Kenny Lawson was stuffed tonight.
A big student crowd.
A loud crowd.
A legitimate 15,000 in the stands.
A big game atmosphere.
The Bluejays stopped Jimmer Fredette
All of those things were there tonight. Unfortunately it ended in a 77-65 loss to BYU tonight at the Qwest Center.
The Bluejays and the Cougars went toe to toe where there were players diving for balls on the floor and fighting for rebounds inside. Other than a 10-0 run by BYU midway through the 2nd half, each team looked pretty evenly matched and had the makings for a final possession thriller.
What it came down to was something that always seems to happen at the Qwest Center for the past couple of seasons–When playing Creighton, the opposing team will have a player come out of nowhere to have a career night. That night belonged to Brandon Davies of BYU. He was around the basket all night scoring a career high 24 points and grabbing 6 rebounds. But those 6 rebounds were huge. When the Bluejays needed a stop, Davies was there to get the improbable rebound and put back with a foul. You would have thought he walked away with 20+ rebounds because of how critical those were. I actually had to take a double-take of the final stats to realize he only had 6 rebounds. Seemed like a lot more. Davies averaged 7 points and 6 rebounds so far this season and put up 5 points and 3 rebounds last season. It was definitely something no one saw coming.
Meanwhile, Fredette was locked down on defense all night mainly by Antoine Young and he did not have a good night. He was 5-of-15 from the field, had 4 turnovers and finished with only 13 points. The rest of the Cougars made the Bluejays pay shooting 52% without Fredette.
On the Creighton side of things, Doug McDermott’s first double-double (20 points, 12 rebounds) was overshadowed by the loss, but a huge indicator that he will continue to be a major factor for the Bluejays throughout the season. He has scored in double figures in every game so far this season. Antoine Young also did his best to keep Creighton in the mix with 15 points, 3 assists and only one turnover. McDermott and Young are racking up the minutes, both playing 35 tonight.
What Creighton fans are asking themselves is, “What has happened to Kenny Lawson?” The Preseason MVC Player of the Year has been curiously absent on the court so far this season. The first two games, he was in early foul trouble. In game three it looked like things were back on track against Louisiana. Then a solid performance against Iowa State where he started lighting things up from outside the arc. But through the past three games against Kennesaw State, Northwestern and now BYU, you almost forget that he was on the court:
- Kennesaw State–7 points, 1 rebound, 3 turnovers, 15 minutes of play.
- Northwestern–11 points, 12 rebounds, 30 minutes of play, but held scoreless in the 2nd half.
- BYU–5 points, 1 rebound, 17 minutes of play.
I know Creighton fans are probably up in arms and pretty emotional about Lawson’s play. But if we dig a little deeper, let’s take a look at a comparison of this season and last season through the first 7 games.
2009-10–55% FG, 13.2 Points /Game, 6.7 Rebounds/Game, 11 TO
2010-11–39% FG, 11.3 Points / Game, 6.3 Rebounds /Game, 7 TO
So yes some percentages and points per game are down, but not really as bad as everyone thinks. He just looks like a different player. But think about this. His seventh game was against Nebraska where he scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Take that away and the first 6 games of 2009-10 look like this:
55% FG, 9.6 Points/Game, 6.16 Rebounds/Game, 9 TO
So everyone needs to take a step back. Nebraska is next up on Sunday. We’ll see what happens before I pass real judgment. It’s only fair
***
Doug McDermott appears to be the leader right now.
So you are probably wondering what I am babbling about? I know a lot of people have December 17th circled on their calendar for Gregory Echenique to become eligible and they think he will fix all of the Bluejay problems. Well I have news for you all. That will not solve all of their problems. Creighton has a lot more to play for than to wait for Gregory to become eligible. Yes, it gives some good opportunities to start fresh heading into conference season, but it doesn’t solve some other problems. Is that possibly what Lawson is waiting for? Maybe, but I would highly doubt it.
Creighton still needs scorers. Yes, Gregory will help with the rebounding, but I wouldn’t expect him to put up any more points per game than Kenny Lawson is doing right now. Some now project Lawson going to the bench once Echenique sets foot on the court because he is not playing up to his potential. Well, you are just switching out one for the other. Echenique will likely average what Lawson is right now, at least initially.
Antoine Young is playing more than 35 minutes every night. Anyone who questioned what he could do heading into the season now look like idiots as he has proven he can lead this team. But he can’t do it by himself. Doug McDermott is doing great, but you know at some point he is going to hit that freshman wall. Plus he is almost averaging 35 minutes a game. How long can he do that?
There has to be someone else to really step up. We need Kenny Lawson to step up, not every message board or publication tear him down. I really think Darryl Ashford wants to be the guy to be that other option. He has had some solid games since moving into the starting lineup at Iowa State. Ethan Wragge should eventually get his shot back as he integrates in.
It is foolish to think that we just sort of zombie through the non-conference season and expect to be able to hit the reboot button once conference season comes around. These early games are where you define your teams. They were what defined the Bluejays last season. With the disasterous non-conference performance, that bled into conference season. Nothing really changed. Don’t think that adding one player will erase all of that. Plus, Nebraska is on Sunday. I know that’s not a game I want to see thrown away. Do you? Before everyone decides to jump off the cliff because of the performance of one player and the lack of another, we have to see if this team can go that extra mile to decide they want to have it figured out when Gregory does come to play. It will make for a much easier transition.