 198 career three-pointers, two shy of becoming the fifth player in school history with 200 (Kathy Halligan, Dayna Finch, Kelsey Woodard, Laura Spanheimer).
- Sammy Jensen is 6-for-6 from three-point range in home MVC games this year.
- Sarah Nelson had 10 points and 10 rebounds against Missouri State last month.
- Alexis Akin-Otiko played a career-high 22 minutes at Illinois State last Sunday. Akin-Otiko has played more minutes than starting post Alyssa Kamphaus in each of the last three games.
- Creighton made 13 three-pointers at Missouri State last month, including four from Ally Jensen and a first-half, half-court, buzzer-beater from Marissa Janning which appeared on SportsCenter’s Top-10 Plays that night.
- Tritz scored a career-high 29 points against Missouri State in the MVC Title game last year, out-scoring the Lady Bears by herself in the second half (27-24).
- Missouri State is the only MVC team to own two wins at D.J. Sokol Arena, winning two of its first three trips to CU’s new facility.
- MSU’s 82 points on Jan. 9, 2010 are still the most scored by an opponent at D.J. Sokol Arena.
- Listen to myself and Brad Burwell on 1180 AM in Omaha or online. Video and live stats are also available.
Rob Simms worked in the Creighton athletic department for 11 years, primarily working with the men’s soccer, women’s basketball and softball teams. He now serves as the color analyst for women’s basketball home radio broadcasts. He tweets about Creighton a lot @IamRobSimms