Bradley Recap

Final Score: Creighton 65, Bradley 54

Box Score

Recaps: CU | BU
Media: OWH | Peoria Journal-Star | AP

In many ways, Thursday night's game set up against the Jays. Creighton was coming off of a disappointing loss in Wichita on Monday and the buildup for the showdown with hated SIU was already starting. Bradley came into Omaha as one of the most prolific three point shooting squads in the nation. Considering how poor the Jays have been defending on the perimeter, this seemed to just come together as the classic "trap" for a team looking past a lightly regarded, yet dangerous opponent. In fact, one only needs to look at what happened to the Salukis themselves: they prepared for a potential battle for first place by getting taken down by a resilient Evansville team that has a lot of talent returning and a desire to prove themselves.

Bradley, however, is a team that had to look to more inexperienced options going into this season. After losing major players from last season's Sweet 16 squad to both graduation as well as the NBA draft, the Braves had to remake their identity. No longer able to rely on the big anchor of Patrick O'Bryant in the middle or the playmaking abilities of Marcellus Sommervile, Coach Jim Les had no choice but to revise his plan of attack and put a new face on his squad.

In the first half of Thursday's game, it looked like that may well have worked against the Jays, as the Braves were able to produce quality looks on a consistent basis against the Bluejay matchup zone. However, this perimeter sort of style that the Braves now play is vulnerable to a cold start, especially on the road, and that can very well get the snowball rolling, and that is exactly what happened for them. Unable to find their early shooting touch, Bradley was unable to get into a rhythm and was really never able to recover. With a set of quality and athletic guard, like Ruffin and Tauai and Franklin, BU makes their living beating their man off the dribble and creating opportunities either at the basket or for the easy kick out. Even though the Jays weren't able to match their speed, they played strong zone defense especially in the second half and held Bradley well under their averages in three point shots made and percentage.

The biggest concerns, however, is the 21 turnovers the Jays committed. Granted, with the pressure that Bradley can bring, that's going to turn up the numbers a bit, but overall, the central problem of the night was failing to be secure with the basketball. There were a number of just plain sloppy plays, with young Nick Porter being a generator of much of the frustration. There's two schools of thought here. One might say it's a good thing the Jays saw as much pressure as they did to help prepare for the game against the Salukis. That said, if we don't see a major difference in the ball handling, that will just play into SIU's hands. Also, here comes the question of how to utilize a Josh Dotzler who is recovering from the hand injury, is limited in what he can do with the basketball because of it, and has never quite been the same on his feet since knee surgery last year. It will be interesting to see how much time he's able to play on Saturday, considering how limited he's been and what a liability that creates in his handling of the basketball.

There's a lot to be negative about in Thursday's game if one wants to be, but overall, it was an 11 point win at home against a solid Valley foe. It was an ugly game, but when Creighton does what it wants to do, it plays ugly basketball. This is not a finesse team that wants to get out and run up and down the floor and play to more superficial interests. When Creighton is effective, it's a team that runs it's sets well, plays inside-out ball, lets it's playmakers carry the show and is active on the defensive end of the floor. The Jays were right about in their comfort zone with 65 points.

Overall, I think one shouldn't get caught up in too much of the details of this game. It was a difficult game against an opponent not getting the credit they deserve and it was very easy to get caught up in the rivalry to come. The most important thing about a game like this is that you do the job and get past it. The way Bradley was shooting on Thursday, even with the Braves keeping it close on the scoreboard, there was never a feeling that they were about to put together a run and take the game back. We can now safely put this game aside and concentrate on the showdown to come on Saturday.