Creighton moved to 3-0 on the young season Wednesday night with a 63-58 win over Louisiana. Kenny Lawson broke out and showed his versatility while staying out of foul trouble. Creighton played bend, not break defense, but fans were left with more questions as they walked out the Qwest Center.
Lawson got started early in the contest going through three straight possessions where Lawson hit an inside shot, drained a three pointer and dished out and assist. He garnered his first double-double of the season (15 pts., 11 reb.) in only 26 minutes of play. Though he stayed out of foul trouble, his minutes of play didn’t increase too much from the previous two games (21 and 23 minutes)
Again, giving up the three pointer plagued the Creighton defense. While Northern Arizona went crazy on Creighton on Sunday hitting 10 three pointers including 7 straight offensive possessions hitting the triple, Louisiana had their own three point shootout with Randell Daigle. Daigle went 7-of-13 from downtown and kept Louisiana hanging around through the game. The Creighton defense appeared to be sort of packing things in and challenging Louisiana to beat them with the three pointer. Fortunately down the stretch, Daigle ran out of steam and the Bluejays were able to escape with the win.
Give Louisiana credit. They are a scrappy team and they kept Creighton from getting any fast break points. They were limited to six fast break points. Free throw shooting was off as well. As successful as Creighton had been with free throw shooting through the the first two games, the Bluejays shot 16-of-24 from the line and only 11 of 17 in the second half. A consistently high percentage free-throw shooter, Lawson only shot 3-of-8 from the charity stripe. On the other hand Louisiana only shot 9 free throws for the game. For the third straight game, the Bluejays made more free throws than the other team shot. It has been the ability for Creighton to get to the line that has produced a large number of their points, while again proving they can etch out the close game with a win.
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While the game was going on Wednesday night, I was glancing at my Blackberry and watching the Iowa State vs. Drake score. As I watched that and watched the game unfold at the Qwest Center, it is pretty clear that Sunday might be a crazy game and it is possible that the Bluejays could get run out of the Wells Fargo Center. Iowa State just dominated fellow MVC rival Drake 91-43 on Wednesday night and seemed to be clicking on all cylinders. Sunday is going to be a real test for the Bluejays against Iowa State. It is almost a gauge to see which coaching transition is going the best.
For Greg McDermott, probably one of the hardest things to do coming into a new coaching situation is to transition the players of the team from one mindset of play to a different one. With the five seniors and junior Antoine Young, there are three to four years under their belt of how to play under one coach and what they stress to their players to learn. With McDermott stepping in, it is a new beginning where everyone has to start over and in essence hit the reboot button. So maybe for some, these things are taking longer than others.
Even for me as a fan, I think the transition game is taking a little longer for me to adjust to as well to the new look Creighton–Not as many threes, a packed in defense and a slower pace on the court. I, like many others, are looking for immediate results and for things to just sort of happen. I’m looking for the spectacular while being underwhelmed. The crowd is a bit subdued. The student section is small and silent. But it is hard to complain especially with wins.
As I talk to friends that went with me to the game and co-workers that also go to the games, I get the sense that they too are struggling through this transition. We are all still trying to figure things out and looking for something different and see concrete results. But we all have to break out of that funk and realize that the previews and the tune-ups are now over as the next stretch of games will be a true test of whether potential is realized:
- 11/21–Iowa State in Des Moines–Iowa State looks pretty impressive right now. What I don’t know is whether that is Fred Hoiberg’s coaching or what Greg McDermott left behind.
- 11/26–Kennesaw State–The Owls knocked off Georgia Tech pretty impressively Tuesday night, though they did turn around and lose to Chattanooga.
- 11/28–at Northewestern–The Wildcats don’t get too many “known” schools to come to their place for a game. They probably consider the Bluejays to be their biggest non-conference home game this season.
- 12/1–BYU–A potential top 25 team and All-American Jimmer Fredette will be coming into the Qwest Center. They are off to a 2-0 start including a nice win against Utah State Wednesday night. Anything outside of a packed Qwest Center will be disappointing.
- 12/5–at Nebraska–Always a big game due to the in-state rivalry.
But will these games define the Creighton Bluejays this season? Not necessarily. Many have December 18th marked on their calendar with the debut of Gregory Echenique before heading into Valley play. For some, this is when the season will start for them. If the Jays falter in the next few weeks, then this is where we hit the reboot button again and another chance to adjust to the transition.
It isn’t easy, but eventually we will all come around.