Halftime Notes: Creighton leads North Texas 54-39

North Texas is donning black jerseys with green trim. They look pretty nice. Creighton is in their home whites, which has become synonymous with playing home games. Groselle wins the tip and we're on our way. North Texas appears to be playing a man-to-man defense, which is fine. North Texas gets their first foul after Khyri Thomas drives to the hoop and makes both free throws. I can smell the desperation from North Texas already, their pores expelling the awful odor of fear.

North Texas's inability to guard the paint and defend the dribble drive has led to a 8-4 Creighton lead. The Mean Green's futile effort to score in the paint on sky-hooks from 5 feet out has been ineffective. I am feeling empathy towards North Texas, for they are not the superior team playing on the hardwood courts tonight.

Cole Huff dunked the ball, which is a first for my eyes, and North Texas calls a timeout because they had not seen Cole Huff dunk on the scouting report. "Regroup," the Mean Green thought.

Another futile effort at the 15:45 mark for the North Texas offense. My this is not great basketball. Cole Huff, yes the Cole Huff that is normally a mid-range jumper player, got fouled on a drive to the basket. He got hacked on the wrists by three other players. He made his first free throw. He made his second free throw.

It is now 17-7 after North Texas sinks a free throw. That's fine. North Texas has switched to a zone defense, but even Zach Hanson can beat it.

Maurice Watson sinks a short range jumper, which is fine. The crowd is somewhat into this game, sort of like how you're somewhat into talking to your grandmother about your sex life. North Texas seems to have a one-dimensional offense, where they just sort of set up an iso and then just goof around until someone decides to drive to the basket and get fouled. This is a good offense if you're playing basketball on a different planet. This is America though, damnit. North Texas has started to lock down on defense, utilizing their zone which is the perfect way to stymie the Creighton offense. A whole lot of standing around for Creighton's offense. North Texas has switched back to man coverage, which leads to a Zach Hanson score. They should probably utilize the zone defense, it just seems to make more sense. Vicki from Omaha is playing the Pella window game. It starts under the no. 2 window and ends up being behind the number two window at the end. Vicki won a decorative rug. We're in the darkest timeline. Vicki is going to regift the shit out of that rug. Perhaps her grandson Emmanuel will want it? She needs to talk to his father (her son in-law) and make sure he has a place to put it.

After the Vicki debacle, we arrive at basketball again. James Milliken is shooting free throws. He misses the first. He makes the second. It is 24-12 Bluejays. North Texas has deployed a tall man with glasses to clean up the paint. According to no sources, his vision was hampered when he played too much basketball. He fouls Geoffrey Groselle down low, which is fine. Geoffrey, the giant man, steps to the line and he makes the first free throw. The oos and ahhs from the crowd prove that free throws and making - oh wait he missed the second. The crowd is unimpressed. North Texas's offense is a lot like a popcorn machine in a funeral home - poor idea but sorta funny to look at when all around you is depressing. North Texas just made a three.

Ronnie Harrell made both free throws. That's good. There's 10 minutes left, and North Texas is now just 8 points down. Geoffrey Groselle just picked up an assist to Ronnie Harrell. Say that a few times fast, I bet you could. Alright, North Texas, who I will now refer to as NT, misses a shot and Creighton returns the favor with a miss of their own. NT takes the ball down and airballs an easy shot. My lord their offense is pathetic. There's absolutely no form to it whatsoever. Geoffrey Groselle is shooting two shots, and how 'bout that he made the first. Nice. Sweet.

NT just made a deep three from a guy with a great haircut. I support this endeavor. Holy shit Tyler Clement just shot and made a three. That's insane. NT should just give up now. In the next Creighton possession, Tyler Clement gets called for an offensive foul.

Alright now I'm watching some kid shoot hoops. He's not great but the pressure of the world was resting on his shoulders. That's a might cross to bear, but he enjoyed the experience. You could tell. Billy Bluejay is riding around on one of those stupid hoverboard things. He's not doing well. Not well at all.

Alright, NT is taking the ball up. Their offense is poor, but somehow get a 3 off of 4 passes. Maurice Watson fed Isaiah Zierden on the low block, and Zierden got a floater off for a two point basket. On the following possession, a series of put backs and extra passes leads to Ronnie Harrell putting up a fadeaway layup, which did not go in. He's shooting free throws now. He made them both.

On the next possession, NT drove to the bucket and got fouled. I told you their offense was pretty meh, they've done this a lot today. Creighton's motion offense is stalled by Ronnie Harrell holding the ball for just a bit too long, which leads to a desperation heave to Hanson down low, which is cut off after he gets fouled.

NT does not get the basket and instead has to play catchup as Mo Watson drives on the transition, where he gets fouled. He makes both free throws.

NT scores on a weird play, Creighton immediately goes down the court and Mo Watson gets a nice little pass into Groselle who gets fouled going up for a quick lay-in. He makes both free throws. 44-31 Creighton.

On NT's next offensive possession, they dump it into the paint only for Groselle to get the foul. The NT guy misses. Their offense is dismal, relying on getting fouled, but then they do not make the foul shots which is not ideal. There are a lot of weird fouls so far this game. That's fine.

Now the arena is doing a show-your-card giveaway, where fans pull out their First National Bank card and flail it around in the air. The camera then points at these greedy fans. Eventually they land on a kid in a tie-dye t shirt and black thick-framed glasses who had a First National Bank card taped to a poster that said "This Is Mine." It was fine.

Creighton inbounds the ball. Groselle immediately screens for Watson, who dishes to Zierden, who dishes back to Groselle. A little three man game. Alright, now the ball is moving too fast to keep up with. Creighton has a 13 point lead. Lets talk about other things for a couple minutes. I'm fine, not sweaty but a little tired. The NT coach is in a very nice suit, tailored to his specifications with a piece of paper as a pocket square. His hair is cut short and his shoes are shiny. Also he's wearing a black suit jacket, black pants and a black and white tie. From across the court, I can't quite make out the pattern, it must be my astigmatism. Coach McDermott is wearing a pink tie, pastel blue shirt (could be lavender, again my eyesight isn't great) with very stylish brown dress shoes. His suit coat and pants are navy blue.

The referees are wearing black and white vertical striped shirts with black slacks. One ref is wearing Air Jordans. Good arch support, they say. The score is now 48-37. Should I go back to reporting about the game? Maybe. I like this. There are Jimmy John advertisements on the basketball stanchion. That is fine. I do not remember those being there in the past? Are they new? Nevermind, not important. There's a pretty good crowd, I'd say about 86.5% full.

Isaiah Zierden just made another 2-point basket. He has some points, I'm sure. Zach Hanson just utilized a volleyball technique with a two-handed block. This is fine. NT misses again. It is now 54-38 Creighton with the lead. NT is giving up and chucking up deep threes and missing them. Harrell just got fouled. That's also fine. Harrell just missed both free throws.

NT deciding to deploy a sit and wait approach in the waning seconds of the half. OK, fine, their offense sucks anyways. The point guard ended up getting fouled with 11.6 seconds left but missed the first free throw. Makes the second. Ronnie Harrell leaves the court to an applause. Milliken misses a three to end the half. 54-39 Bluejays.