Halftime Report - Creighton 27, Valparaiso 20

At the break in Hawaii, the Jays have looked quite a bit better than they did at any point in Fresno. We are taking it strong to the basket and drawing contact. For this offense to work as it's constituted this season, we need to take it to the hoop and be aggressive. The large disparity in free throw attempts right now are a good example of that. The other thing that just screamed out at me through the first half was: three charges taken. Setting your feet and taking the charge is iconic of Dana Altman's Creighton Basketball and it's something that has been almost completely absent through the first seven games of the season.

Now, it's not all sunshine and puppy dogs. Other than two free throws late, Nate has been fairly absent on the offensive end, although it's a good sign that the Jays have been as much in control as they've been to this point with so little out of their best player. Also, the utter aggravation over the fact that Nick Porter is incapable of finishing on the break continues. With his size and his game, he has to find a way to convert in those situations. Finally, the Jays are only 1-8 from outside (the only make early in the game by Nick Bahe). It's still extremely difficult to wrap my mind around a Creighton team being this poor from three.

Valpo has been a scrappy team, so far. They've shown some good tenacity and have been able to persevere as Creighton was on the brink of really getting into high gear at points in the first period. For the Jays to keep this going, however, the important thing is continuing to get the ball down low and take it to the hoop. If we continue to keep everything going inside-out, we should be in good shape.