By Mark Bennett
Djibril Kante had seen trouble like this brewing
before.
But the Indiana State senior forward hoped
that maybe, just maybe, this time would be different. After all,
Kante and his Sycamore teammates had played host Creighton dead
even, 30-30, for the first 20 minutes of Sunday's Missouri Valley
Conference men's college basketball game. And when ISU guard
Kelyn Block opened the second half with a deep 3-pointer, the
Sycamores seemed destined for a tight game with the Bluejays.
"We thought we were on top of it in the
first half," Kante said. "Then in the second half,
it was the story of the year. We play one half, and then one
half we aren't there."
Indeed, moments after Block's shot, Creighton
stole the ball and scored.
And then the Bluejays did that again.
The Bluejays never stopped, and they never
were stopped. Creighton won 70-46.
A string of second-half collapses had reached
a new depth for the Sycamores (2-6 overall, 0-2 in the MVC).
The 24-point conference loss was ISU's worst since 1998. And
it came against a Bluejay team playing for the first time without
standout forward Kyle Korver, who suffered a knee injury in practice
late Friday.
Creighton (5-2, 1-0) was still able to torment
ISU ballhandlers with its full-court press, forcing 19 Sycamore
turnovers.
"We're growing very disappointed in this
pattern of letting the game get away from us and giving in,"
ISU Coach Royce Waltman said. "And I don't want that to
be misinterpreted. I've never called kids quitters. We have really
good kids on our team, who really have the right thoughts at
heart.
"But they lack the confidence to weather
any storms at all. So the result is the same as quitting. Even
though you want to do the right thing, if you don't have the
confidence to step up, any kind of adversity just snowballs over
us. And that is becoming a pattern that is very disturbing for
our team."
Earlier this season, promising first halves
turned into lopsided Sycamore losses to Valparaiso and Butler.
With Korver watching in street clothes, Creighton
kept the Sycamores from hitting a field goal for nearly 10 minutes
in the second half after Block's 3-pointer gave ISU its last
lead at 33-30. During that stretch, the Bluejays outscored ISU
24-4.
Amazingly, none of Creighton's players scored
more than 10 points. Starting guard Larry House, ace sixth man
Terrell Taylor and reserve center Joe Dabbert scored 10 each.
But five of the other seven Bluejays also scored. And together,
they outrebounded ISU 36-23.
"Everybody kind of got into the act,"
said Creighton Coach Dana Altman.
Rebounding without the 6-foot-7 Korver was
a prime concern for Altman, whose team didn't realize their top
player was going to miss a game for the first time in his career.
"[Altman] didn't really say too much
about scoring," House said. "He just wanted us to step
up and get Kyle's rebounds."
Altman was surprised the big plays came so
frequently in the second half.
"I'm really shocked at the result,"
Altman said, "because there's not been a tougher team for
us to play the last two years."
It was the Sycamores who stunned the 2001
MVC regular-season champion Bluejays in last March's conference
tournament at St. Louis. Both teams went on to the NCAA Tournament
for the second straight year.
On Sunday, Creighton slapped its traditional
press on the Sycamores. But in the second half, ISU couldn't
respond, committing 12 turnovers in the final 20 minutes. "Once
we see they're getting tired, that gets us more aggressive,"
said Bluejay guard Ismael Caro, who had three steals in 15 minutes
of action.
"When they put that pressure on, it's
always hard to come back," Kante said. "We've always
had trouble with the press, and tonight it just carried over."
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| Omaha
World-Herald/Bill Batson |
| Get higher: Creighton's Austin
Collier (44) fights for rebound position between Indiana State's
Terence Avery (31) and Marcus Howard (1). The Sycamores Matt
Broermann (40) watches Sunday in the second half at Omaha. |
He and Block were the only Sycamores to score
in double figures, with 11 points each. Kante also led ISU with
six rebounds. But none of their teammates added more than five
points. And after hitting 46 percent of their first-half shots,
the Sycamores shot a chilly 22 percent from the field in the
second half.
ISU's offensive problems, Kante said, came
from Creighton's defense.
"It was their press," Kante said.
"Their defense caused trouble for us."
Several times the Sycamores struggled to cross
half-court safely.
"The majority of the time, we got the
[inbound pass] in pretty good places, and guys just didn't have
the ability or the confidence to go through [the press] and make
a play," Waltman explained.
They won't have much time to acquire that
confidence. The Sycamores will travel to Laramie, Wyoming, today.
They'll play the Wyoming Cowboys at 9:05 p.m. Wednesday.
"It doesn't get any easier," Kante
said.
Game notes -
Reserve sophomore center Michael Kernan suffered a plantar fascia
sprain in his left foot during ISU's Saturday night practice
in Omaha and wore street clothes on the sidelines Sunday. ISU
athletic trainder Dave Ralston said the 6-foot-10, 200-pounder
will likely be out for two weeks.
Korver's absence leaves the MVC without two
of its three Preseason All-Conference first-teamers. Illinois
State guard Tarise Bryson suffered a season-ending wrist injury
at the season's outset. That leaves ISU's Block, Drake's Luke
McDonald and Southern Illinois' Kent Williams.
The conference needs players such as Korver,
Waltman said.
"We've lost Bryson for the year, and
hopefully Korver will be back. This league is at a level where
every team doesn't have a stable full of athletes. And we need
every single good player we can have in this league," Waltman
said. "So I really hope he recovers and gets back and plays."
An hospital examination today will determine
the extent of Korver's injury. He'd played in 71 consecutive
games.
Creighton now faces a non-conference rematch
Wednesday at Western Kentucky. The Bluejays beat the then-17th-ranked
Hilltoppers 94-91 in double-overtime at Omaha on Nov. 27. WKU's
7-foot-1, 285-pound center Chris Marcus had 22 points and 11
rebounds in that game, but he's expected to miss the rematch
with an injury.
Valley recap
- The MVC teams from Iowa continue to pull off non-conference
surprises. Last week, Northern Iowa stunned Big Ten Conference
neighbor Iowa. And on Saturday, Drake (5-3 overall, 1-0 MVC)
handled Big 12 foe Iowa State 72-58 at Des Moines. Bulldog sophomore
Luke McDonald's 27 points helped Drake overcome a two-point halftime
deficit and outscore the Cyclones 44-28 in the second half.
Also Saturday, a career-high 26 points by
junior-college transfer Baboucarr Bojang wasn't enough for Illinois
State (4-5, 0-0) in a 70-59 loss at Chattanooga. Evansville (2-6,
0-0) lost 84-72 to visiting Bowling Green in a duel of former
Bob Knight assistants. Aces Coach Jim Crews will bring his squad
to Terre Haute to play ISU on Jan. 5, while Falcons Coach Dan
Dakich brings Bowling Green to Hulman Center for a 2:05 p.m.
game on Dec. 29. And Northern Iowa (6-3, 1-0) had its strong
start slowed somewhat in a 77-65 loss at undefeated Butler. Chris
Foster scored 18 points for the Panthers, while Robbie Sieverding
and David Gruber added 17 each.
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