Men's Basketball Faces Iona on Sunday Morning
11/28/2009 1:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Game #6 vs. Iona • Sunday, Nov. 28, 2009 • 10:00 a.m. EST (9:00 am CST)
Iona Gaels vs. Creighton Bluejays
The Milk House (5,500) • Orlando, Fla.
Radio: KXSP 590 AM, www.bigsports590.com
Television: ESPNU
Series History: Series tied, 1-1
Last Meeting: Creighton won 68-62 on Nov. 16, 2004 in Omaha, Neb.
• Creighton is 1-1 all-time against Iona. That win came on Nov. 16, 2004 in Omaha, Neb., and was a second-round game as part of the Guardians Classic. Nate Funk led Creighton with 18 points and nine rebounds. Creighton made 12-of-24 shots from three-point territory and 7-of-28 shots from two-point range that night. Iona beat the Jays on Jan. 27, 1954.
• The dean of MVC coaches, Dana Altman (Eastern New Mexico, 1980) is in his 16th year as head coach of the Bluejays. He owns a 311-162 (.658) mark at Creighton and a career record of 394-230 (.631) in his 21st year as an NCAA Division I head coach. He is Creighton's all-time winningest coach. Altman is 1-0 against Iona and 1-1 in his career against the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (1-0 at Creighton).
• At 2-3, Creighton has lost three of its first five games for the first time since the 1996-97 campaign. The Bluejays will be looking to avoid losing four of their first six games since 1993-94, the year before Dana Altman's arrival. Creighton is also looking to avoid its first losing November record since 1997-98 (1-2) and its first 0-3 showing in any tournament, ever. Creighton had not started 0-2 in a tournament since the Hawaii-Nike Festival in December of 1995.
• On Thursday, Justin Carter scored a career-high 21 points off the bench in the overtime setback to Michigan. On Friday, Ethan Wragge had a career-best 21 points off the bench against Xavier. Before that, Creighton hadn't had a player score 20 points off the bench since Cavel Witter had 25 against Oral Roberts on Nov. 22, 2008. The last time Creighton had two players score 20 points in a game off the bench, during a two-game span, was Jan. 19, 2008, when Witter (21) and Booker Woodfox (20) each had 20+ points in a win over Indiana State.
• Creighton's top two scorers this year are newcomers, as junior college transfer Darryl Ashford averages 12.2 ppg., and true freshman Ethan Wragge averages 11.4 ppg. Ashford's 61 points are tied for third-most by a newcomer under Dana Altman through five games. Wragge's 57 points are third-most by a freshman under Altman through five games, trailing eventual MVC Freshmen of the Year Ryan Sears (63 in 1997-98) and P'Allen Stinnett (61 in 2007-08).
• Ethan Wragge has made 15-of-28 shots from three-point range this year, connecting at a 53.6 percent clip from downtown. The last Creighton player to make 15 or more three-pointers in the first five games of a season was Kyle Korver. Korver started his senior year (2002-03) draining 25-of-38 shots from downtown (65.8 percent) through five games, and would go on to make a school-record 129 treys en route to second-team All-America honors.
• The 21 points scored by Ethan Wragge against Xavier were the most by a Bluejay freshman since P'Allen Stinnett had 22 points against Rhode Island on March 18, 2008. Stinnett had four games of 20 or more points as a freshman en route to sweeping MVC Freshman and Newcomer of the Year honors.
Wragge's five three-pointers against Xavier were the most by a CU freshman since Stinnett had five three-pointers in a season-opening win over DePaul on Nov. 9, 2007.
• Creighton outscored Xavier 34-22 (+12) in the 16:04 that Ethan Wragge played on Friday, but were outscored 58-33 (-25) in the 23:56 without him on the court.
• Creighton was outscored 15-14 in points off turnovers against Xavier on Friday. It has been outscored in points off turnovers in each loss this year, but owned the edge in the same category in both victories.
• Creighton has made 112 substitutions in its first two games (64, then 48), which should help the team on Sunday morning as it plays its third game in four days.
• Since 2000-01, Creighton has lost consecutive games on just 20 occasions (including the current two-game skid), but only twice has that streak stretched to three or longer.
• Creighton has won its last 14 games played on a Sunday. Its last defeat on Sunday was Jan. 19, 2005 against Southern Illinois.
