In the days leading up to the start of practice for the 2012-13 season, White & Blue Review will look back on the top five games, performances and moments of last season, as voted on by the editors of WBR. Today is the first in that series.
Despite a 5-0 record entering the season’s third week, questions remained about just how great the 2011-12 Creighton Bluejays could be, as wins over UAB and Iowa were not as impressive as they seemed to be at the time after both teams struggled. And when the Bluejays fell behind by 17 points in the first half at the sold out Viejas Arena, doubts began to seep in. A 12-0 Aztec run over a span of 1:45 was demoralizing enough; that it occurred with both Grant Gibbs and Gregory Echenique on the bench with two fouls made it feel insurmountable.
In a gutsy move, Greg McDermott reinserted Gibbs into the lineup following the spurt despite his foul trouble. Otter described what happened next in his recap:
“Over the final 5 minutes of the first half, Creighton managed to capitalize on an Aztec slump and cut the deficit at a rapid pace. SDSU scored just 4 points over the final 5 minutes, missing all but two field goals and bricking five free throws. Meanwhile Ethan Wragge hit two quick triples, Grant Gibbs found Austin Chatman for a hoop, and Doug McDermott completed a traditional three-point play, knocked down a three, and connected on a pair of free throws to lead the Jays to within 4 points at the break.”
After the break, Creighton continued their comeback. Patrick Marshall had this to say in his column the next day:
“The final twenty minutes was a complete team effort by the Bluejays. Somehow everyone got involved. Young found ways to drive to the basket to score, Austin Chatman dished out 6 assists and only one turnover while giving some rest to Young, Josh Jones hit some shots, Will Artino had a huge dunk, Gibbs dished out 6 assists, and even though Gregory Echenique struggled mightily in the first half, he battled back in the second hitting some big shots down the stretch. McDermott found different ways to score again to finish with 25 points and 12 rebounds.
But in the waning minutes, the night belonged to Ethan Wragge. Wragge came of the bench to throw in 19 points and 5 rebounds. He had three baskets in the final four minutes that saved the game for the Bluejays. He drained a three pointer, his fourth of the night, to break the 69-69 tie. He then followed up on a miss by McDermott to put Creighton up 76-74. His final basket came on a Manigat drive to the basket who found Wragge while he was in the air for a layup to put Creighton up 84-81. Wragge also came up with some big rebounds. There is definitely a lot more strength to his game this season, and it showed on Wednesday night.”
The 85-83 win moved the Jays to 6-0 and marked the official start of the national media bandwagon that would follow them the rest of the season. It was also a harbinger of things to come, as time after time the Jays showed the strength and resolve to gut out tough wins. The victory over a San Diego State team that would wind up in the Top 25 themselves was the most impressive, though, and that’s why it lands at Number Five in WBR’s countdown of the Top 5 moments of the 2011-12 season.
