Last night’s game against Evansville was one of those games where fans could go home smiling. There were a lot of great things to be happy about after the second half that:
- Saw the Bluejays shoot a school record 66.7% in the second half
- Saw the Bluejays score 52 points in the second half.
- Shoot 75% from the free throw line for the game
- Outrebounding Evansville 24-19
- Hitting 10-of-18 three pointers
- 17 assists on 28 baskets.
Those are great stats, but of course against the team in the Valley that is on a 13-game slide and hasn’t won a game in he conference yet this season. Here is what I take from the game–You have seen a glimpse of the future of Creighton hoops and maybe of the Valley in general.
First, you have freshmen Josh Jones and Ethan Wragge and sophomore Antoine Young all in double figures for the Bluejays last night as they combined for 12-of-18 from the field, 5-of-8 from three and 7-of-7 from the charity stripe. Seeing the three of them play last night was really fun to watch. Young and Jones on the floor at the same time gave me visions of what many hoped would be something to see as the two in-state products stayed home to play in Omaha at Creighton. Their athleticism could be something that will bother Valley teams for the next few seasons.
We know that Young is one of the fastest players in the Valley. Being able to take advantage of that against opposing teams has been a learning process. But garnering 3 steals last night was something everyone has been waiting to see and his aggressiveness was a bright spot in my eyes.
It has been mentioned before that Josh Jones has taken advantage of his opportunity with P’Allen Stinnett out, but you can tell his game has totally changed since getting the extra minutes. His confidence is really starting to show and maybe watching from the bench during the past season and a half has helped his game more than we really know.
Wragge’s sharpshooting will be something to keep an eye on as his career blossoms on the Hilltop. He walked away last night as the first player to hit a three-pointer in 10 straight games as a freshman since Kyle Korver. We know what Kyle has ended up doing.
These three players are a nice foundation to build on. My only concern is the disappearance of freshman Andrew Bock who has not played now for the past 5 games and only saw three minutes of action back on January 16th against Wichita State. Many were heralding the the freshman as the next great Creighton point guard. But even with the game in hand last night or even as the Jays were down 10 points in the second half, Bock is not getting any opportunities at all. He will definitely be someone needed next season as the Bluejays may actually go into next season with more bigger players than guards. It would be nice to have another guard already in the mix that can contribute right away.
But the “Youth Movement” is in progress, and maybe last night’s game was a glimpse of what is to come.
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However, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the play of freshman Colt Ryan for Evansville. He is one of those players that if he gets going, he is almost unstoppable. I thought it was pretty amazing in the game in Evansville where he dropped 26 points and almost single-handedly brought Evansville to a win against the Jays earlier in the season. But then he comes back last night and drops 31 on the Jays home court. He looked like he couldn’t miss and at the same time hard for me to believe that he was just 10-of-20 from the field. He will definitely be breaking some records before his career is done.
Evansville has their own youth movement going with no Seniors in their starting lineup. The combination of Colt Ryan and Denver Holmes could be a terror in the Valley if they can get some other players to go with them. Weird to say that Evansville could be a tough out over the next few years.
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I’ll leave you with this. If any of you have seen the Borsheim’s putting contest promotion during one of the media timeouts at the Qwest Center, there have been more losers than winners in that promotion. Whenever I talk about that game with other friends at the game, they all say that when people putt that it supposedly “breaks left.” Well just a piece of advice to anyone that may get the opportunity to play that game in the future– You can’t always believe what you have been told. If you watched the putt last night, that was probably one of the worst shots ever at that game. Plus, it went totally to the right. Break Left???? Whatever.