Salt in the Wound. Then a Blowout (Sort Of)

Salt in the Wound

After the Jays put together an 11-0 run late in the second half on Thursday, which began with 6:30 remaining and down by nine points, the crowd collectively started to think, “This game is actually going to end up just like last year’s game with UNI.” The problem is, that’s exactly what happened. It ended just like last year’s MVC Tourney Final game though, not the home game where the Jays stormed back from another large deficit to claim a regular season win.

This time, as Sam Schuett’s pair of free throws with 3:28 to play gave Creighton a 55-54 lead, their first since leading 23-22 in the final minutes of the first half, the Panthers did something familiar: they switched from man-to-man defense to a zone defense. After that defensive change, Jim Flanery’s squad failed to effectively attack the basket, essentially losing by a single point. Sound familiar now? Probably because it is. That finish couldn’t be more reminiscent of the game last March where that same defensive switch on the Panther’s part caused poor shot selection and sloppy passing.

Ultimately, in 11 minutes and 45 seconds of zone defense, Creighton is 1-11 from the field with nine turnovers. Not exactly a recipe for success. Despite this, there are positives to take from such a “salty” finish, if you will.  For instance, on the offensive end of the floor an 18-7 rebounding advantage led to a 15-6 second chance points edge. Even on an average shooting day, these extra possessions should have helped the Jays tremendously. Unfortunately for them, they shot 3-19 from downtown, just over 15%. Take their 31.9% average on the season and do the math.  An average shooting day would equate to 6-19 from distance. Add nine points, take the derivative of that, divide by x, find the square root, and BOOM, you’ve got yourself a seven-point win.

In a game that comes down to the wire, it’s usually the little things that make a difference.  Yet, the last two games against UNI have had one big thing holding back the Jays: trouble playing against a zone defense. If Coach Flanery can find a way to address this nagging problem with zones even on poor shooting days, winning games like this in the future is certainly not out of the picture. Though, keep in mind that there is no other way to explain scoring just two points in over 11 minutes of play against zone than the simple “poor offensive execution” explanation. And that’s not exactly a quick fix.  Luckily, the Jays had an opportunity to bounce back quickly as they had a matchup with the struggling Bradley Braves just two days later.

Then, a blowout (well, sort of)

Less than 48 hours after swallowing the toughest loss of the year, Creighton got a chance to bounce back. You’re probably thinking, “I saw the box score. They won by 15 points, of course they bounced back.” But it wasn’t necessarily easy on the eyes.  Not the kind of blowout you like to see.

On paper, a 15-point win looks like a solid way to walk out of the gym on Saturday, and it is. But it wasn’t pretty to say the least. Considering the fact that Creighton forced 23 turnovers from Bradley and committed just 11 themselves, the question is: How did we only win by 15?  Frankly, the answer is that we gave up easy buckets. And a lot of them. Part of this sloppy play may be attributed to the fact that the Jays never trailed and got too comfortable, but the fact is that some of the sloppy play is eerily to similar to the easy buckets that Northern Iowa used to build a large lead. Transition defense continues to be troubling at times.

In summary, the game looked over early as they built leads of up to 13 in the first half, but instead, the Jays took something out of the men’s basketball team’s playbook and allowed Bradley to stick around too long. With a 7-0 run to the finish the half, the Braves pulled to within five points at the half. The second half seemed to be a game of cat and mouse where the Bluejays would pull ahead, and then Bradley would get back to within striking distance. Although by the the nine-minute mark an 8-2 run by Carli Tritz herself put the Jays up by double digits for good, those free lay-ups and open jumpers allowed this game to keep from getting out of hand..  Strong free throw shooting down the stretch, which has seemed to be a rarity this year, allowed them to keep a solid lead and finish with a comfortable, but sloppy 73-58 victory.

Weekend Review

The weekend overall has to be looked at as a bit disappointing in the respect that the girls let a late lead slip in a huge matchup, and allowed one of this year’s bottom-feeders, Bradley, to stick around for most of the game. There really isn’t much to say about it. It seemed to be two typical men’s Jays games this year.  Same song, different team, I mean verse: Jays had a late lead, then let it slip in a huge game. Then, Jays got up early, let a poor team hang around too long, but ended up picking up the “W.”  This luckily hasn’t been a theme and *fingers crossed* won’t become a habit. There are absolutely problems that need to be fixed in order to contend for a regular season and/or conference tournament championship, but fortunately for Coach Jim Flanery, there are certainly bright spots. They know they can play with any team in the conference, even when they aren’t shooting the ball well.  They know they have miles and miles of improvement that is possible thanks to the potential provided by the five active freshman who are experiencing their first go-around through the Valley.  Because I’m an optimist, we’ll end on a high note:  the brightest of these all have to be freshman Carli Tritz.  Her six points and ten rebounds in the UNI game are solid numbers. Her three steals are certainly respectable. Yet more impressive is her number of tipped balls. Time after time, it seems like she finds a way to get her hand in the passing lane.  This doesn’t show up on the stat sheet, but her athleticism was on full display this weekend, and it is much needed throughout the remainder of the season. Oh and she had 17 points, eight boards, five assists, and three steals on Saturday. I suppose that doesn’t hurt either.

Next up is Illinois State who sits at 2-3 in the conference. With a win against the Redbirds on Thursday, the Jays can move into a three-way tie for first-place with Missouri State and UNI.