Results tagged “Missouri State” from Jays Blog

2008-09 Game #30: Jays 64, Missouri State 59

By
Max Univers
on February 24, 2009 11:20 PM |
Well, the Jays certainly pulled that one out of their nether regions, didn't they? Ah, but its late February, when results matter more than how you get them. Its Machiavelli crossed with Al Davis, in a way; the ends justify the means. I don't care how you win, just win, baby.

That's all nice and good in theory, but I've got a litany of new clever smack-talk phrases that beg to differ. Like all creative endeavours, there's no off and on switch on the smack talk, and my best stuff comes out when I'm cheering on during either a blowout loss or a tight game. Ask any of my college roommates from years ago; they used to make me sit and watch them play Madden 64 because they knew it would piss me off, I'd start talking smack, and they'd get some cheap laughs.

For some reason, I yelled out "What's the Frequency, Kenneth? 96.Awesome!" after Kenny (Kenneth) Lawson's second block in as many possessions. I also at one point or another told a lustily-booing MSU crowd to "Get some facts, and come and see me!", although the facts I had in mind were more easily defensible than Jim Calhoun's. I sang the Casey's General Store commercial jingle after Casey Harriman's last two three's; "Casey's its all good!". To say I was excited is an understatement. At one point or another during the depressing first half, I lamented the fact that I had picked the wrong week to stop:

Smoking
Drinking
Sniffing glue
Taking amphetamines

By the ten minute mark of the second half, I was out of vices that I'd picked the wrong week to stop associating with, so I was quite relieved that the Jays decided to play better. Tell your old man that it gets tiring dragging Walton up and down the court for 48 minutes a night!

Based on the notebook pages of new material I got last night, the means did matter, at least to me. Coming out lethargic and with no energy, the Jays turned in one of the worst halves of basketball they've played all season long against the last place team in the league. In a game they HAD to have to stay in the race for the league championship, they came out flat. As late as 8:25 PM, things looked awfully bleak. Ten minutes of inspired ball, jump-started by Kaleb Korver knocking a ball loose, diving on the floor and in the process getting fouled was the catalyst for a comeback.

Tags:

Continue reading 2008-09 Game #30: Jays 64, Missouri State 59.

Gameday: at Missouri State

By
Max Univers
on February 23, 2009 11:34 PM |
The final-week push to win a piece of the regular season MVC crown for the first time since 2001 begins in Springfield on Tuesday night. While its staggering that for all that Creighton has accomplished they haven't won even a share of the regular season crown in eight years, it might be more staggering that KMTV has chosen to pre-empt the State of the Union Address to show the Jays game. They've pre-empted the Jays for breaking news stories in the past, and one couldn't have really blamed them if they'd chosen to show the President instead of basketball.

Travis Justice and Action 3 are the leaders in the clubhouse for Polyfro Players of the Game for making the decision to televise the game. Rumor in the advertising world in which I work is that CBS is not hiding their displeasure at KMTV's decision. Matter of fact, they're pissed, and are not allowing them to join their coverage "in progress" after the game. So we get a special half-hour postgame show after the game and before the news, something they've never done before. My advice is to watch the game live, and watch out-of-context sound bites of the speech on the Daily Show later.

On behalf of my hundreds of daily readers, I tip my fake plastic 'fro to KMTV. You bet.

*****

That wondrous wordsmith and newly mustachioed Godfather of Creighton Blogs, Otter, points out in his game preview that two years ago the Jays entered the final week in a similar scenario. Game #17 was a road game against a lower-tier opponent, a game most assumed the Jays would win to set up a Senior Day chance to win the MVC Title on national TV. The opponent was Illinois State. The outcome was not pleasant. The Evil Mohawk (or as Otter brilliantly calls it, the O Hawk) was born.

The similarities may be eerie on the surface, but the main difference is that the 2006-07 Illinois State team was an up-and-coming squad of young talent that was better than its record indicated. Missouri State is a struggling team that is in full-on rebuilding mode with a new coach. The Bears have won just three conference games, none of them against the top half of the league. They're bottom-tier in the league in both three-point offense AND defense. They're worst in the league in shooting percentage. They're not deep. They have the most turnovers in the league and the fewest steals.

Naturally, this game scares the bejeezus out of me. Its precisely the type of game previous Jays teams have found a maddening way to lose, which is a huge reason they haven't won a regular season championship since 2001. Its Senior Night for the Bears, and they haven't lost such a game in 19 years. Why do I feel like I need to throw up?


Ah yes, that's much better. I might still throw up, but it'll be because I ran through a brick wall and not because I fear losing this game.

LETS WIN! EYE OF THE BLUEJAY! YOU BET!

More ridiculousness after the jump.

Tags:

Continue reading Gameday: at Missouri State.

2008-09 Game #23: Jays 75, Missouri State 51

By
Max Univers
on February 2, 2009 7:38 AM |
I'm convinced that Sunday's game will mark a turning point in the season. As the calendar turned to February, the team played with a zest that we haven't seen since December. They were tough, they were in position for tough rebounds and actually got them, they had great movement on offense, and once they started hitting shots, they blew Missouri State out of the gym.

The catalyst for this stunning transformation was Justin Carter who, 23 games into his Creighton career, is starting to prove that all of the wonderful things said about him over the summer are true. When he was on the court, there wasn't one loose ball he wasn't flying after. Not one. For the entire time he was on the floor.

In the second half, he even had a mid-court steal that led to a fast break dunk. This was old-skool stuff -- a strong, bad ass, authoritative one handed dunk -- followed by him sprinting back down the court to play defense. He didn't do any celebratory nonsense to draw attention to himself, he just matter-of-factly dunked the damn ball and then got back on defense. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate histrionics as much as the next guy in the 18-34 demo, but there's just something about a dude who appreciates defense.

Tags:

Continue reading 2008-09 Game #23: Jays 75, Missouri State 51.

2007-08 Game #26: Jays 88, Missouri State 67

By
Max Univers
on February 20, 2008 2:27 PM |
What's 4'1" and wears glasses?
a) a really smart fourth grader
b) Barry Hinson

Sign Guy was in rare form at Tuesday night's game. For those of you who aren't familiar with Sign Guy, he sits about 20 rows behind the visiting bench, and frequently brings blank 20"x30" poster board to the games and then scribbles out signs during the game to hold up during timeouts. From time to time, the fuddy duddies who sit around him complain to the Qwest Center Police -- a band of rogue, glorified mall cops derisively nicknamed the Qwestapo -- and his signs are confiscated.

I had only seen the Barry Hinson sign, so I was appalled when, midway through the second half, the Qwestapo made a big production of confiscating his signs. Seriously, they sent their two biggest guys to carry out this task, probably 600 pounds of muscle to take five or six sheets of poster board. You can't tell me this wasn't for show.

The entire arena erupted in boos of such loudness that several of the Jays players looked back to see what the heck was going on. Hinson looked back too, and the game was going on!

Tags:

Continue reading 2007-08 Game #26: Jays 88, Missouri State 67.

2007-08 Game #13: Jays 50, Missouri State 49

By
Max Univers
on January 6, 2008 3:31 PM |
With simultaneous NFL playoff and Creighton road game action going on, it sounded like a good excuse to spend the entire day at the bar. So I called up some friends and we headed to the Crescent Moon, where we watched the Redskins get beat by Seattle on the one big screen TV in the bar. A couple of pints and one cheesy-bacon-ranch chicken sandwich later, I was properly primed for the game.

One of the good things about watching road Jays games at the bar is that you don't have to listen to the announcers. Particularly games produced by KMTV. Travis Justice is pretty limited as a play-by-play guy; I think he's solid as a color commentator on the radio broadcasts, but in the play-by-play role he's hard to listen to. It reminds me of Dan Fouts, a formerly decent commentator now struggling in a play-by-play role on ABC's college football. Justice takes a lot of heat from Jays fans, which I think is mostly unfair -- if he was paired with a polished play-by-play guy and could be the commentator, a role in which he excels on radio, everyone would be happy.

On the other hand, Scott Schumacher, the commentator on KMTV's broadcasts, is simply awful. When the trademarks of your broadcasts are uncomfortable interviews with Dana Altman and repeating what your broadcast partner just said in slightly different terms, its not a positive sign.

I hesitate to criticize, even when the camera operators fail to do simple things like check the white-balance on their cameras (seriously!), because I remember all too well the days when the Jays were never on TV. I also have a decent idea of what it costs to put on one of these broadcasts (hint: its not cheap). And looking at the ads during the games tells you businesses aren't exactly waiting in line to advertise. Its the same four or five advertisers, over and over again, and commercial breaks typically have just two or three spots -- as opposed to the usual four or five on FSN or ESPN games.

What I'm saying is...eh, I'm shutting up now. Thank you for broadcasting the games, whatever the production quality! Anyway...


Tags:

Continue reading 2007-08 Game #13: Jays 50, Missouri State 49.

Gameday: Creighton at Missouri State

By
Max Univers
on January 5, 2008 3:33 PM |
School Databank:
Location: Springfield, MO
Enrollment: 17,425
Famous sports alumni: Bill Mueller (MLB), Ryan Howard (MLB), Jackie Stiles (WNBA)
Last game: Beat Bradley 91-80
Last game vs Creighton: Jays won 75-58 in MVC Semifinals
Series: Creighton leads 25-22 (MSU leads 15-5 in Springfield)
Series notes: Creighton has won 18 of the last 25, including a three-game sweep last season

Coming into the season, just about everyone was ignoring Creighton, believing this would be a rebuilding year. Then they rattled off nine wins in their first ten games, and all of a sudden the media was ready to put the target on their back as favorites to win the league. If the last two games prove anything, its that the Jays are who we thought they were (apologies to my boy Denny Green). They're a young team that will play really well at times and beat teams they shouldn't, and they'll play terribly at times and lose games they should win. Is that the definition of a rebuilding year? I don't know.


Tags:

Continue reading Gameday: Creighton at Missouri State.

Season Preview: Missouri State

By
Max Univers
on October 27, 2007 8:07 PM |
Over the next several days, I'll be posting previews of each team in the Valley. Today I take a look at the Missouri State Bears.

Missouri St.
2006-07: 22-11
(12-6 MVC)
NIT

01.05 at MSU
02.19 at CREI

2006-07 REWIND: Barry Hinson can't catch a break. Universally recognized as the biggest cheerleader for the MVC during their recent renaissance, he uses every opportunity he gets to brag up other schools to the national media. His teams have won over 60 games the last three years, putting them in upper echelon of the conference with Southern Illinois and Creighton. Their RPI the last three years has been 66, 22 and 48.

But he's yet to take them to an NCAA Tournament. In fact, their last NCAA Tourney berth came almost a decade ago under Steve Alford.

Snubbed by the committee two years in a row despite 22 wins each year, the MSU administration to their credit backed Hinson and brought him back for a ninth year. With a new arena opening next year, consistency at the head job should set up the Bears to contend for the title in future years.

Last year's first meeting with Creighton was nationally televised on ESPN2 on December 31, and with 4 minutes to play the Bears were close to sending Jays fans for the exits, leading 70-59. But Anthony Tolliver and Nate Funk scored 13 points in a 16-1 run that fueled a come-from-behind 77-74 win.

In Springfield, the Jays led most of the way, with seniors Nick Porter, Nate Funk and Anthony Tolliver combining for 52 points in a 66-62 win. Funk's 16 second-half points keyed the win.

Tags:

Continue reading Season Preview: Missouri State.

MVC Semis: Jays 75, Missouri State 58

By
Max Univers
on March 3, 2007 11:16 AM |
History will refer to the 2007 MVC Semifinal as "The Nate Funk Game". In a game where his Jays and Missouri State were playing what some pundits called an "elimination" game for an NCAA Tourney at-large berth, he came up with his greatest game as a Jay, putting the team on his back and carrying them to a blowout win.

Just look at the box score:


Tags:

Continue reading MVC Semis: Jays 75, Missouri State 58.

2006-07 Game 20: Jays 66, Missouri State 62

By
Max Univers
on January 24, 2007 5:14 PM |
If I told you the Jays would go on the road and gut out a tough, gritty win against a probable NCAA Tourney team, would that be something you'd be interested in?

Well, that's exactly what happened on Wednesday in Springfield, and I couldn't be more thrilled about it. The win is huge in so many respects. For the team, the Jays now own a sweep against one of the two teams they're likely to be fighting with for an NCAA Tourney berth, and they go to 7-3 in the conference, tied for first place. For Anthony Tolliver, he finally gets a win in his hometown after three previous visits ended in losses, and he contributes 13 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 blocks to the effort. For Nate Funk, who scored 9 consecutive points during one stretch of the second half, and had 21 points, 4 assists and 3 HUGE free throws in the final minute of the game. For Nick Porter, who put the team on his back for stretches of both halves before fouling out with 3 minutes remaining, exiting with 18 points and 6 big rebounds.

Tags:

Continue reading 2006-07 Game 20: Jays 66, Missouri State 62.

2006-07 Game 11: Jays 77, Missouri State 74

By
Max Univers
on December 31, 2006 5:35 PM |
At the under-12 timeout, I had a strange feeling of Deja-Vu. Not because the people behind me were once again pissed at my propensity to stand up during the game -- seriously, who do I think I am, a fan? -- but because the game looked, superficially, a lot like the Hawaii game. The Jays come out firing, grab a big lead, only to relinquish it as a sharpshooter knocks down open three's all over the court. And just like in Hawaii, once the opponent got the lead, it grew until the Jays were buried.

Blake Ahearn, who has to be about 35 by now (how long HAS that guy been at Missouri State? Hell, he had to have used up his eligibility when they were still named SMS. I think Steve Alford signed him before he left for Iowa.) was torching the Jays much-maligned perimeter defense. Ahearn is a guy who, when open, never, ever misses. He doesn't create his own shot, he can't get open looks for his teammates, but my God, can he knock down an open look. He never even draws iron. All net. So you cannot lose him on defense...yet time after time, I'd look out on the court, and he'd be standing all by himself on the wing, six feet from the nearest defender. Eventually, he'd get the pass and a Jays defender would come flying in after the shot was released. It was frustrating to watch.

He had 21 points at the 12 minute mark. At the end of the game, he still had 21 points. A box-and-one face guard technique kept him from even catching the ball, much less shooting it, over the final twelve minutes. Despite this, the lead grew to 70-59, and as ESPN2's national TV audience went to commercial, the game was for all intents and purposes, over. Creighton was about to drop to 6-5 on the season, 0-1 in the Valley, and their season was in big, big trouble.

Tags:

Continue reading 2006-07 Game 11: Jays 77, Missouri State 74.

A Tough One in Springfield

By
Max Univers
on February 26, 2006 6:21 PM |
Before heading out to watch the game on Saturday night, I had ESPN College Gameday on and the usually well-researched and respected Jay Bilas dropped the following line when talking NCAA tourney teams with the despicable Digger Phelps (don't even get me started on DP or things will get ugly in a hurry):

"I really think the committee is going to have to take a close look at these Valley teams. They need to determine how much their RPI's are artificially inflated by playing each other. I really think there's two teams, maybe three deserving out of there."

I think what incensed me more than anything was the intonation in his voice when he said "these Valley teams", almost as though they all had leprosy. Of course, his toeing the national media party line of saying the MVC only deserves two or three teams in the tourney was bad too. But the hypocracy of saying their high RPI's were the result of playing each other, and thus, articficially inflated their RPI's, was just too funny to imagine. For years this is what the Big Six have done -- play cupcakes in November and December, and let their league games raise their RPI. Why is this suddenly a bad thing, Jay, when a "little guy" does it? Please explain it to me, my email is listed below, Jay. Are you threatened by the thought of someone outside the Big Six possibly being as good as the Big Six? Wichita State, Missouri State, Creighton, oh my!

Tags:

Continue reading A Tough One in Springfield.

11,547 = Omaha's Team

By
Max Univers
on December 29, 2005 7:48 PM |
JAYS 78, Missouri State 56

Lets put this thing to rest, shall we? On a night when Creighton Basketball went head to head with Nebraska Football, in a bowl game no less, 13,898 tickets were sold. More importantly, 11,547 people came through the turnstiles. So to all the haters, all the people who talked smack to us Jays fans that no one would be at the game; that we'd all rather be watching Nebraska on TV somewhere -- turns out, um, NO. You bet.

Props to the arena PA for ignoring the Husker game and refusing to announce the score at any point during the game, even at halftime when they read the out-of-town basketball scores. And for that matter props to everyone who showed up to make everyone notice Jays basketball is not simply a bandwagon of disgruntled Husker fans.

Well then, with that off my chest, on to more important things.

Tags:

Continue reading 11,547 = Omaha's Team.

  • Case sensitive
  • Regex search

Tags

Max Univers (not his real name) is a graphic designer and author of two books, neither of which you’ve probably heard of. A 2001 graduate of Creighton University’s Journalism program, Max takes time out of his busy nightlife to share his thoughts on Jays hoops here during the season.

Why Univers? Its his favorite font, plus it just sounds really cool as a surname.

Why Polyfro? Years and years ago, Max had a giant afro wig that he wore as part of a Halloween costume. Not wishing to retire its giant fro awesomeness after the holiday, he began wearing the wig out in public as part of his everyday ensemble. One night at a dance club, the DJ called out the moniker over the soundsystem. Max thought it sounded cool, and purchased the URL shortly thereafter.

More questions? Send me an email: max-at-polyfro-dot-com. I like jokes, story tips, and generally all correspondence involving Bluejay athletics. Emails that point out how stupid I am and/or where I should go after I die are not encouraged.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.