Creighton post game thread

[RuffRuff]

If you ignore Alex’s shooting woe’s last night, the rest of his stat line was 10 pts, 6 boards, 1 assist, no turns, and plus 7. The D he have us at the 5 was big. A very solid game.

It was not only AK, everyone not named Liam shot 1 of 16 from three. Thats 6% and almost requires Intentional missing. You have to hope that AK returns to the mean, hits one, hits two and builds on th

He may play defense better against 5s than he does 4s too.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Reed also picks up multiple fouls setting screens as he did tonight.

Yea, he's a big dude and sets hard screens by default. The scout is out to sell an illegal screen coming around Reed. That one where Neal fell to the ground was a floppity-flop.

 

[JMick]

The most telling part for me was when Samson picked up his 4th for wrastlin with Kalk on one end, and then JStew was literally thrown to the floor on a rebound and there was no call.

That said it all.

The replays of lay-ins for UConn in a late montage during a timeout showed them going to the hoop and getting fouled badly with no call, but still scoring. Mahaney got bodied on one and McNeeley got smacked in the face hard on a layup.

I really think Singare should play more. He does pretty well each time he gets a shot.

 

[Hunt for 7]

I’m really hoping it doesn’t come to that. Still some time for him to regain form and assume his stock. Also I would think his coming back may push someone out.

I have no idea how Dixon is rated so low. He has a game that could be useful at the next level.

 

[homunculus]

I think it's fair now to speculate how many of our 3 losses (@Nova, Creighton, @Xavier) would have been wins had McNeeley been available. We'd still be a deeply flawed team, but he's a huge difference maker.

And Liam was clearly still rusty against St John’s, going 2-9 from 3. There’s a fair possibility we’re 13-0 in the Big East and 21-3 overall if he didn’t miss all that time. Of course there are always surprises and you never really can know how things play out, but it sure feels like this right now.

Yeah, we’d still be deeply flawed - but we’d be deeply flawed and ranked #1 in the AP poll.

 

[RuffRuff]

We had a season low 10 assists and only 1 from Liam. I don't think Liam is going to be able to save us all year long. I know some of it is players missing shots too but we do need someone to step up and create more at PG. Maybe time for Nowell to play some minutes against Seton Hall.

The Nowell thing is starting to sound insane. We all keep begging for more and he just keeps riding the pine. We’re halfway into Feb.
We’re expecting a never used freshmen to become our PG at this point? We need to drop the idea.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

I just want whoever said we didn’t win there the last two years there’s no chance this would be the team to do it to raise their hand and take accountability for their stupidity

You thought we were winning this game? Sure hope you put money behind your incredible wisdom!!

 

[Hunt for 7]

I watched the game in a poker room with no sound. But I saw a lot of fouls when we went to the basket that were not called. Now this refutes the theory that we don’t get fouls called because we are not aggressive. One that stands out but there were many is the body shove that Kalkbrenner put on Alex on that late game drive. Everyday and twice on Sunday that is a foul that we get called on us.

Last night with like 8 minutes left in the game we had 8 team fouls Creighton had zero. That is not possible if the game was being called fairly it is utter BS.

It’s funny because they had to waste 10 seconds or so just to get us in the penalty and in the end that was a good thing for us. But for awhile don’t let Alex get the ball late in the game when free throws are critical he is just a miss waiting to happen. We can talk about all the intangibles but I am getting tired of this version of Alex.

We really can’t count on him in late game situations and I thought I would never make that statement about him.

 

[Stinger92860]

He may play defense better against 5s than he does 4s too.

Thats an interesting observation. He is more stationary and can body up instead of requiring a drop step and quick feet To stay in front of his man.

 

[RuffRuff]

Thats an interesting observation. He is more stationary and can body up instead of requiring a drop step and quick feet To stay in front of his man.

He bodies up really well, anchors in and holds his ground. He’s also much better than our 5s at staying vertical with his arms. His body type looks better suited as he gets older than chasing a perimeter guy around.

I don’t know if they’ll use it, but I could see blending it in for 5-10 minutes a game being effective. Then you can have Liam, Solo, Stew and another guard out there for more ball handling and faster pace. They did it last night out of pure necessity, so I’m guessing it won’t be a thing.

 

[gtcam]

As good as Liam was, man, Creighton was horrible on offense in the 2nd half. How do you not get it to Kalkbrenner when both bigs are on the bench with 4 fouls??

Plus Ashworth was not the usual Ashworth - thank you for that.

 

[gtcam]

I don’t think he can help himself.

its the little insecure boy in him that comes out way too often - but he wouldn't be Dan Hurley if he didn't. I think the players feed off some of his antics, sure sounds like Liam does.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

Great win against a tough team on the road. Liam basically said “ Jobu, I do it myself”. (“Major League” reference for the youngsters)

I won’t speculate but I think there are going to be a few ‘tough conversations’ after seasons end because the matador defense is not going to cut it.

 

[RuffRuff]

its the little insecure boy in him that comes out way too often - but he wouldn't be Dan Hurley if he didn't. I think the players feed off some of his antics, sure sounds like Liam does.

Love it or hate it, it really is good for the game. You can bet the Omahans are circling the date as soon as next years schedules is released. Shaka, nice coach. Danny, a personality, a sound bite, a villain, a stage act - people eat that up.

One thing about last nights game is that it gives us the fast lane for the 2-3 seed if we can hold court and beat Marquette at home, which will likely give us the ice breaker with Creighton on Friday night.

 

[gsmooth]

I am headed to surgery this morning so I taped the game but had to peak at the score. I can't wait for anesthesia to wear off to watch this game.

Best of luck in your surgery and your recovery. The feeling of the anesthesia wearing off is something else. When you wake up your eyes and vision feel like an unfocused binoculars coming into focus.

 

[gsmooth]

Agree on the Ball point, he’s been much better recently at putting it on the floor and getting to the hoop when the defender overplays. He also drew a lot of contact today on those drives and only shot two FTs before the intentional foul at the end.

McDermott has the MO of not fouling, which becomes a self fulfilling prophecy a lot IMO. He just gets a friendly whistle. Today of all days, UConn took it to the paint a lot, drew a lot of contact on the primary ball handler, and still didn’t get to the line. Normally I chalk it up to us not taking it to the basket and the league not caring about freedom of movement fouls but this was just lopsided.

exactly. The game in Gampel, meaning Creighton was the road team, they got called for only 5 fouls in 39 minutes-that is absurd. And yesterday's game they had zero team fouls with 6.5 minutes to go in the game. I think they do foul the least, but come on, that is criminal.

Having said all of that, if Karaban and Ball hit their open shots even at a 25% clip, UConn wins that game comfortably. That is not on the refs.

 

[boba]

He should change things up and shave his beard and maybe even his head to a tight buzz cut to change things up. It couldn’t hurt at this point.

Hisss... frau and her mother tell me to shave the beard: "you'll look 10 years younger." No, I want to sleep 10 minutes longer.
I prefer the W. Churchill adage, when going through hell, keep going.

 

[BugsyCT]

I’m sure the fans were pretty awful to him and it’s definitely a big monkey off the back in Omaha…But didn’t he just say he didn’t like that he did these kind of things? Lol, I don’t mind it but just funny.

It's Hurley being Hurley. The fans gave it to him all night with the "F-D-H" chants, he gave it back to them. He knows how to be a lightning rod for fan & media hate, but I don't think he cares one bit. The guy wins and runs a clean program. He's earned the right to talk if he wants, even if it's not everyone's style.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

Right, but the small lineup had a 6’7” point guard instead of a 6’0” point guard. That was the difference.

great freaking point.

 

[superjohn]

It's Hurley being Hurley. The fans gave it to him all night with the "F-D-H" chants, he gave it back to them. He knows how to be a lightning rod for fan & media hate, but I don't think he cares one bit. The guy wins and runs a clean program. He's earned the right to talk if he wants, even if it's not everyone's style.

Baldy on baldy hate crime.

 

[Durks07]

Up one spot to 33 in KenPom. Defense is inside 100. At 99.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

We (wife is a UConn grad `78) moved from CT to Omaha in `99. Don't particularly like Creighton. They truly consider themselves to be the Harvard of the Midwest. But, absolutely hate Creighton sports and especially their fans. They are obnoxious. I`m not necessarily just talking about the students. Watching lawyers, accountants, doctors in the stands jovial as hell when the Bluejays are winning, only to turn into classless creeps when they`re losing is disgusting. They rival Philadelphia fans with their vile behavior.

But, to be honest, we are used to going to Nebraska football games. Aside from a few classless students, the Husker fanbase is the epitome of class. Watching them applaud visiting teams as they leave the field, win or lose, is something to behold.

I just wish we were in town to go to tonight's game. It would have been great to watch the Huskies silence them.

you just described every single fan base!!

 

[Husker Husky]

you just described every single fan base!!

On the hardwood, the Nebraska basketball fans are the exception that proves the rule.

 

[Excalibur]

Surprised that Singare and Nowell didn’t see more playing time last night.

I thought earlier in the year, Singare played some great minutes spelling Samson Johnson and TR when the hit foul trouble.

I went from thinking this was a horribly managed game by Hurley to one of his best.

So many things going wrong, but all trumped by one thing going right…. LM was

It was horribly managed because he didn't play a guy who has almost never been healthy enough to engage in basketball activity since the New Year and another guy that hasn't played in over a month?

 

[Excalibur]

The Nowell thing is starting to sound insane. We all keep begging for more and he just keeps riding the pine. We’re halfway into Feb.
We’re expecting a never used freshmen to become our PG at this point? We need to drop the idea.

He has literally been unavailable due to injury for something like 8 out of the last 10 games.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

1. Our March run will depend on who we face. We have a much greater chance to beat Duke, talented as they are, than Houston, Iowa St. or any other high pressure team. The reason is simple: we have enough firepower to match any non-pressure team. We just don't have dogs to match those other teams.
2. You all know that I love Dan Hurley and staff. Period. But I would love to see them change course mid stream when something unexpected works. To wit, playing Liam at the point works. When HD is back and healthy, having him as a 6th man would elongate our rotation significantly. Does it work against a pressing team? I don't know, but it cannot be worse than 47 TO's over two games.
3. Also, playing Alex at 5 works every single time. Just saying.
4. The ceiling on this team remains high because not many teams have 2 offensive players of the ilk that we have. Solo and Liam are explosive offensive weapons. If both are healthy, that's tough to match. And BTW, Alex will be able to return to being Robin. I love this kid, but he is not Batman. And he plays Robin better than anyone in America; and
5. Our defense has looked better and better with each passing week. Dan Hurley teams peak in March baby.

 

[rollskies1]

Every time Ashworth missed the rim on a 3 it healed me

 

[StllH8L8ner]

It's Hurley being Hurley. The fans gave it to him all night with the "F-D-H" chants, he gave it back to them. He knows how to be a lightning rod for fan & media hate, but I don't think he cares one bit. The guy wins and runs a clean program. He's earned the right to talk if he wants, even if it's not everyone's style.

“Baldy”. Absurd, fairly childish…but I love it.

 

[boba]

Bluesky juice

 

[HCCForever]

“Baldy”. Absurd, fairly childish…but I love it.

I resemble that remark and so does Dan. But love that Dan had a response for the crowd booing him on the way in and chanting FDH throughout the game. Forget them. Perhaps, 50 cent beer night is next.