Last time out: Creighton (18-8, 12-3) absolutely blew out third-place Illinois State in a 71-44 victory. Freshman forward Sarah Nelson stepped up scoring 15 points and grabbing five boards as her sister was limited by injury problems and played just 11 minutes on her Senior Day. Senior guard Kelsey Woodard finished with 11 points while the likely Newcomer of the Year award winner, freshman guard Carli Tritz, finished with 10 points of her own. The real story was the bench points though. The Jays won the battle 34-15. The other big story was the effectiveness of Creighton’s half-court offense. It makes it easy to win games when you are plus-12 on points in the paint and shoot better than 50 percent from downtown. The past three games is the program’s best offensive stretch in six years. Half-court offense has been a focus for Coach Flanery the past few weeks, and it seems to be paying off.
Next up: The Jays finish up conference play with a three-game road trip beginning at Wichita State and finishing up with Missouri State and Drake. This is the first time since the 2007-08 season that they have not finished the regular season at home. Creighton has not won its final four regular season games during Jim Flanery’s tenure as head coach, which began in 2002. Creighton has also not won the MVC tournament or qualified for the NCAA tournament during his tenure. Coincidence? These final three games provide the Jays with a great opportunity. All three games are very winnable, however they are losable as well. Creighton needed overtime to defeat the Shockers last month. Missouri State was ½ game back of first-place UNI when the Jays used a terrific first-half to distance themselves from the Bears. The Bears have struggled recently, but were picked to win the Valley and have loads of talent. And no one likes playing at the Knapp Center, so don’t count out fifth-place Drake. A win in any of the final three games will lock up the #2 seed for the Jays. So will any Illinois State loss. The final three games give Creighton the chance to finish the regular season on a six-game winning streak and allow it to be winners of 11 of its final 12 games. Confidence is often the biggest requirement to win in St. Charles, which is the team’s top goal every year.
Wichita State: The Shockers (12-13, 6-8) are winners of their past two homes games, their most recent being a 69-52 win over fourth-place Missouri State. They have dropped just four games at home this season, including just two in Valley play. Last month, WSU had the ball with a chance to win at the end of regulation against the Jays in front of a record crowd at D.J. Sokol Arena. It showed that it is a pesky, scrappy team that won’t back down. The Shockers are at the bottom of the conference in rebounding, though they embarrassed Creighton on the glass winning the battle 52-37. 20 of their 52 rebounds that game were offensive boards, which led to the Jays nearly getting doubled up in the 2nd chance points category. Head coach Jody Adams’ squad features an extremely balanced scoring attack. Junior guard Haleigh Lankster is the only Shocker averaging double figures in points with 12.2 per game. The rest of the roster averages between three and nine points per game, with the exception of Kelsey Jacobs, a freshman forward who’s primary responsibility is warming the bench.
How to Beat Wichita State: If the Jays can play like they did on Saturday night against Illinois State, they surely will win. Then again, they will beat anyone in the conference if they can play that way day in and day out. But to beat the Shockers, they will simply need to play well. Wichita State is a terrible road team, but it is not a pushover at home. Coach Flanery’s preparation will focus on countering the Shockers’ athleticism by slowing the game down and continuing the Jays’ effectiveness offensively. Last month, Creighton shot 30.8 percent from the field and just 10.5 percent from distance. That should inevitably improve and if it does, the Bluejays will win. On paper, the Jays should win, and but playing at Charles Koch Arena will make it a little more difficult to do so.
Prediction: 64-55 Jays. Creighton is playing its best basketball right now. Flanery mentioned to me earlier this week that winning the Valley tournament is not his team’s only goal. They want to win 20 games and would love to finish with 15 conference wins, something that has only been done once in the program’s history. Their focus is where it needs to be and I don’t expect the Shockers to be able to pull off the upset at this point in the season.