Evansville Recap

Final Score: Creighton 79, Evansville 74

Box Score

Recaps: CU | UE
Media: OWH | Evansville Courier-Press

There has been a massive amount of buildup for Saturday's game vs #21st ranked SIU. It's the matchup between the top two teams in the Valley, on national television during Rivalry Week, in a game that will almost certainly decide will will hoist the MVC Champions trophy and who will settle for a 2 seed in St. Louis. Big problem with that, though: it's not Saturday yet and Evansville chose not to lie down in front of Creighton's Mack Truck. It was a truly classic trap game and one in which the Jays came within a hairsbreadth of losing. The Jays overcome the largest halftime deficit (48-34) in the four year history of the Qwest Center to sneak by the Aces 79-74. The win moves the Jays to 17-7 overall, 11-3 in the Valley and keeps pace with SIU to set up the showdown on Saturday night.

To start off this game, however, to say the Jays looked lethargic is putting it mildly. In many ways the start of this game looked similar to the game versus the Salukis earlier in the year and, with all due respect to a very proud Evansville squad, it's a testament to our failures that we were making them look like the Ugly Dawgs. First and foremost, the Jays were atrocious defensively in that first half. There were far too many open looks and unimpeded lanes to the basket. This added up to the largest lead and total points for an opponent in one half of basketball at the Qwest Center. I could sit here and write pages and pages about the awful things that we did as a team during the first twenty minutes of the game, but it basically all comes down to this: it seemed like this team took the court and believed "We're Creighton and they should be intimidated to even be on the court with us." It doesn't work that way, and it sure doesn't in the Valley. In the post game call-in show, KXSP's Matt Perrault likened it to how the Jays looked and played during the game at Nebraska, in which they took the Huskers far too lightly, allowed them to shot an unconscious percentage from the outside and flat out let it get away from them.

Thankfully, unlike the Nebraska game, this was at home and anything is possible at home. I would be interested to know what Coach Altman said to the team at halftime, because whatever he said must have worked, as the Jays came into the second half like they were shot out of a cannon. In the second period, the Jays stepped up the pressure defense and started to consistently get in the middle of Evansville's 2-3 zone. Things then started to roll downhill quickly. In the end, it was a 25-4 run over the first 8:01 minutes of the second half and just like that, not only was the massive lead for the Aces gone, but now they were in a hole themselves and whatever cobwebs Creighton had in their heads were gone.

Give Evansville credit, however. A lot of teams would have folded like cheap patio furniture in the face of the blitz that the Jays came out with in the second half. They recovered well, even took another lead late and did have a shot at the end, having the ball with the shot clock off and down three. However, at that point, this team wasn't going to be denied at home and held on.

So, now we finally get there. The hype can begin in earnest. As the AP recap of SIU's win last night against Bradley stated: at the end of the game, a chant of "WE WANT CREIGHTON" echoed through the SIU Arena as time wound down. Some may, and will, have legitimate concerns going into this game because of what the Jays showed tonight. However, as bad as it is that the Jays did overlook Evansville last night, there is absolutely no chance that will occur on Saturday night. I do think this team is equipped to give the Salukis a run for their money, with the talent and experience on this squad as well as the fact that this is literally a Championship Game. That said, it's all about the mental block. Like it or not, this SIU team has been in our head for sometime. It's not been the lack of firepower or talent to win these games, but SIU has built their reputation through intimidation. At some point, Creighton is going to have to prove that they're not going to allow the Salukis to get in their heads. That will be the key to this game, bar none.