Lindeman's Shooting Paces #13 Jays Past Braves, 88-65
2/8/2003 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Omaha, Neb.--Junior forward Michael Lindeman was perfect in five three-point attempts and scored a career-high 21 points to lead #13 Creighton (21-2, 11-1 MVC) past Bradley (8-14, 4-7 MVC), 88-65 before a sellout crowd of 9,286 in Omaha Saturday.
Trailing early, Creighton took the lead for good on a three-pointer by sophomore Kellen Miliner for a 15-14 lead. CU’s largest lead of the opening 20 minutes was it’s nine point advantage at the break, 39-30.
Holding a 53-45 lead with 12:59 remaining, CU turned its play up a notch and started a 17-2 run that put the game out of reach. In the spurt, BU made just one of six shots and committed two turnovers while CU made five straight shots and 3-of-4 at the charity stripe.
Lindeman’s 5-for-5 effort from beyond the arc led a CU attack that made 13-of-25 trifectas overall. Kyle Korver made three treys while Nate Funk and Miliner were each 2-for-2 from downtown. Korver added 14 points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks, while Joe Dabbert contributed 10 points off the bench as well.
The nation’s leader in field goal percentage, Creighton shot 51.7 percent for the game and dished out 20 assists on the evening.
Bradley was paced by 16 points from Phillip Gilbert and 14 points and four assists from James Gillingham before he fouled out. The Braves shot 37.9 percent from the game and committed 22 turnovers, including seven by Gilbert.
Creighton concludes its three-game homestand Wednesday when they host SMS in a 7:05 p.m. contest. To purchase tickets, call (402) 422-1212.
Creighton Post-Game Quotes, Feb. 8, 2003
Bradley at #13 Creighton
Creighton forward #22 Michael Lindeman:
On being in a shooting rhythm: “I’m not really used to that. Everybody was just making plays for everybody else. I thought we had a real unselfish effort tonight and that just contributed into it.”
On energy in games: “I thought it was a lot better. Defensively I thought we got on them better than we had in the past couple of games. We rebounded better. I think (Phillip) Gilbert ended up with 16 on some tough shots. I think he had 16 in the first five minutes at their place. We wanted to focus in on him, (James) Gillingham and their guards not letting them get easy looks. And I thought we did a better job.”
Creighton Head Coach Dana Altman:
“I thought we played pretty hard tonight. I thought we had a little bit more energy than we’ve had in the past few games. The crowd was outstanding and it kept us going. We rebounded the ball better than we did in Peoria. That was important. And if you take out the 20 turnovers it was a really good ball game for us. We got going fast offensively a few times and threw it around a little too much, but with the exception of those turnovers I thought we played pretty good.”
On improvements since Northern Iowa game: “I thought we took a step tonight. I thought we were better. We made some better decisions on the defensive end. I thought we slid our feet a little better. Bradley is a quick team. An explosive team. And I thought our guys did a little better job of trying to stay in between them and the basket. They (Bradley) had some had some open looks that they missed which was good for us. But I thought we did a little better job of fighting the dribble tonight. And as I mentioned, out-rebounding them was really important.”
Bradley Head Coach Jim Les:
Opening statement: “I think Creighton is a very good basketball team and they played well.”
On Expectations: “I didn’t come in expecting that outcome. But I knew we would have to play our best game in order to compete.”
Bradley guard #13 James Gillingham:
On defending Kyle Korver: “I just try to stay into his body the best I could. Korver is a great player and he is going to get his points. And I just try to limit that. He hits some threes early and that kept him confident. He did a good job of getting his teammates involved when he didn’t have shots. It was tough.”
