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How to Watch, Stream, Listen, Follow
Game Time: 2:00pm CT
Location: CHICO, Omaha, NE
TV: FS1
Stream: Fox Sports Go
Radio: 1620AM the Zone & 101.9 the Keg in Omaha / 89.5FM WSOU in South Orange
Odds & Ends
Creighton is favored by 3.5 points according to Odds Shark.
Over/under set at 148.5.
Kenpom gives Creighton a 66% chance of getting the win, with a predicted final score of 77-73.
Don’t gamble on this game. In fact, don’t gamble on any BIG EAST game. Keep that shit in the Mountain West or Patriot League.
Since We Last Met
Since Myles Powell shoved Creighton into the loser’s bin last Saturday the two teams have dropped off in separate directions.
On Wednesday, Seton Hall dispatched Georgetown 90-75. Myles Powell continued his torrid stretch, dumping 30 points - 10 coming from the charity stripe - on the young Hoya squad. The Pirates led pretty much from the jump and forced Georgetown into 12 turnovers. They swarmed James Akinjo and Mac McClung, forcing the young men into tough spots.
Michael Nzei and Myles Cale contributed 18 & 17 points in the blowout win. Kevin Willard’s squad has seized two consecutive wins in conference, making the mid-January swoon seem like a distant memory. If these boys from South Orange are looking to make a push to the upper echelon of the conference, they’re certainly beginning to roll that way.
—
Creighton lost to Xavier in overtime.
Creighton had an opportunity to win the ballgame. With 24 seconds left and a two point lead, the Jays went to inbound the ball and sophomore sharpshooter Mitch Ballock tossed the ball into the backcourt as his five seconds began to wind down. The ball ended up in the waiting arms of Tyrique Jones. Tyrique Jones tied the ballgame with ease.
Just like against Seton Hall and Villanova, the Bluejays found a way to lose. It doesn’t help when Ballock, Davion Mintz, and Ty-Shon Alexander have shot 11-64 from the field in the past two contests. The trio had been heralded as some of the most potent point scorers in the conference, yet these slumps are killer, forcing the Jays to find other means of production.
Probable Starting Lineups
CREIGHTON
PG - Marcus Zegarowski (game time decision)
SG - Ty-Shon Alexander
SG - Davion Mintz
SF - Mitch Ballock
C - Martin Krampelj
SETON HALL
PG - Quincy McKnight
SG - Myles Powell
SF - Myles Cale
PF - Michael Nzei
C - Sandro Mamukelashvili
Verba de Ludis
The last three games have been a trying effort for Creighton basketball as a whole. With a team that’s so young and has so much promise to lose three consecutive nailbiters by their own volition, it’s hard for fans to understand that the lack of poise in the waning moments of ballgames isn’t a sincere indication of where the team is trending.
One must temper their expectations. Your gratification in rooting on a sports team isn’t going to piqued when a coach gets fired or a player going through a slump gets benched. Your gratification is only satiated when the team succeeds. One must realize that success isn’t a straight and narrow path. It isn’t in kenpom win expectation charts. It isn’t box scores or highlights or conversations on major sports networks about them.
Success is something that’s built. It might look like a plot of land with nothing but a foundation poured, bricks stacked to the side, the construction foreman puffing through darts like a damn chimney while they pour over blueprints. Something’s going to get built. It takes time, though.
While you toil in your frustration over a season inexplicably lost, remember that those in charge of building this program are working diligently to make sure that structure is sound. You want it right now, but you’re simply looking at it from across the street, playing no part in building it. You can yell and scream all you want, but it’s not going to make the process go any faster.
Let’s just watch and see what gets built. The fruits of labor may not show much now but in a year’s time we might be pleasantly surprised at the beauty the architect designed. Be patient. Have faith.
Song of the Day - Tenderness - Parquet Courts