How about some props to the Jays defense? The much-maligned Creighton defense had a stiff test Thursday against a Bradley team that came into this game LEADING THE COUNTRY in shooting the three -- over 40% per game -- and they were held to just 27%. The Jays played what could best be described as a "Pettit's Defense", a donut with a big ol' hole in the middle. Around the perimeter, they consistently denied good looks by simply bodying up to the shooters and forcing 8 or 9 passes per halfcourt possession. Did Bradley get some good looks? Sure, but when your entire offense is geared to do just that -- get open threes -- you're probably going to get a few.
Many of their three attempts were flailing, desperation shots. In fact, most of Bradley's offense in the first half came from exploiting the hole in the Pettit's Defense -- the black hole inside the perimeter. Matt Salley torched them for 18 points, a result of the A-Train having to help out on the perimeter.
In the second half, even that was taken away, as Creighton's slashers got both Salley and Zach Andrews -- Bradley's only real height -- in foul trouble. Just a good, good effort defensively; in my mind, its probably the best defense they've played all year, and it couldn't have come at a better time.
Meanwhile, Nate Funk added to his legend with a classic game. He had 25 points, but that really doesn't tell the whole story. He had a stretch midway through the first half where he was literally unstoppable. Only one of his 10 buckets even touched the rim, folks. Like a backup dancer for En Vogue, it was all nylon, all the time.
Speaking of legends, the legendary Jim Burr and his crew had another solid night reffing the game. Not.
Josh Dotzler played 14 unspectacular minutes, and drew the fire of local talk show host Matt Perrault for it. Perrault claims because Josh is basically one-handed until the pin is removed from his broken finger, opposing teams know he can't dribble to his left, and that he can't shoot, making anytime he's on the court a 4-on-5 scenario. Maybe. It seemed to me Altman picked his spots for inserting Dotzler into the game, at times when Bradley's top 5 weren't all on the court, to get him minutes so he could get his game legs back while giving someone else a breather, while also minimizing the potential for disaster. I have no problem with this.
If doing so keeps him ready to go full-tilt once the finger is healed, everyone will be praising it two weeks from now. But I also know if the Jays were losing the game, he wouldn't have been in there. A calculated gamble you can afford to take when you have a lead at home. Just my opinion.
So...the Jays shoot 48% from the floor, outrebound the Braves by 15, and hold the nation's #1 three point shooting squad almost 20 percentage points below their average, and they win by double digits. Seems like a good night, doesn't it?
Well, here's the deal: this game had a seemy underbelly too, one that prevented the Jays from winning by 20 and could have cost them the game.
21 turnovers, half of them unforced.
Now, you can't do that. 21 turnovers is absurd. Some of them were the result of Bradley being perhaps the quickest and most athletic team in the Valley, but most were just sloppy, boneheaded mistakes that you can't have. Those 21 turnovers kept Bradley in the game, kept Creighton from pulling away, and had Bradley hit some shots even though they might have been contested (we've seen that happen, haven't we?), the Braves might have stolen this game.
So that's something you can legitimately gripe about, if you're the sort that's looking for complaints and negativity after a double-digit win. Me, I just point it out because its a concern, and something that needs to be cleaned up, which it will be.
And then there was the crowd. I really hate to even bring this up, but Holy crap, the postgame show was just one call after another complaining about how 16,300 people could be so quiet, etc etc. You know my stance on this -- the crowd will be loud when its warranted, but when you turn it over 21 times, that's a lot of times where you kill crowd noise momentum. If the crowd is silent in a game where you legitimately play well and give the crowd a lot to cheer about, that's a story. On a night like Thursday, its a non-starter.
That said, I do want to relate one crowd-related story. Late in the game, as Random High Five Guy was making his rounds (LOVE Random High Five Guy, by the way -- hilarious), the guy who sits behind him was standing up to cheer. Meanwhile, perhaps 5 rows behind him, people were yelling at him to sit down. And it wasn't just one person -- it was several, all upset that they couldn't see around him. The guy standing, God bless him, pointed to the video board and said "You can watch it on there, you know!" but this did not work. Ultimately, he sat down, beaten down by The Man.
If the guys on the radio want to talk about the crowd, about how terrible Creighton fans are, this is exhibit A-Z. You want to talk about the crowd being not loud enough? There's your reason.
Yeesh. Can you tell I'm sick of hearing about this?
On a lighter note, how about Wee Man shooting the Con-Agra Foods halftime show? 4-foot-something, he was a showman, I have to say. And he could ball! He made the layup and the three with no effort, and tried (perhaps stupidly) to make the halfcourt shot backwards. Although we figured he probably had to shoot it backwards to get enough thrust to throw the ball that far...
The Heee-Haw Player of the Game! Wow, this is a tough one tonight. Nate Funk had 25 points on 10-17 shooting, 4-4 from the line, 2 assists and 3 turnovers. You look at those numbers, and you think, "All he did is score points". Well, he also played some tremendous defense, and completely took Bradley sharpshooter Daniel Ruffin out of his game. If he'd scored 10 points and played that kind of defense, he might still be the POTG. You score 25 AND play that kind of defense? Well, there's no debate then.
You bet.
Leave a comment