*whistle*

Well, that was certainly a basketball game, I guess.

Alcorn State deployed a 2-3 zone on Creighton that was incredibly effective. This led to many empty possessions and turnovers from the get go, forcing Creighton into awkward jumpshots or making an extra pass in heavily congested areas.

Creighton was just good eno-

*whistle*

-enough on offense to get a sizable lead at the half, but that’s mainly due to a bunch of free thr-

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uh, free throws. Please stop doing that. Anyways, as I was saying, it was clear that Marcus Foster was having one of those nights, going 4-5 from the field in the first half, two of those counting as three pointers, finishing with 10 points in the half. See, the problem was that he only played te-

*whistle*

...are you serious? Again? Stop that.

As I was saying, he only played ten minutes because he got into fo-

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...

he played ten minutes because he got into foul trouble. In fact, our lord and savior Khyri Thomas’s floor time was cut short due to acquiring two fouls early on. TOBY! Hegner and Mitchell Ballock were dealt two fouls as well, so they sat on the bench and peered on at the game like lonely light house supervisors looking ove-

*whistle*

Yeah, you were in the right to interrupt that one.

So the half played out just as you’d imagine, with lineups consisting of Ronnie Harrell, Ty-Shon Alexander, Tyler Clement, Davion Mintz, and Manny Suarez. The five playing meaningful minutes together, in a somewhat close game, in the first half.

Just like you predic-

*whistle*

With the halftime score of 49-36, there were a lot of really good jokes going around about the pace of play due to

*whistle*

...right, that. Yet, Creighton scored those 49 points on 4-13 shooting from three, after committing 14 turnovers, and dishing out just 6 assists. I don’t know what sort of world this is that we’re living in, but those numbers tend to trend in a direction that doesn’t end in 49 points.

Creighton then proceeded to mash the gas pedal after halftime,

*whistle*

...

*whistle*

stop

*whistle*

plea-

*whistle*

*whistle*

*whistle*

*whistle*

*whistle*

*whistle*

i don’t want to play this game anymo-

*whistle*

STOP. WHY?

...

are we done yet?

...

...

okay.

Uh, right so, Creighton went on a pretty good run to start things off. And by pretty good, I mean really good.

49 FOULS WERE CALLED IN THIS GAME

From the start of the half to the 10:05 mark, the Jays went on a 33-15 run, utilizing those fresh legs off the bench to put up good shots. Within that span, Mitchell Ballock nailed a couple of threes, threw down a vicious dunk, and tossed up a heat check three from just outside of the logo, Marcus Foster put in 13 more points, Khyri Thomas hit a three to continue his streak of 16 games with at least one three pointer (longest streak by a Jay since Doug did it in 2014), and hell even Tyler Clement splashed one through the net.

If you fell asleep in the first half and missed the rest of this one, I envy you. You didn’t miss a whole heckuva lot other than the natural flow of the college basketball universe evening itself out. At 92-58 it’s pretty much over, and there’s still 6:30 left to play.

So, like the old days when I wrote these recaps, I might as well go off on a tangen-

*whistle*

... fuck.

I’m going to do it anywa-

*whistle*

Manny Suarez hit a three. Ty-Shon hit a couple.

31 OF THOSE WERE CALLED IN THE FIRST HALF

In a game where everything seemed to go wrong, where the pace seemed stifled by the 2-3 zone and the referees insistence to blow the whistle, Creighton still came out on top. Had Alcorn State come out firing and nailing every three they tossed at the rim, and didn’t turn it over so damn much, maybe it’d be a different story. Yet much like the Creighton of old, these Jays can pour in buckets in excess in a very short amount of time.

Like last year, when they shot so incredibly well at the beginning of the year, when they nearly hit the century point every round, when everything was so swell... it appears that they’ve hit that pace again.

I say that there’s a pretty enormous glimmer of hope for these Bluejays. I wondered at the beginning of the season if they’d be able to compete when Khyri has an off night (he went 1-6 from the field for just 7 points with 4 made free throws) and they showed, albeit against an inferior opponent, that they’ll be just fine.

At the end of the day, Mitchell Ballock, Ty-Shon Alexander, Kaleb Joseph, and Marcus Foster finished with double digit points.

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Stats!!!

CREIGHTON

ALCORN STATE