In this week’s preview:
- Jays and Shockers Pulling Away
- Munn Makes a Difference
- Smith’s Numbers Going Down
- Nelson for MVC Player of the Year
- Creighton’s Résumé vs. Creighton’s Résumé
- Two Jays Approaching Milestones
- Valentine’s Day Proposal from a Bluejay
- Why I Don’t Like Panera
Unlike the men’s side of the Missouri Valley Conference, the women play a pure round robin schedule – through nine Valley games each team has faced each other once. And at the halfway point, Creighton and Wichita State find themselves in a clear two-team race for the title.
The Shockers (9-0) are off to their best MVC start in program history, beating every team through their first round of Valley play. At 8-1, Creighton is just one game behind WSU, with their lone loss coming in Wichita on Jan. 19. Creighton’s 16-4 start is its best under Jim Flanery and its best 20-game start since 1994 when the program earned its only NCAA at-large bid. Illinois State, UNI and Evansville follow in the MVC standings, trailing WSU by four games and CU by three games with a 5-4 Valley record.
Creighton (16-4, 8-1 MVC) begins its second trip through the MVC on Friday night in Terre Haute. The Sycamores (12-8, 4-5 MVC) are 8-2 at the Hulman Center this season, with both losses coming in Valley play – ISU lost 54-52 to UNI at home and dropped a 55-54 contest to Evansville in Terre Haute. In fact, outside of their 19-point loss in Omaha on Jan. 13, the Sycamores have been competitive in their other four Valley defeats. They dropped a one-point game at Illinois State late in January and came up just short at league-leading Wichita State, 53-46, last Sunday.
Indiana State has built its success on defense this season, as the Sycamores rank second in the league and 28th in the NCAA by allowing just 53.5 points per game. That average has climbed to 58.2 points allowed in league games – as they have not held an opponent below 53 points in their last six games (during which they are 2-4).
Creighton no doubt benefited from not having to see the Sycamores leading scorer when the teams met last month. Anna Munn was injured in ISU’s game at Drake on Jan. 11 and the only game she missed this year was CU’s 69-50 win over ISU. Not only does Munn top the team and rank second in the league with 15.5 points per game, but she also leads the league with 54 three-pointer made. She accounts for 54 of ISU’s 79 made three-pointers this year. The junior guard, who scored a career-high 27 points last Friday night at Missouri State, also leads the league by playing 37 minutes per game.
The Sycamores looked lost on offense without Munn in Omaha, as you might expect a team to look like when they have one day to prepare to play without their leading scorer and minutes leader. ISU made only 2-of-11 three-pointers in their previous match-up with the Jays.
On the flip side, Creighton was its typical self in the 19-point win; making 10 three-pointers and receiving 38 points from its bench. Reserves Jordan Garrison (14) and Marissa Janning (13) led the Bluejay scoring, as both guards went 3-for-6 from three-point range in the win. Carli Tritz dished seven assists and had zero turnovers in the win and the Bluejays out-rebounded a very good rebounding Sycamore squad.
I’d expect a far more competitive game in Terre Haute than the one Bluejay fans witnessed in Omaha last month, but lets hope it’s not as exciting as last year’s visit to the Hulman Center. Last January, the Bluejays trailed by nine at halftime, were down by 12 early in the second half and trailed 60-50 with less than six minutes to play before closing the game on a 14-2 run to pull out a 64-62 win. Tritz, who scored 17 of her team-high 19 points in the second half, drained the game-winning shot with 2.0 seconds left on the clock to cap the thrilling comeback.
Creighton has won its last eight meetings with the Sycamores and 11 of its last 12 match-ups with ISU, while third-year ISU head coach Teri Moren has never defeated the Bluejays. Hopefully the insertion of Munn back into the ISU lineup won’t be enough to make up the 19-point margin of defeat the Sycamores suffered without her and the Bluejays can continue their streak against the Trees.
On Sunday the Bluejays will meet up with Illinois State (13-8, 5-4 MVC) at Redbird Arena. I’m glad before my time was through at Creighton that I was able to see all of the renovations and new arenas around the league, but I am bummed to find out that Redbird Arena received a new floor following last year. Their old floor had more dead spots than … something that has a lot of dead spots, poor analogy I know, but I feel like I made my point. It was awful, just amazing to walk around that court and hear and feel the different sounds when dribbling. The invasion of personal space by the ISU dance team on press row at Redbird Arena will not be missed however, I always felt guilty for not have any dollar bills for them.
Illinois State is a mystery to me. They appeared to be cruising along until getting crushed by Creighton in Omaha last month. The Redbirds entered their game at D.J. Sokol Arena with a 10-4 record and a 2-0 MVC start which included a 31-point drubbing of UNI. But the Redbirds had their wings clipped by the Bluejays, walking away from Omaha with a 64-45 loss to equal their lowest scoring output of the season.
Since entering their first meeting with Creighton at 10-4, the Redbirds are just 3-4 in their last seven games. Janae Smith, the early season frontrunner for MVC Newcomer of the Year, has seen her production slow down since her early season tear. When the team’s first met, Smith had been named the Valley Newcomer of the Week six times in the first nine weeks of the season. She’s not won the award since – which happens to coincide with ISU’s 3-4 stretch. The 6-foot-1 sophomore transfer from the College of Charleston was averaging 16.6 points and 9.5 rebounds per game when CU and ISU-red first met, while her last seven games have seen her average 10.7 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. She exploded onto the MVC scene by averaging 22 points and 12.5 rebounds in her first two conference games, while last weekend at Wichita State and Missouri State she averaged 6.0 points and 8.0 rebounds – including season-lows of four points and 17 minutes in ISU’s 91-76 loss to the Lady Bears. She has not recorded a double-double over her last seven games, after posting six through her first 14 games with the Redbirds.
Creighton’s defense was stifling in the first meeting with the Redbirds, as no ISU player scored in double figures in CU’s 19-point win. The Redbirds shot just 28.8 percent from the field and the Bluejays controlled the paint, out-scoring ISU 36-18 inside. CU’s six three-pointers against Illinois State equaled their season-low inside Valley play, as the Jays shot just 30 percent from beyond the arc. Creighton didn’t need the long ball however, as it shot 55 percent inside the three-point line and finished at 47 percent from the field for the game, while also outrebounding the Redbirds.
Sarah Nelson posted a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds in the first meeting with the Redbirds, not to mention the seven assists and three blocks she added while holding Smith in check. Nelson has now posted a double-double in each of her last three games against the Redbirds.
Smith still leads the team with 14.6 points per game and her 9.0 rebounds per game lead the MVC. Jamie Russell is close behind, averaging 14.1 points – including a team-leading 14.8 points per game in Valley play. Russell’s 51 steals on the season also lead the league. Candace Sykes leads the team with 47 three-pointers and adds 13.6 points per game to give the Redbirds a potent scoring trio – which was limited to a combined 25 points in their first meeting with the Jays. Alexis Jenkins leads the Valley with her 2.0 assist-turnover ratio.
How amazing is it that on Creighton’s campus sits the best three-point shooting teams in both men’s and women’s basketball? The women continue to lead the NCAA by averaging 9.6 three-pointers made per game and their 39.0 three-point percentage has climbed to third in the nation. CU’s numbers inside Valley play are even more gaudy, as the Jays are shooting 41.2 percent from three-point range and averaging better than 10 triples per game in conference action.
Freshman Marissa Janning again leads the league in three-point accuracy, making 41.9 percent of her three-point attempts. Janning’s 44 three-pointers made on the year are just one behind team-leader Ally Jensen’s 45 trifectas. Jensen enters her final ISU road trip with 193 career three-pointers, just seven shy of becoming the fifth player in CU history to reach 200 threes.
After playing what ESPN’s Graham Hays called a “near-perfect” game against Drake – in which she scored 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting and had seven rebounds, seven assists, three blocks, a steal and no turnovers – Nelson is again on top of the MVC in field-goal accuracy, shooting 51.9 percent from the field. The forward isn’t solely working in the paint – she needs just one more three-pointer this year to equal the total she had in her first two seasons combined. As evidenced by her six games with at least six assists this year, she’s not your typical post player. In fact, Nelson is the ONLY forward in the top-120 players in the country in assist-turnover ratio. The Omaha Westside product ranks second in the league and 51st in the NCAA with a sparkling 1.9 assist-turnover ratio. With 74 assists, she trails Tritz by just four for the team-lead. Oh yeah, she also leads the MVC in blocked shots.
Typing that paragraph makes me realize that the “Nelson for MVC Player of the Year” campaign should really be in full force over these last nine games.
Two more big games from Nelson and two more Creighton wins this weekend will only help fuel that argument.
Random Links, Thoughts and Numbers
My Twitter followers may have noticed this interesting résumé comparison I made on Thursday. Take a look:
Team A: 16-4, 8-1 Conference, 29 RPI, 62 SOS, 1-2 vs. Top 50
Team B: 20-4, 9-3 Conference, 32 RPI, 105 SOS, 2-2 vs. Top 50
Team A is the Creighton women. Team B is the Creighton men. Isn’t it interesting to wipe away national rankings and perception and just look at the numbers? Everyone believes that the men are a “lock” for the NCAA Tournament, but the women hardly receive a mention around Omaha. When you break down these numbers, I would say that neither Creighton basketball team is a lock and both teams need to keep winning to remain in control of their own fate.
On with the bullet points:
- For the third time this season the Bluejays have received one vote in the AP poll. Hopefully the Jays can change history this time, as each of the previous two times the Jays earned a point in the poll, they followed with a loss (vs. Oklahoma and vs. Wichita State)
- At 16-4 through 20 games, the Bluejays are off to their best start in Jim Flanery’s 11 seasons at the helm, besting the 2002-03 and 2004-05 squads which started 15-5.
- The last time Creighton opened the season 16-4 was in 1993-94 – the only year the Bluejays earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.
- If Creighton hits its average number of three-pointers on Friday night it will surpass 200 three-pointers for the sixth straight season and the eighth time in Flan’s 11 seasons. Prior to the Flan era, the Bluejays had surpassed 200 three-pointers in a season just twice in program history.
- Creighton has made at least 10 three-pointers in nine games this year, including five of nine MVC games.
- Marissa Janning not only leads the MVC in three-point shooting, she ranks 17th in the NCAA and remains the most accurate three-point shooting freshman in the NCAA. She’s scored 43 points in her last two games to raise her team-leading scoring average to 13.9 points in MVC games.
- Carli Tritz enters the weekend with 981 career points, looking to become the first junior since Kelsey Woodard to eclipse the 1,000 point mark.
- The last time CU and Illinois State met, all 10 healthy Bluejays scored in the 19-point win.
- Creighton has not won at Illinois State since 2010, the last time it swept the ISU road trip.
- Creighton is coming off its highest scoring game since 2003, as they blasted Drake 98-71 for their fourth straight win last Saturday.
- Not surprisingly, the Bluejay bench had its highest scoring game of the season at Drake, as the Jays received 40 points from their reserves last weekend.
- McKenzie Fujan (who again had her name flipped by a media source last week in Des Moines) checks in with this week’s Tuesdays With the Bluejays and invites you to spend Valentine’s Day with her! (And her teammates and Missouri State.)
- Congrats to senior Ally Jensen and former Creighton men’s tennis player Kyle Obermeier on their recent engagement.
- Too much parsley.
- Friday’s game at Indiana State can be heard on 1620 AM in Omaha and Sunday’s game at Illinois State will be broadcast on 1180 AM.
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