This is a typical case of deja vu.
Here’s a little flashback:
November 29th, 2008…After an early 4-4 tie where both teams started with some cold shooting, Creighton went on an 11-2 run and ended the half with a 31-18 lead….Nebraska came out in the second half with the first six points of the half while Creighton answered with a Lawson basket and a Korver three pointer, but then the Huskers scored the next seven points. After a held ball, Nebraska drained two three pointers to take their first lead at 37-36. Paul Velander followed with two consecutive three-pointers and Steve Harley scored a basket to put Nebraska up 45-38 before Korver hit another triple to quiet the crowd. Creighton made a come back and eventually tied things up….. Ade Dagunduro hits a basket with 2.7 seconds remaining and Creighton walks away with a 54-52 loss to the Huskers.
If you were at or watched the game in Lincoln, the game eerily followed this same script on Sunday.
Both teams were cold shooting at the start with Nebraska going 1-of-9 and Creighton 0-of-6 through the first six minutes of the game. The Bluejays soon went on a 10-0 run to get a nice lead early and eventually went to the locker room at halftime up by eight points.
Nebraska’s basketball team and their fans were noticeably suffering from a hangover from the football team’s Big 12 championship game and it was the first time in a long time that I saw a Creighton vs. Nebraska game far from being packed. There was actually more blue in the lower bowl of the Devaney Center than I have ever seen for this game. The Husker basketball team looked way out of sync and despite the Bluejay’s early shooting woes, they were able to put together a nice half and build themselves some confidence. Doug McDermott extended his streak of scoring in double figures to start his career with 10 points at the half.
But it seemed that the game was flowing very similar to the game two season’s ago and I was pretty nervous about the second half. Sure enough, the run that I expected to see happened. Nebraska came out with fire and quickly erased the lead that the Bluejays setup before halftime. The Huskers hit three-p0inters on three consecutive possessions to start the second half. With a Kaleb Korver three-pointer sandwiched in those three possessions, Charles Richardson made a layup, and Nebraska hit two more three pointers. Before you knew it, they were up 43-37.
Similar to two seasons ago, Creighton was able to battle back and eventually make it a one point game off of a three-point play by Kenny Lawson. Then on the other end, Nebraska misses a shot, but on the rebound, a foul was called on Darryl Ashford (which when I watched it again at home here tonight, it was a weak call and had no impact on where the rebound was going.) Since there were only 2 fouls on Creighton and only 37 seconds left, the Bluejays needed to foul to get Nebraska to the line and an opportunity to get the ball back. Nebraska started under their basket and by the time there were enough fouls called so the Huskers could get to the line, they were on Creighton’s end of the court. A crazy series of events occurred, including a couple of near turnovers by Nebraska, that by the time Nebraska was fouled enough to get to the free throw line and hit both free throws, there were still 22 seconds left with the Bluejays down three.
Greg McDermott drew up a play for Lawson to shoot the three pointer at the end to go for the tie instead of trying to score a quick two point basket. The play was run as expected, but he missed and Antoine Young had another chance after the rebound but came up short. Nebraska gets away with a 59-54 victory. Doc Sadler has the game plan for the games in Lincoln down to at T.
Three straight losses by Creighton now and a stretch against some challenging teams where they went 0-4. Definitely a frustrating stretch of games where you thought the Bluejays could at least win one of those games. With the Valley as bad as it appears to be this season, it really isn’t too far off to think that Creighton could still be towards the top of the Valley. There are no teams right now that look like they are going to run away with anything. Maybe a false sense of hope, but at least something to look forward to. You hope that they can salvage the game against St. Joseph’s before starting the Gregory Echenique era. However, there are still more questions remaining than answers. 6-of-33 from three point range is one of them.
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A couple observations from today’s game:
The quote that always rubs me the wrong way is the one that Doc Sadler seems to throw in the faces of Creighton fans every year. Today’s was the latest from the Omaha World Herald preview. “But I can almost assure you that almost every Creighton basketball fan cheers for Nebraska football.” Now that statement may be true for a good amount of people in Omaha as a whole, but not for Creighton basketball fans. You do have a few stragglers here and there that will cheer for Nebraska football and Creighton basketball, but that is such an ignorant statement made by Doc Sadler, and it is not the first time he has said something similar. I know a lot of Creighton fans and I can say that almost every fan I talk to has a very large hate for Nebraska sports and have absolutely no love for Nebraska football. They all range instead from Notre Dame to Iowa to even Penn State fans. To blanket Creighton basketball fans as Nebraska football fans is pretty slanderous.
In fact, my cousin pointed out to me about a dozen different Nebraska basketball season ticket holders that are usually wearing their Nebraska clothing to the basketball games that were wearing their Creighton gear today. So how many Nebraska basketball fans are really Creighton basketball fans? It would be like me to say that every Nebraska basketball fan is a Creighton basketball fan. That would be dumb for me to say.
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The other weird thing of the day was the halftime entertainment at the game. There were about a dozen women that ranged in age from early 60’s to I would venture in their 80’s performing a dance number dressed up in Santa jackets. Absolutely disturbing.
Even more disturbing–about halfway through their little number a guy that looked homeless dressed up as Santa with a beard that was far from white came out to dance with the women. My cousin was just as weirded out by the deal saying it sort of solidified him that he may not renew his season tickets next season.
Nebraska has also started charging for parking now. $3 per vehicle where it used to be free. I guess it is to acclimate Nebraska season ticket holders to what it will be like once they build that new arena that still doesn’t open for another couple of years. Or maybe it was to cover the demolishing of the State Fair buildings that have been recently removed. Crazy times in Lincoln.