Game 9 (2:30 p.m.) #2 Creighton (20-9) vs. #5 Northern Iowa (16-15)
TV: Fox Sports Net (Cox Channel 47 in Omaha, DirecTV Channel 671, Dish Network 418)
Radio: Koil 1180 AM
Season Series
This game will be the rubber match for the two teams, with each winning a game on their home court. In the first meeting, Creighton came back from an 18-point deficit with a little over 14 minutes to go. Chevelle Herring and Megan Neuvirth led the Bluejays’ comeback, scoring 27 of their combined 32 points in the second half to win 62-58. In Cedar Falls, the Panthers jumped out early and never looked back in a 73-57 win in late February.
Northern Iowa can win if…
…if they can keep Creighton under 60 points. In the two wins at Chuck Madness this week, Northern Iowa held Bradley to 50 points and regular season conference champs Illinois State to 59 points. In Northern Iowa’s 16 wins this season, the opponents scored more than 60 points only five times. Northern Iowa is on historic ground. This is the first time a #5 seed has reached the finals and the first time the Panthers have ever been to the finals. With a win, it will be the first time since the 2001-02 season the same school in both men’s and women’s hoops won the MVC tournaments. The last team to do it? Creighton!
Creighton can win if…
…Players step up other than Chevelle Herring. Herring was the bright spot in both games against Northern Iowa this season. She was key in the remarkable comeback in Omaha, scoring all of her points in the second half, and she also led the team in scoring in Cedar Falls. In the loss at UNI, Neuvirth was 2-of-11 from the field and Sam Schuett only scored 7 points. In last night’s game against Wichita State, the Bluejays took control early and did not look back. It could be likely that the Bluejays will be focused after seeing Illinois State go down yesterday. After last season’s heartbreaker against Evansville in the finals, the veterans on this team know what is at stake and what can happen against lower seeded teams in the tournament championship game. A win will put the Bluejays into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since March 2002, and would give Jim Flanery his first trip to the Big Dance.