Men's Basketball Visits Missouri State For Rare Friday Game
1/10/2013 12:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball
2012-13 Creighton Men's Basketball
Game #17 at Missouri State • Friday, Jan. 11, 2013 • 7:05 pm
#13 Creighton Bluejays at Missouri State Bears
JQH Arena (11,000) • Springfield, Mo.
Radio: KXSP 590 AM, www.am590espnradio.com
Television: KMTV; ESPN FullCourt; ESPN3
Series History: Creighton leads, 31-28
Last Meeting: Creighton 66, Missouri State 65 on 1/18/12 in Springfield, Mo.
Next Game
No. 13 Creighton (15-1, 4-0 MVC) puts its unbeaten MVC start on the line when it visits Missouri State (5-11, 3-1 MVC) for a rare Friday night league game.
Tip-off at JQH Arena (11,000) in Springfield, Mo., is set for 7:05 pm.
Radio Broadcast Information
KXSP (“AM 590 - Omaha's ESPN Radio”) will broadcast all Creighton men's basketball games during the 2012-13 season, including Friday. T. Scott Marr and Ross Ferrarini will call the action. The audio is also webcast live at www.AM590espnradio.com.
TV Broadcast Information
Friday's game is the fourth of five games in the KMTV television package. The game will also be carried nationally on ESPN Full Court as well. Chase Williams and Nick Bahe will announce the contest.
Coordinates follow:
AMC 16, K-21, Slot B - KU Band 18 MHZ
Uplink: 14429 MHz (Horizontal)
Downlink: 12129 MHz (Vertical)
Video Webcast Information
ESPN3 has a free video webcast of the game at http://es.pn/mbb-CREIGHTONvsMSU.
Live Stats Information
All of Creighton's games this season will have free live stats. Visit www.gocreighton.com and click on the Live Stats tab on the top of the page for a link the exact URL.
Home games can also be followed by those who have mobile devices with internet capability at www.gocreightonstats.com.
Scouting No. 13 Creighton
Creighton is 15-1 this season, including wins over Wisconsin, Arizona State, UAB, Saint Joseph's, Nebraska, Akron, Cal, Tulsa, Evansville, Illinois State, Indiana State and Drake. Creighton has won nine straight games since suffering its only loss of the season against Boise State on Nov. 28th.
Junior forward Doug McDermott (22.6 ppg., 7.3 rpg.) is the nation's only returning consensus First Team All-American, as well as the nation's leading returning scorer (22.9 ppg. last year). He's led the Jays in scoring and rebounding each of the past two seasons, and has already picked up MVC Freshman of the Year, MVC Newcomer of the Year, MVC Player of the Year and MVC Tournament MVP honors in his career. McDermott is 28-of-49 from three-point range in the past 10 contests and has already been named MVC Player of the Week four times this season.
The other three returning starters include senior center Gregory Echenique (10.8 ppg., 7.6 rpg., 1.7 bpg.), senior guard Grant Gibbs (7.1 ppg., 5.9 apg.) and junior guard Jahenns Manigat (.468 3FG% last year). Gibbs led the MVC with 176 assists last year, while Echenique had a league-high 57 blocks en route to earning MVC Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Sophomore Austin Chatman replaced three-year starter Antoine Young, the lone player from last year's rotation to depart. Chatman is averaging 8.1 points and 5.0 assists per contest.
The Bluejays returned 10 lettermen and four starters from last year's 29-6 team that reached the third round of the NCAA Tournament, and have been widely praised for having one of the nation's most potent offenses.
Creighton is shooting 51.9 percent from the floor, 44.9 percent from downtown (first nationally), 75.0 percent at the line, and outrebounding foes by 4.8 caroms a game. CU scores 80.2 points per game.
Scouting Missouri State
Missouri State is 5-11 on the season, including a 4-4 mark at home. The Bears opened the season 2-10 with a pair of non-Division I wins, but have opened league play with wins over Southern Illinois, Drake and Illinois State sandwiched around an overtime loss at Evansville.
Anthony Downing leads MSU with 14.6 points and 1.3 steals per game. Downing's scored 20.3 points per league game, leading the team each Valley contest.
Freshman Marcus Marshall is also scoring at an impressive clip, scoring 10.1 points per game.
Junior Nathan Scheer, a member of the MVC's 2010-11 All-Freshman Team, averages 5.4 points per game but has upped that average to 10.3 ppg in league play on 10-of-16 (62.5 percent) long-range shooting.
As a team, Missouri State averages 59.8 points per game while shooting 39.8 percent from the floor, 30.1 percent from downtown and 62.0 percent at the line. The Bears surrender 62.4 points per game and are outrebounded by 4.3 rebounds per game.
The Coaches
Greg McDermott (Northern Iowa, 1988) is in his third season as head coach at Creighton. He led CU to a 29-6 mark last year, and is now 67-23 with the Bluejays. McDermott has previously been a head coach at Iowa State (2006-10), Northern Iowa (2001-06), North Dakota State (2000-01) and Wayne State (1994-2000). He owns a career mark of 347-218 in 19 seasons and is 216-154 in 12 Division I campaigns. McDermott is assisted by Darian DeVries, Steve Lutz and Steve Merfeld.
Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is in his second season at Missouri State, where he owns an 21-27 mark. Combined with a season at Dubuque in 2002-03, he owns a career record of 23-50. He is assisted by Jermaine Henderson, Pat Baldwin and Derrick Tilmon.
The Series With Missouri State
Creighton has won nine of the last 15 meetings to claim a 31-28 lead over Missouri State in the series, but the Bears have six of the last seven contests.
Last season the teams traded road victories, as MSU opened league play with a 77-65 win in Omaha before the Jays answered with a 66-65 win in Springfield three weeks later.
Missouri State is 18-8 all-time at home against Creighton, including a 3-2 mark at JQH Arena.
Greg McDermott is 7-11 in his career (and 1-4 at Creighton) against Missouri State, including a 79-74 double-overtime victory over the Bears to win the 2004 MVC Tournament (while coaching UNI). He is 1-1 against Paul Lusk.
Creighton's series history vs. Missouri State can be found on page 11 of these notes.
Last Game Recap
Creighton bolted to leads of 20-2 and 42-12 while crushing Drake, 91-61, on Tuesday. Ethan Wragge had a career-high 22 points in just 17 minutes of work, sinking six of CU's 16 three-pointers on the night. The Jays shot 64.2 percent from the field and outrebounded the Bulldogs 40-22.
Coaching Connection
Missouri State coach Paul Lusk made his debut as a head coach during the 2002-03 season with the University of Dubuque. Lusk would resign after one season to serve as an assistant coach to Matt Painter at Southern Illinois, who he later followed to Purdue.
When Lusk stepped down at Dubuque, the man who followed him was Marty McDermott, brother of Creighton head coach Greg McDermott and uncle to Creighton junior Doug McDermott.
Marty McDermott was replaced by his assistant coach and former Northern Iowa standout Robbie Sieverding, who starred for Greg McDermott at UNI.
Marty McDermott is currently the Director of Athletics at Muskegon Community College.
Shooting Stars
Creighton has made 55.1 percent of its shots in four MVC games to date. Eleven of its 12 men to score in league play are shooting 50 percent or better from the field.
Take out Creighton and only one team has had a single league game while making 54 percent this season, as Evansville shot 57.7 percent vs. Southern Illinois on Jan. 5th.
Winning Half The Battle
The team with the halftime lead has lost the last five meetings between Creighton and Missouri State.
Creighton is 12-0 this year when leading at half, improving to 51-9 under Greg McDermott when leading at the break.
Creighton has won 24 straight games when tied or leading at halftime, dating to Dec. 28, 2011 vs. Missouri State.
Last Five Meetings CU vs. MSU
Date Half Score Final Score
01/04/11 CU 29-20 MSU 67-55
01/22/11 CU 35-29 MSU 69-67
03/05/11 CU 30-25 MSU 60-50
12/28/11 CU 34-32 MSU 77-65
01/18/12 MSU 34-30 CU 66-65
Big Win
Creighton's 91-61 victory over Drake on Tuesday was its largest in any MVC game since a 93-56 win over Evansville on Jan. 15, 2003.
Six of Creighton's victories this season (including non-conference) have been by 20 or more points.
Thank Heaven For Nevin
Nevin Johnson made the most of his career-high 12 minutes of playing time in Tuesday's win over Drake.
He blocked a Ben Simons lay-up shortly after checking in, then drained a three-pointer the next trip down.
Johnson would finish with nine points, one more than his previous career total set in CU's first 15 games this season.
Wragge = Instant Offense
Ethan Wragge had 22 points in just 17 minutes on Tuesday, sinking six three-pointers for the fourth time in his career.
It's the second time in Wragge's career he's had 20 or more points in 17 minutes or less, having gone for 21 points in 17 minutes as a freshman vs. Xavier.
Before Wragge arrived on campus four years ago, no other Creighton player had 20 or more points in 19 minutes or less since Vernon Moore put up 21 points in 19 minutes against Nebraska-Kearney on Nov. 24, 1984.
Dingman Heads Home
A native of Branson, Mo., Creighton sophomore Avery Dingman returns to the Ozarks to play for the second time as a collegian.
Dingman is averaging 5.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game while making 24-of-50 three-pointers (48 percent) this season.
In the last five games, Dingman has stepped up his play by averaging 9.2 points and 4.4 rebounds on 57.1 percent shooting from downtown.
CU's last Ozark-area recruit, Springfield native Anthony Tolliver, is in the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks.
To The Wire?
Each of Creighton's last two trips to Springfield have come down to the final seconds.
Last year's game featurd 16 ties and 10 lead changes before Creighton used a pair of defensive stops in the last 10 seconds to emerge with a 66-65 win. MSU trailed by one with 22.8 seconds left. Defending Valley Player of the Year Kyle Weems missed a shot, but the Bears got another chance after CU missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 6.4 seconds left. Anthony Downing's pull-up jumper at the buzzer missed, giving CU the victory.
Two seasons ago, Weems hit a lay-up with 14.2 seconds left to help MSU to a 67-66 victory. MSU didn't take its first lead until 1:13 remained in the game, but CU answered 30 seconds later to retake the lead. After a MSU miss, Creighton would miss a free throw with 27.5 left, giving the Bears another chance. Adam Leonard missed a shot, but MSU retained the ball via the possession arrow. Weems would then make a lay-up on the inbounds pass with 14.2 left. Creighton never got a shot off in the final seconds.
About The Final Seconds
Creighton has played 16 games this season, but has yet to have a single lead change in the final five minutes in any of them.
Last year's Creighton team went 5-1 in games that went to overtime or had a lead change in the final five minutes of regulation and were 7-1 in games decided by six points or less.
Who Will Start?
Creighton has utilized the same starting five in every game this season, and four of their five starters have streaks of 51 or more straight starts:
Consecutive Starts, Creighton (Active)
Doug McDermott 90
Gregory Echenique 75
Jahenns Manigat 66
Grant Gibbs 51
Austin Chatman 16
Jays Reach 10 Home Wins, Again
With Tuesday's win vs. Drake, Creighton won its 10th home game this season. Creighton has now won 10 or more home games in 17 straight seasons.
The streak is easily a school-record, five more than the previous standard of 12 straight seasons from the 1969-70 season to the 1980-81 campaign with 10 or more home wins.
There He Goes Again
One year after leading the MVC with 49.2 percent accuracy from three-point land in Valley play, Jahenns Manigat is off to another hot start. Manigat has made 10-of-16 three-pointers in Valley action this year, ranking third in both 3's made and 3-point percentage.
Over the past two seasons, Manigat is 41-for-79 from downtown in league action, good for 51.9 percent.
Wragge, For Three!
Ethan Wragge started the season red-hot from three-point range, sinking 21-of-36 three-pointers in CU's first six games (58.3 percent). He then made 7-of-33 trifectas in CU's next seven games (21.2 percent).
Wragge sank his first four treys at Illinois State on Jan. 2nd, finishing 6-for-9 overall, and last Saturday made 3-of-6 shots from downtown vs. Indiana State.
He continued his torrid pace on Tuesday vs. Drake, making 6-of-9 treys and tying a career-high with 22 points in just 17 minutes.
Filling It Up
Ethan Wragge owns the MVC lead with 43 three-pointers made this season, giving him 189 in his career. That places him fifth in Creighton history.
All four men ahead of him were named MVC Tournament Most Outstanding Player at some point in their careers.
Most 3FG Made, Career
3FG Name Years
371 Kyle Korver 1999-03
245 Ryan Sears 1997-01
212 Rodney Buford 1995-99
200 Nate Funk 2002-07
189 Ethan Wragge 2009-Pres.
185 Matt Roggenburk 1986-90
Three-Point Barrage
Creighton has started MVC play shooting the daylights out of the ball. The Jays were 12-of-24 from downtown vs. Evansville on Dec. 29, went 13-of-25 at Illinois State on Jan. 2nd, were 11-of-22 from deep vs. Indiana State last Saturday, and then an absurd 16-of-27 on Tuesday vs. Drake.
This is the first time since January of 2008 that Creighton's had four straight games with 10 or more three-pointers, and first time the Jays have shot 50 percent or better in four straight games from downtown since February of 1997.
This is the first time in history that Creighton has shot 50 percent or better from deep while making 10 treys or more in three consecutive contests, let alone four straight.
Creighton's 16 three-pointers vs. Drake were tied for second-most in school history, tied for 10th-most in MVC history and the most in the MVC in 2012-13. The league record for three-pointers in a game is 20, done by Creighton (vs. Chattanooga on 2/19/05) and later matched by Bradley vs. Florida A&M on Nov. 21, 2006.
Friday's opponent, Missouri State, has not allowed a team to make more than eight three-pointers all season, nor have they allowed a team to shoot better than 45.5 percent from downtown this year.
Racing To 16
Creighton enters Friday's game with a 15-1 record. The 15 wins were tied for the second-most nationally after Wednesday's games. With a win on Friday, the Jays can join Michigan (and possibly Gonzaga) as the nation's second (or third) squad to 16 victories this year.
Below is a list of the teams with 15 or more wins, as well as the teams with 14 wins that play on Thursday.
Most Wins (Through 1/9)
School W-L Next Game
Michigan 16-0 1/13
Duke 15-0 1/12
Gonzaga 15-1 1/10
Creighton 15-1 1/11
Syracuse 15-1 1/12
Minnesota 15-1 1/12
Wichita State 15-1 1/13
Arizona 14-0 1/10
Best 16 Game Starts
Creighton has started 15-1 or better for the first time since 2003-04, and third time overall. Below are Creighton's best 16-game starts in history:
Best 16-Game Starts
First 16 Year Final W-L
16-0 1942-43 16-1
15-1 2002-03 29-5
15-1 2012-13 ? ? ?
What's Your Digits?
Creighton has played just one game decided by 10 points or less all season, a 79-72 win at Illinois State.
Eleven of Creighton's last 13 games at Missouri State have been decided by seven points or less, including three games by one point.
Prime Nine
Creighton has won nine straight games heading into Friday. This is the sixth different win streak of six or longer in the three years with Greg McDermott as coach.
Longest Win Streaks Under Greg McDermott
W's Dates Snapped By
11 Dec. 31, 2011 - Feb. 1, 2012 at Northern Iowa
9 Dec. 1, 2012 - Present ? ? ?
8 Feb. 14 - March 16, 2012 vs. North Carolina
7 Nov. 11, 2011 - Dec. 4, 2011 at Saint Joseph's
6 Dec. 11, 2010 - Jan. 1, 2011 Missouri State
6 Nov. 9-24, 2012 Boise State
Thorns In Their Side
Creighton is 68-37 vs. MVC schools since the start of the 2007-08 season, but this week's two scheduled opponents have given the Jays more trouble than anyone else.
Creighton owns a winning record against eight schools, but are 6-6 against Friday's foe, Missouri State. Creighton improved to 7-6 against Tuesday's victim, Drake.
Creighton vs. MVC Schools, Since 2007-08
Southern Illinois 9-1
Evansville 10-2
Bradley 9-3
Indiana State 8-3
Northern Iowa 6-5
Wichita State 6-5
Illinois State 7-6
Drake 7-6
Missouri State 6-6
On A Roll
Since the start of last season, Creighton is a remarkable 44-7. That ranks as the best record over any 51 games since the Jays went 44-7 in 51 games from Nov. 17, 2002 to Jan. 28, 2004.
On a national basis, Creighton's 44 wins since the start of last season ranks tied for fourth, as seen below.
Most Wins, Since 2011-12
School '11-12 '12-13 W-L Next
Syracuse 34-3 15-1 49-4 1/12
Kentucky 38-2 9-4 47-6 1/10
Kansas 32-7 13-1 45-8 1/12
Creighton 29-6 15-1 44-7 1/11
Louisville 30-10 14-1 44-11 1/12
Murray State 31-2 11-4 42-6 1/12
North Carolina 32-6 10-4 42-10 1/10
Ohio State 31-8 12-3 43-11 1/13
MVC's Best On The Road
In addition to owning one of the MVC's best home-court advantages, Creighton has easily posted the league's best record in MVC road games since 2000-01 as well.
Creighton is 60-49 in MVC road games in that span, a win percentage of .550. A distant second is Southern Illinois (53-58, .477). As a league, the road winning percentage has been .349 in the same span.
MVC Road Records (since 2000-01)
Team W L Pct.
Creighton 60 49 .549
Southern Illinois 53 58 .477
Wichita State 48 62 .436
Northern Iowa 45 65 .409
Missouri State 43 67 .391
Drake 31 79 .282
Illinois State 30 80 .273
Bradley 30 80 .273
Indiana State 24 86 .218
Evansville 20 90 .182
All MVC Teams 384 716 .349
The Road Less Traveled
Creighton won its final two road games last year (at Southern Illinois, at Indiana State) and have won its first three road games this year too (Nebraska, Cal, Illinois State).
The five-game road win streak is tied for the nation's eighth-longest active streak nationally. Last season Creighton won six straight true road games, its longest such streak since 1975.
Strong On the Road
Off to a 15-1 start overall, Creighton is 5-0 away from home this season. Four of those victories have come against two Big Ten teams (Wisconsin, Nebraska) and two Pacific-12 teams (Arizona State, Cal).
Impressively, all four BCS wins have been by double-digits. Creighton is 8-1 in the past two years against BCS teams, including six victories by double-digits and another triumph by eight.
Winning Away From Home
Creighton won a school-record 15 games away from home last season. The Jays went 10-3 in true road games and were also 5-1 on neutral floors.
Creighton's lone neutral-site loss came to North Carolina in a not-so “neutral” Greensboro, N.C., in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
This year's team is 5-0 away from home, with four of those victories against a BCS school (Wisconsin, Arizona State, Nebraska, Cal) by double-digits, as well as a seven-point win at Illinois State.
This season is the first time since 1999-00 that Creighton has won its first five games away from home. Creighton hasn't won its first six games away from home since 1942-43.
Each of Creighton's last nine NCAA Tournament teams have won 10 or more games away from home, and eight of those teams had a winning record in true road contests.
Road Warriors
Creighton is 13-3 in true road games over the past two seasons, one of the nation's best such marks. Only five teams have fewer true road losses in that span, a group consisting of Murray State, Syracuse, Wichita State, Kansas and Duke.
Fewest Road Losses, Last 2 Seasons (1/9)
Team W-L Pct. Next Road
Murray State 18-1 .947 1/12
Syracuse 12-1 .923 1/19
Wichita State 13-2 .867 1/12
Kansas 9-2 .818 1/12
Duke 8-2 .800 1/12
Creighton 13-3 .813 1/11
VCU 13-3 .813 1/12
Kentucky 8-3 .727 1/10
Celsius or Fahrenheit?
Jahenns Manigat led the MVC with his 49.2 percent marksmanship from three-point range in league play a year ago. When it came to CU's nine MVC road games last year, he was the barometer.
In Creighton's seven Valley road wins, Manigat shot a robust 19-of-27 (70.4 percent) from downtown. In CU's two Valley road losses, Manigat was just 2-of-9 (22.2 percent) from downtown.
Manigat is 14-for-24 (62.5 percent) from three-point range in the past six games this year after starting the season 8-for-28 (28.6 percent) in his first 10 outings.
Mighty Impressive Run
Creighton's been on an amazing run in the sports of men's soccer, volleyball, men's basketball and women's basketball in the past nine months.
Since March 4, 2012, Creighton is a remarkable 36-1-1 against other Valley schools. The lone loss was in volleyball (at Southern Illinois), while the lone tie came at Drake in men's soccer.
Army of Iowans
Every Creighton team since 1988-89 has had at least one Iowa native, and this season is no exception.
Creighton has four players from Iowa on this season's team, continuing a long trend of relying on some of the Hawkeye State's top preps. CU's Iowans this season includes senior Grant Gibbs (Marion), junior Doug McDermott (Ames), sophomore Will Artino (Waukee) and redshirt freshman Alex Olsen (Council Bluffs).
Other past notable Iowans include Kyle Korver (Pella), Ryan Sears (Ankeny), Brody Deren (Harlan), Tyler McKinney (Urbandale) and Nate Funk (Sioux City).
Creighton has played at least one Iowa native in 601 straight games. That streak dates to a Feb. 5, 1994 win against Wichita State. In that time, 903 of Creighton's 3,005 starts (30 percent) can be attributed to Iowans. Here's a list of the Iowans and how many starts they've made during this run:
Creighton's Starts By Iowans, Since 2/5/1994
Ryan Sears 124
Nate Funk 99
Kyle Korver 95
Michael Lindeman 94
Doug McDermott 90
Tyler McKinney 89
Brody Deren 89
Joel Templeman 57
Grant Gibbs 51
Kaleb Korver 46
Pierce Hibma 27
Adam Reid 24
Casey Harriman 16
John Klein 2
Get Your Tickets!
Creighton fans have already purchased 4,000 lower bowl all-session tickets for the MVC Tournament, which will be March 7-10 at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo. The mark shatters the previous MVC record for sales by a school set by Bluejay fans last year (2,575).
To join the Creighton contingent at Arch Madness, call the CU Ticket Office at 402-280-JAYS.
Poll Position
Creighton remained ranked 11th in this week's USA Today Top 25 Coaches poll and is up three spots to 13th in this week's Associated Press poll. Creighton's best AP ranking this year was 11th on Nov. 26th, while this week's No. 11 coaches poll rank matches the best (also Nov. 26th and Dec. 31st).
Creighton was ranked 15th in this year's preseason coaches poll, its first preseason recognition since coming in at No. 23 in 2006-07.
Creighton started this year with a No. 16 preseason ranking by the AP, its highest preseason mark in program history and the best by any MVC school since No. 6 Wichita State in 1981-82.
Including the Jan. 7th poll, Creighton has now been ranked 22 times in 47 weeks of polls under Greg McDermott, and ranked between 26th-to-28th in five other polls. The 22 weeks in the top-25 under McDermott is more than any coach in Bluejay history.
Coaches Spending Most Weeks in Top 25 at CU
Greg McDermott, 2010-Pres. 22 (of 47)
Dana Altman, 1994-2010 18
Tom Apke, 1974-81 5
Eddie Sutton, 1969-74 5
Big Man In The Middle
Gregory Echenique is on the best offensive roll of his career, scoring in double-figures eight of the last nine games. Included in that play is three double-doubles, and averages of 11.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game.
Echenique has shot better than 50 percent from the field in nine of the last 10 games, and continues to lead the MVC in field goal percentage at 67.6 percent.
Echenique's 67.6 percent marksmanship from the field is on pace to set not only the Creighton (67.4%) mark, but also the MVC single-season mark (also 67.4%) as well.
It's also worth noting that Echenique ranks fourth in Creighton history with 139 career blocked shots. Echenique also ranks 13th in Rutgers history with 94 career swats, where he spent the first three semesters of college.
Most Blocked Shots, Creighton History
(Since 1979-80)
Blk. Name Years
411 Benoit Benjamin 1982-85
183 Chad Gallagher 1987-91
153 Kenny Lawson Jr. 2006-11
139 Gregory Echenique 2010-Pres.
138 Brody Deren 2001-04
136 Anthony Tolliver 2003-07
Offense AND Defense
This year's team is playing some much-improved defense to go with a highly-lauded offense.
This year's Creighton team is shooting 51.9 percent from the field, while holding foes to 39.7 percent from the field on the defensive end.
Creighton, Notre Dame, Indiana and Pitt are the nation's only teams shooting 50 percent or better on offense, and holding foes to less than 40 percent from the field.
Creighton's 51.9 percent shooting from the field would rank seventh in MVC single-season history, and the best mark since 1985-86 (Creighton, .535).
RPI Update
Through games of January 9th, Creighton is ranked 16th in the RPI according to WarrenNolan.com, while Missouri State ranks 272nd.
Creighton owns 11 wins against RPI teams in the top-140 and seven in the top-90. By comparison, defending national champion Kentucky has one top-210 win.
As a league, the MVC is the ninth-best conference nationally.
Full House
Creighton has attracted four of its 13 largest home crowds in program history this season.
Creighton's home crowd of 18,073 vs. Drake on Tuesday was largest ever for a non-weekend game.
Here's a look at Creighton's top-15 home crowds all-time.
Rank Att. Opponent Date
1. 18,735 Wichita State 02/11/12
2. 18,458 Evansville 12/29/12
3. 18,436 Bradley 01/28/12
4. 18,073 Drake 01/08/13
5. 17,954 Wichita State 12/28/08
6. 17,694 Indiana State 01/05/13
7. 17,676 Northwestern 12/22/11
8. 17,665 Missouri State 12/28/11
9. 17,607 Drexel 02/17/07
10. 17,459 Southern Illinois 01/20/07
11. 17,411 George Mason 02/21/09
17,411 Indiana State 01/21/12
13. 17,390 Saint Joseph's 12/01/12
14. 17,371 Indiana State 01/19/08
15. 17,311 Illinois State 02/01/12
Honors Roll In
Already seventh in school history with 1,744 career points, Doug McDermott can join Creighton's top-10 in rebounding as well vs. Missouri State. McDermott owns 684 career rebounds, two behind Dane Watts for 10th.
Most Rebounds, Career
Reb. Name Years
1,751 Paul Silas 1961-64
1,126 Bob Harstad 1987-91
1,005 Benoit Benjamin 1982-85
979 Bob Portman 1966-69
891 Chad Gallagher 1987-91
762 Kenny Lawson Jr. 2006-11
716 Rodney Buford 1995-99
709 Rick Apke 1975-78
696 Wally Anderzunas 1965-67, 1968-69
686 Dane Watts 2004-08
Honors Roll In
Doug McDermott picked up two big honors in early January, adding to his collection.
ESPN.com named McDermott the National Player of the Month after a December that saw him average a nation-best 26.5 points per game while shooting 57.5 percent from the field, 57.6 percent from three-point range and 88.9 percent in the line in six Creighton victories.
McDermott was also named the Lute Olson Award Midseason National Player of the Year honoree. McDermott was named the Lute Olson Award National Player of the Year at the end of last season.
Let's Get It Started
Creighton is off to a 4-0 start in league play, and could improve to 5-0 with a win on Friday at Missouri State.
As good as Creighton's been since rejoining the MVC in 1977-78, this would be just the fifth time the program has started 4-0 in league play in that span. Each of the previous four occasions it happened, the team would finish first or second in the final Valley standings.
Creighton's Best MVC Starts, Since 1977-78
Start Year Finish/Place
7-0 2002-03 15-3/2nd (won MVC Tourney)
5-0 1988-89 11-3/1st (won MVC Tourney
4-0 2003-04 12-6/T-2nd
4-0 1980-81 11-5/T-2nd (won MVC Tourney)
4-0 2012-13 ? ? ?
Conference Starts Are Big
Since 1993-94, only one team (Northern Iowa, a 2008-09 co-champion) has won at least a share of the regular-season title without winning its league opener. In fact, 16 of the last 18 regular-season champs (or co-champs) have opened 2-0 or better in MVC play, with UNI in 2008-09 and Wichita State in 2011-12 serving as the exceptions.
This season the only MVC teams to start 2-0 were Bradley, Wichita State, Creighton and Indiana State.
Point, Counterpoint
No player in the MVC owns more assists in the past two seasons than Creighton senior Grant Gibbs. Here's the top-four:
MVC Assist Leaders, Since 2011-12
271 Grant Gibbs, Creighton
222 Jake Odum, Indiana State
182 Troy Taylor, Evansville
174 Michael Bizoukas, Missouri State*
graduated in 2012
What A Start!
Now in his third year, Greg McDermott is 67-23 in his first 90 games on the Creighton sideline. The 67 wins is tied for the most in Creighton history after 90 games, matching Arthur A. Schabinger (1922-35).
Here's a breakdown of how he compares to some other Creighton coaches after 90 games.
W-L After 90 Games, Select CU Coaches
Coach Years W-L After 90
Greg McDermott 2010-Pres. 67-23
Arthur A. Schabinger 1922-35 67-23
Tom Apke 1974-81 66-24
Eddie Sutton 1969-74 53-37
Red McManus 1959-69 51-39
Dana Altman 1994-10 39-51
Tony Barone 1985-91 37-53
Willis Reed 1981-85 35-55
Unbeaten December
Creighton went 6-0 in December wrapping up an unbeaten December with a victory over Evansville on Dec. 29.
Since 1946-47, Creighton's only two other teams to go unbeaten in December were in 2003 and 2008.
The 2008-09 team went 9-0 in December and would go on to win a share of the MVC regular-season title.
The 2003-04 squad finished tied for second in the MVC. That team began the season 12-0 before suffering an overtime loss in a game hosted by Northern Iowa and its then-coach, Greg McDermott.
10 Conference Wins x 16
Last season's Creighton team extended its MVC record by winning 10 or more league games for a 16th consecutive season.
On a national basis, the only other current school with at least 16 straight years of 10 or more league wins is Kansas (18).
Each of the last 16 seasons has seen the team finish fourth place or better in the MVC as well.
Team of the Millennium?
Below is the records for each MVC school from the start of the 2000-01 season until the start of this season, ranked by overall winning percentage.
Creighton leads the MVC overall with 295 wins in the millennium, as well as 12 postseason appearances:
MVC Standings (start 2000-01 to Jan. 10, 2013)
MVC only All Games
Team W L Pct. W L Pct.
Creighton 153 67 .695 295 121 .709
Wichita State 129 91 .586 253 152 .625
Southern Illinois 134 86 .609 245 159 .606
Northern Iowa 119 101 .541 234 166 .585
Missouri State 120 100 .545 228 174 .567
Illinois State 99 121 .450 210 182 .536
Bradley 95 125 .432 199 203 .495
Drake 92 128 .418 186 200 .482
Indiana State 82 138 .372 172 217 .442
Evansville 77 143 .350 152 222 .406
Postseason Appearances by MVC Teams
(Since 2000-01)
Team NCAA NIT CBI CIT Total
Creighton 6 4 1 1 12
Wichita State 2 5 1 0 8
Southern Illinois 6 1 0 0 7
Northern Iowa 5 1 0 1 7
Bradley 1 2 1 1 5
Missouri State 0 4 0 1 5
Illinois State 0 5 0 0 5
Indiana State 2 0 1 1 4
Drake 1 0 0 2 3
Evansville 0 0 2 1 3
Consistent Challengers
Ten of Creighton's last 15 teams have finished either first or second in The Valley's regular-season race. Two of the five that didn't won the MVC Tournament.
The Bluejays won the MVC in 2000-01 and tied for the title in 2001-02 and 2008-09. CU was second in the MVC in 1997-98 and 2006-07, tied for second in the MVC in 1998-99, 2003-04 and 2005-06, and finished tied for third in 2004-05. The 1999-00 club was fourth in the MVC, but won the MVC Tournament, while the 2010-11 club tied for fourth place.
Creighton's MVC Finishes, Last 15 Years
1st Place 2000-01
Tied for First 2001-02 (won MVC Tourn.), 2008-09
2nd Place 1997-98, 2002-03 (won MVC Tourn.),
2006-07 (won MVC Tourn.), 2011-12 (won MVC Tourn.)
Tied for 2nd 1998-99 (won MVC Tourn.), 2003-04, 2005-06
Tied for 3rd Place 2004-05 (won MVC Tourn.)
4th Place 1999-00 (won MVC Tourn.); 2007-08; 2009-10
Tied for 4th Place 2010-11
Dingman Rings It Up
Creighton has needed someone to step up once Josh Jones was forced out of the line-up, and that someone has been Avery Dingman.
Since Jones met the media and disclosed he'd be out for at least a month (which has now turned out to be career-ending), Dingman is averaging 9.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.0 steals in five games while sinking 12-of-21 three-point shots.
In Creighton's Dec. 19 win over Tulsa, Dingman scored a career-best 21 points against the Golden Hurricane while also plucking a career-high three steals. Dingman made his first seven attempts and finished 8-for-9 from the field, including 5-of-6 from three-point land.
Dingman also had 11 points and a career-high seven rebounds in the win over Evansville.
Dingman is the sixth player on this year's Creighton roster to own a 20-point game in his career. Doug McDermott's done it 40 times, Ethan Wragge has done it three times, Gregory Echenique has done it twice, and Grant Gibbs, Jones and Dingman each have done it one time.
Creighton's Exclusive 30/30 Club
Doug McDermott scored 30 points in a Dec. 9 win vs. Akron, then followed that performance with a season-high 34 seven days later at Cal.
McDermott, who leads the MVC with 22.6 points per game, became the first Creighton player with 30 points in consecutive contests since Bob Harstad in 1990.
Doing It All
Reigning MVC Player of the Year Doug McDermott has one of the nation's best set of post moves, and now the junior forward is taking his skills to the perimeter with similar success.
Eight days after tying a career-high with five-three pointers in a 29-point thrashing of Atlantic-10 favorite Saint Joseph's, McDermott shot 6-for-8 from downtown in a 77-61 win over defending MAC champion Akron on Dec. 9th.
McDermott's career 45.6 percent accuracy from three-point range ranks tops in CU history. Since starting his career 15-of-53 (28.3 percent) after 20 games from downtown, McDermott has made 120-of-243 three-pointers (49.4 percent) in his past 70 games.
McDermott Earns MVC Awards
Doug McDermott has been named MVC Player of the Week four times this season.
His first honor came Nov. 12th for his performance in a Nov. 9 win vs. North Texas. McDermott had 21 points and 11 rebounds to produce CU's first double-double in a season-opener since Kyle Korver in 2001-02.
He was then honored on Nov. 26th after averaging 25.3 points and 7.3 rebounds while earning MVP honors of the Las Vegas Invitational.
McDermott was honored on Dec. 10th after averaging 28.5 points in wins vs. Nebraska and Akron.
Most recently, McDermott was honored on Dec. 17th after scoring 34 points and hauling down nine rebounds in a win at Cal on Dec. 15th. He was also named National Player of the Week by Seth Davis (CBS/Sports Illustrated) and the USBWA for that performance.
McDermott now owns nine career MVC Player of the Week honors, something only Bradley great Hersey Hawkins (14) can top. Including his seven MVC Newcomer of the Week honors in 2010-11, McDermott has won at least one weekly award from the MVC in 16 of 41 weeks since enrolling at Creighton.
Chasing History, Part I
Doug McDermott has scored 21 or more points in 11 of the season's 16 games, moving up to seventh on Creighton's all-time scoring list with 1,744 career points.
At McDermott's current scoring average of 22.6 points per game this year he'll become Creighton's all-time leading scorer in 17 more games. Creighton has a minimum of 16 games remaining this season.
By comparison, both of Creighton's top two all-time leading scorers, Rodney Buford (1995-99) and Bob Harstad (1987-91), had exactly 1,540 points at the end of their junior seasons.
McDermott is within range to make huge gains on both the MVC and Creighton scoring charts should he continue his recent productivity.
All-Time MVC Scoring Leaders
Rk. Name, School Points
1. Hersey Hawkins, Bradley 3,008
20. Kyle Weems, Missouri State 1,868
21. Ashraf Amaya, Southern Illinois 1,864
22. Jason Perez, Wichita State 1,839
23. Osiris Eldridge, Illinois State 1,838
24. Johnny Murdock, Missouri State 1,834
25. Tracy Moore, Tulsa 1,823
26. Colt Ryan, Evansville* 1,816
27. Kyle Korver, Creighton 1,801
28. Josh Young, Drake 1,789
29. Ben Jacobson, UNI 1,787
30. Aubrey Sherrod, Wichita State 1,765
31. Joe Allen, Bradley 1,763
32. Andy Elkins, Evansville 1,761
Darren Brooks, Southern Illinois 1,761
34. Slab Jones, New Mexico State 1,758
35. Nate Funk, Creighton 1,754
36. Doug McDermott, Creighton* 1,744
37. Tarise Bryson, Illinois State 1,736
*active
All-Time Creighton Scoring Leaders
Rk. Name, Years Points
1. Rodney Buford, 1995-99 2,116
2. Bob Harstad, 1987-91 2,110
3. Chad Gallagher, 1987-91 1,983
4. Bob Portman, 1966-69 1,876
5. Kyle Korver, 1999-03 1,801
6. Nate Funk, 2002-07 1,754
7. Doug McDermott, 2010-Pres.* 1,744
8. Rick Apke, 1974-78 1,682
9. Paul Silas, 1961-64 1,661
*active
More Than The Rest
Doug McDermott has scored 1,744 points in his career, 10th-most among active players. He is the only active junior with at least 1,400 career points.
Most Points, Active Players (though 1/9)
Source: Stats Inc./MVC
Rk. Pts. Name, School Next Game
1. 2,361 C.J. McCollum, Lehigh 1/12
2. 2,006 Kevin Foster, Santa Clara 1/10
3. 1,943 Nate Wolters, S. Dakota State 1/10
4. 1,844 Markeith Cummings, Kennesaw St. 1/10
5. 1,826 C.J. Reed, Georgia Southern 1/12
6. 1,816 Colt Ryan, Evansville 1/13
7. 1,814 D.J. Cooper, Ohio 1/12
8. 1,772 Stan Okoye, VMI 1/12
9. 1,762 Kenny Boynton, Florida 1/12
10. 1,744 Doug McDermott, Creighton 1/11
11. 1,713 Seth Curry, Duke 1/12
12. 1,708 Mike Muscala, Bucknell 1/12
13. 1,698 Isaiah Canaan, Murray State 1/12
14. 1,673 Shane Gibson, Sacred Heart 1/10
15. 1,641 Matthew Dellavedova, St. Mary's 1/10
Most Career Points, Active Juniors
Source: Creighton Sports Info/STATS Inc. (1/10)
Rk. Pts. Name, School Next Game
1. 1,744 Doug McDermott, Creighton 1/11
2. 1,334 Devon Saddler, Delaware 1/12
3. 1,227 DeAndre Kane, Marshall 1/12
Ball Control Offense
Creighton owns a stellar 295/189 assist/turnover ratio (1.53) as a team to rank sixth nationally.
Last year Creighton ranked sixth nationally by finishing with a 1.48 assist/turnover ratio.
BCS Busters, Again
Creighton improved to 8-1 in the past two seasons vs. teams from BCS conferences with wins this year over Wisconsin & Nebraska (Big Ten) and Arizona State and Cal (Pacific-12). Last year Creighton defeated Alabama (SEC) as well as Big 10 foes Nebraska, Northwestern and Iowa, losing only to North Carolina (ACC) in the NCAA Tournament.
In those nine games, All-American Doug McDermott has averaged 25.3 points and 8.3 rebounds, well above his career averages (19.4 ppg., 7.6 rpg.), as seen below:
McDermott vs. BCS Schools, Last 2 Years
Date Opponent Pts. Reb. Score
11/20/11 vs. Iowa 25 9 W 82-59
12/04/11 Nebraska 24 12 W 76-66
12/22/11 Northwestern 27 5 W 87-79
03/16/12 vs. Alabama 16 10 W 58-57
03/18/12 vs. North Carolina 20 9 L 73-87
11/23/12 vs. Wisconsin 30 8 W 84-74
11/24/12 vs. Arizona State 29 9 W 87-73
12/06/12 at Nebraska 27 4 W 64-42
12/15/12 at California 30 9 W 74-64
Efficiency Improves
Because Creighton tends to play at a faster pace and have more possessions than the average school, Bluejay coaches place significant emphasis on stats like average points per possession, with data that can be found on a site such as bbstate.com.
Creighton's offense is still clicking as one of the nation's best, but the team has made huge strides on the defensive end of the floor, jumping from 222nd last year to 58th this season.
Twelve of Creighton's first 16 opponents have been hold under 1.00 points per possession this season.
Points Per Possession
2010-11 2011-12 2012-13
Offense 1.065 1.150 1.183
Offense Rank 46th 2nd 4th
Defense 1.006 1.014 0.902
Defense Rank 192nd 222nd 58th
Defense! Defense!
Creighton ranked 222nd nationally last season in field goal percentage defense at 44.1 percent, one area that the program has tried hard to improve on in the off-season.
The early results have been promising, as CU has limited foes to 39.7 percent marksmanship. That figure ranked 86th-best nationally in 2012-13 through Sunday's games.
Only one team (Boise State) has shot better than 43.4 percent this season against the Jays.
The 42 points by Nebraska on Dec. 6th were its fewest against Creighton since 1932, a span of 39 meetings.
Full House
This year's Creighton team ranks sixth nationally in average home attendance, averaging 16,810 fans per game.
Creighton finished sixth nationally in home attendance, averaging 16,665 fans per home game, in 2011-12. It's the sixth straight season that CU has been among the nation's top-25 in average home attendance, and set an MVC average home attendance record.
Last year Creighton surpassed 200,000 home fans in a season for the sixth time. No other school in the history of the MVC has ever done so even once.
Creighton also ranked seventh nationally in men's soccer attendance and 10th in baseball attendance, the nation's only school in the top-10 of those three sports.
2012-13 Attendance Leaders (1/9)
Rk. School Average Next Home
1. Kentucky 22,323 1/12
2. Louisville 20,826 1/12
3. Syracuse 19,095 1/12
4. North Carolina 17,620 1/10
5. Indiana 17,358 1/12
6. Creighton 16,810 1/15
7. BYU 16,784 1/10
8. Tennessee 16,573 1/19
9. Wisconsin 16,555 1/12
10. Kansas 16,549 1/14
11. Memphis 16,031 1/19
12. Ohio State 15,678 1/13
2011-12 Attendance Leaders (Final)
Rk. School Average
1. Kentucky 23,721
2. Syracuse 23,618
3. Louisville 21,503
4. North Carolina 20,159
5. Wisconsin 17,181
6. Creighton 16,665
7. Tennessee 16,543
8. Ohio State 16,510
9. Indiana 16,462
10. Kansas 16,300
Highest Season Home Attendance, MVC History
Home Att. School Year
302,676 Creighton 2008-09
297,161 Creighton 2010-11
276,000 Creighton 2007-08
266,632 Creighton 2011-12
246,419 Creighton 2009-10
Highest Average Attendance, MVC History
Avg. Att. School Year
16,810 Creighton 2012-13
16,665 Creighton 2011-12
15,930 Creighton 2008-09
15,909 Creighton 2006-07
15,333 Creighton 2007-08
Inside The Numbers
Creighton's Doug McDermott (22.6) enters this weekend as the nation's top scoring junior. As can be seen below, good things have happened to the top-scoring juniors in the past nine years:
NCAA's Top-Scoring Juniors, Last Nine Years
NBA
Year Name, School PPG Draft #
2011-12 Damian Lillard, Weber St. 24.5 6th
2010-11 Kemba Walker, UConn. 23.5 9th
2009-10 Adnan Hodzic, Lipscomb 22.7 not picked
2008-09 Stephen Curry, Davidson 28.6 7th
2007-08 Lester Hudson, UT-Martin 25.7 58th
2006-07 Reggie Williams, VMI 28.1 not picked*
2005-06 Adam Morrison, Gonzaga 28.1 3rd
2004-05 Ike Diogu, Arizona State 22.6 9th
2003-04 Kevin Martin, W. Carolina 24.9 26th
*wasn't drafted, but currently in fourth year in NBA
BCS Bracket Buster
Some of Creighton's most thrilling victories in recent seasons have been against teams from the six major college football BCS Conferences (ACC, SEC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12, BIg East), as Creighton owns a 32-21 mark in the past 15 seasons.
Among CU's victims in that time have been Nebraska (12 times), Iowa (three times) DePaul (twice), Florida (twice), Baylor (twice), Oklahoma State (once), Notre Dame (once), Providence (once), Missouri (once), Oregon (once), Northwestern (once), Alabama (once), Wisconsin (once), Cal (once), TCU (once) and Ohio State (once).
Jones Hangs Up High Tops
Josh Jones was hospitalized prior to Creighton's Dec. 6 game at Nebraska after he fainted during pre-game warm-ups on the Bob Devaney Sports Center court prior to Creighton's 64-42 win.
Jones was released from a Lincoln hospital on Dec. 7th. Jones was underwent a nine-hour medical procedure on Dec. 18th, and on Dec. 26th announced his basketball career is done due to an atrial flutter.
The senior guard was averaging 7.0 points per game as the team's top guard off the bench.
Top Four From Three
While Gregory Echenique has yet to attempt a three-point shot this season, Creighton's other top three scorers continue to fill it up from deep.
Austin Chatman (.593), Ethan Wragge (.462) and Doug McDermott (.493) have combined to make 93-of-189 three-point attempts this season, good for 49.2 percent.
Chatman is 15-for-21 from three-point range in the past 12 games, while McDermott is 28-of-49 from downtown in the past 10 contests. Wragge started the season 18-for-29 and leads the MVC with 43 three-pointers, including 15 in the past three games.
Either Wragge or McDermott has had three or more three-pointers in 16 of Creighton's last 19 games dating back to late last season.
Creighton owns four men on its roster who have made 106 or more career three-pointers.
Comparing Offenses
Last season Creighton had one of the nation's most effective and most efficient offenses. With all but one regular from that squad back, we thought we'd take a second to compare the 2011-12 and 2012-13 teams through 16 games:
Stat 2011-12 2012-13
Record 14-2 15-1
FG Made 470 454
FG% .511 .519
3FG Made 140 159
3FG% .452 .449
FT Made 231 216
FT% .704 .750
Rebound Margin +5.0 +4.8
Assists 319 295
Turnovers 207 189
Scoring Average 81.9 80.2
Scoring Margin +13.1 +17.9
Pick Your Poison
Last season Creighton ranked third nationally in three-point percentage, making 42.4 percent from downtown.
This year's team can still fill it up from long-range (44.9 percent, good for second nationally), but are off the charts from close-range as well.
This year's Bluejay team is shooting 56.7 percent from two-point range, fifth-best in the nation.
According to data from bbstate.com, no team since at least 2005-06 has shot better than 58.7 from two-point range.
Might As Well Jump
Creighton is 10-0 this season when Gregory Echenique wins the opening tip.
Dating to last year, the Jays have won 18 straight games when Echenique wins the tip.
Creighton is 40-9 all-time when Echenique wins the opening tip, but 13-7 when he loses the tip.
Pizza Pie, Piled High = Wins
Thanks to a promotion with Omaha-based Godfather's Pizza, Creighton season ticket-holders can get a free mini pizza any time the Jays score 75 points at home.
History has proven that when the team earns the fans pizza, it often leads to a victory as well.
The first three years of CenturyLink Center Omaha (2003-06), Creighton needed 70 points to earn its fans free pizza, and the Jays went 27-3 when reaching that threshold, closing out that run with 12 straight wins.
Since upping the standard to 75 points prior to the 2006-07 campaign, Creighton is a perfect 63-0 when scoring 75 points or more at CenturyLink Center Omaha.
In other words, Creighton is a perfect 75-0 in CenturyLink Center Omaha since Feb. 6, 2005 when scoring enough points to earn its fans some free pizza.
A New Streak
Now that the impressive streak when scoring 70 or more is over, it's time to look at a few other eye-opening streaks still in play.
Since Greg McDermott took over three years ago, Creighton is averaging 77.20 points per home game (3,832 points in 49 home games).
That's a vital number since Creighton is 87-0 at home (60-0 at CenturyLink Center Omaha) when scoring 78 points or more and 70-0 at home (47-0 at CenturyLink Center Omaha) when scoring 80 points or more at home dating to a 92-83 loss to Southern Illinois on Feb. 19, 2000.
Stat Leaders
Statistically, Creighton ranks among the nation's top-21 in 10 different categories through games of Jan. 6th. The Jays lead the nation with 9.5 three-pointers per game while also ranking second with 43.7 percent marksmanship from three-point range. Creighton's also fifth in field goal percentage (.512), sixth in win percentage (.933) and assist/turnover ratio (1.53), ninth in assists per game (17.8), 18th in both total points (1,192) and scoring offense (79.5), 19th in scoring margin (17.1) and 21st in free-throw percentage (.757).
Individually, Grant Gibbs is second in assist/turnover ratio (5.06) and 22nd in assists per game (6.06), Doug McDermott is third in points per game (23.1), 38th in free-throw percentage (.871) and 49th in field goal percentage (.543). In addition, Gregory Echenique ranks 63rd in double-doubles (4), 85th in blocked shots per game (1.73) and 113th in rebounds per game (7.8). Also in the top-100 are Ethan Wragge, who is 88th with 2.47 three-pointers per game, and Austin Chatman who ranks 80th with 4.7 assists per game and 83rd with a 2.15 assist/turnover ratio.
Big Road Win
Creighton's 64-42 win at Nebraska matched its largest victory margin in a true road win since an 82-60 win at Southern Illinois on Feb. 14, 2009.
It was also the largest margin in a non-conference road win since winning at Drexel, 72-48, on Dec. 1, 2007.
Before Dec. 6th, last time Creighton won a true road game by 22+ points vs. a BCS-league team was 12/18/76 at Oregon State (90-68).
Scoring On The Badgers
Creighton scored 84 points on Nov. 23rd against Wisconsin's vaunted defense that has ranked among the nation's top-10 in scoring defense in each of the past six seasons.
It was the first time in either of the last two seasons that Wisconsin had allowed 80 points in a game, and the eighth-most allowed in regulation in Bo Ryan's 12 years as a head coach.
Third-Year Coaches Update
Greg McDermott was one of 53 head coaches hired to coach a school prior to 2010-11. His 67 wins in that span are easily the most of that group, and McDermott, Tad Boyle (Colorado) and Dana Altman (Oregon) are the only men to win a postseason game each of their first two seasons.
Below is a list of the new coaches with 51 or more wins at their school since being hired.
School Coach W-L Next Game
Creighton Greg McDermott 67-23 1/11
Iona Tim Cluess 59-26 1/10
Colorado Tad Boyle 58-30 1/10
Oregon Dana Altman 57-30 1/10
Robert Morris Andy Toole 52-32 1/10
Marshall Tom Herrion 51-34 1/12
Austin Powers
After spending last year as a back-up to Antoine Young, sophomore Austin Chatman has taken over as Creighton's starting point guard. Creighton's been blessed with a legacy of some of the MVC's best point guards in the last 15 years, a streak that began with four-year starters Ryan Sears (1997-2001), Tyler McKinney (2001-05) and Josh Dotzler (2005-09) at the point before Young ran the offense while starting the last three years.
Here's a look at the stats, by year, of the men that Chatman is trying to replace.
Freshman Sophomore
Name PPG APG CU W-L PPG APG CU W-L
Sears 10.5 4.8 18-10 8.7 4.0 22-9
McKinney 4.3 2.1 23-9 5.0 4.1 29-5
Dotzler 6.4 4.2 20-10 2.2 2.0 22-11
Young 4.9 1.4 27-8 7.1 3.1 18-16
Chatman 2.4 1.9 29-6 8.1 5.0 15-1
Dime Time
Austin Chatman's 11 assists on Nov. 18 vs. Presbyterian were one shy of the CenturyLink Center Omaha record, set last season by Grant Gibbs vs. Northwestern. Chatman entered the game with a career-high of seven assists, then had nine by halftime.
Chatman's 11 dimes led to 30 Bluejay points, and Creighton outscored the Blue Hose 63-26 in his 24 minutes of play.
In addition, Chatman's 11 assists were the most by a Bluejay sophomore since Tyler McKinney had 12 assists in a 81-73 win at Nebraska on Dec. 21, 2002.
Quick Starts Key To Playing in Postseason
Creighton has started off 3-0 (or better) in 12 of the previous 14 seasons. Each of Creighton's previous 13 3-0 starts have been culminated in a postseason tournament appearance at the end of the year.
Not Half Bad
Doug McDermott outscored Presbyterian 20-17 in the first half in a Nov. 18 win. It was the second-most points McDermott has ever had at halftime, and the fourth-highest half of his career.
McDermott's highest scoring half of his career has been 31 points, done last year in the second half at Bradley when he scored a career-best 44 points.
McDermott has scored 15 points or more in a half 31 times during his career, and Creighton is 28-0 in those contests (three times he's scored 15 or more in both halves).
Rare Air
Gregory Echenique had one of the best all-around games of his career on Nov. 14 in the win vs. UAB, finishing with 13 points, 16 rebounds and four blocked shots. For good measure, he made 5-of-5 shots from the field and was a perfect 3-for-3 at the line.
Echenique was the first Bluejay with at least 13 points, 16 rebounds and four blocked shots in the same game since Benoit Benjamin had 15 points, 17 rebounds and four swats on Feb. 28, 1985 at Dayton.
Echenique was the first Bluejay to have a 13/16/4 game at home since Benjamin had 26 points, 18 rebounds and seven rejections in a win vs. Marquette on Jan. 27, 1985.
Incredibly, Benjamin had nine different games in his junior season with at least 13 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks before Echenique ended the 27-year drought.
Playing With The Lead
In 164 games at CenturyLink Center Omaha all-time, Creighton has not trailed in 40 of those contests, a staggering 24.4 percent of the time, including seven wire-to-wire wins at home last season and four wins (Longwood, Saint Joseph's, Tulsa, Drake) this season.
Creighton has trailed by double-digits in 37 career games at CenturyLink Center Omaha, only to rally to win 22 of those contests.
On The Trail
Creighton won six games last season after trailing by 10 or more points, including wins away from home at San Diego State and at Wichita State, on neutral floors vs. Drake and Alabama, and in home triumphs over Long Beach State and Evansville.
In its Nov. 14 win vs. UAB, Creighton trailed 45-35 in the second stanza, only to rally for a 77-60 win. It was the first time since Feb. 3, 2010 (vs. Evansville) that Creighton trailed by double-digits at any point before rallying to win by double-figures. That UAB game was also the first time in CenturyLink Center Omaha history that Creighton trailed by double-figures in the second half, yet still won by double-digits.
Creighton, which trailed 37-33 at the half to UAB, is 9-6 in the last two seasons when facing an intermission deficit.
Pencil Him In
According to STATS Inc., Doug McDermott is one of 14 juniors or seniors nationwide to start every game of his career (min. 2 years played):
Juniors/Seniors To Start Every Game
Source: STATS Inc., through 1/9
Starts Name, School Next Game 123 Brandon Triche, Syracuse 1/12
110 Dorian Green, Colorado State 1/12
90 Doug McDermott, Creighton 1/11
84 Ray McCallum, Detroit 1/10
83 Cody Doolin, San Francisco 1/10
83 Brian Voelkel, Vermont 1/12
82 Frantz Massenat, Drexel 1/12
82 Deonte Burton, Nevada 1/12
80 Jeromie Hill, UTSA 1/10
80 Holton Hunsaker, Utah Valley 1/12
77 Devon Saddler, Delaware 1/12
77 Travis McKie, Wake Forest 1/12
76 Daniel Miller, Georgia Tech 1/12
75 Marshall Bjorklund, N. Dakota St. 1/10
Chasing History
Doug McDermott has scored 941 points in his first 49 career home games. He is the all-time leading scorer in CenturyLink Center Omaha history.
McDermott also owns CenturyLink Center Omaha career records in points per game (19.2) and rebounds per game (7.6).
McDermott enters Friday's game with 1,744 career points in all venues, good for seventh in school history.
Super Streak Ends At 37
Doug McDermott's streak of 37 straight games in double-figures came to an end when he was held to five points vs. UAB on Nov. 14th.
McDermott had owned the nation's third-longest active streak in the country, and the longest by any Bluejay since Vernon Moore's stretch of 46 in a row in 1984 and 1985.
McDermott's five points were the second-fewest in his career. His only game lower was his freshman season vs. Saint Joseph's, when he was scoreless in his ninth career contest.
CU's Top 10+ Point Streaks, Since 1981-82
No. Name Dates
46 Vernon Moore Jan. 30, 1984 - Mar. 5, 1985
37 Doug McDermott April 1, 2011-Nov. 9, 2012
32 Bob Harstad Feb. 24, 1990-Feb. 25, 1991
31 Benoit Benjamin Mar. 8, 1984 - Feb. 20, 1985
Milestone Man
Because he's split his college career between Rutgers and Creighton, you might not realize the rather impressive college stats being generated by Gregory Echenique.
Echenique owns 1,188 points, 872 rebounds and 233 blocked shots in his first 119 games as a collegian. He entered the season as the nation's only active player with at least 1,000 point, 750 rebounds and 200 blocked shots, and is currently the nation's only active player with 1,100 points, 850 rebounds and 225 or more blocked shots.
Had all those stats been generated at Creighton, Echenique would rank 26th in career points, sixth in career rebounds and second in career blocked shots at CU.
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Senior center Gregory Echenique played for coach Eric Musselman on the Venezuelan National Team last summer, alongside the likes of former Maryland star and current Memphis Grizzlies guard Greivis Vasquez.
Echenique averaged 7.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in two games at the FIBA Olympic Qualifier in Caracas in July against Lithuania and Nigeria, where he went head-to-head against NBA players such as Linas Kleiza, Jonas Valanciunas, and Al-Farouq Aminu.
Double-Double Opener
Doug McDermott opened his junior season with 21 points and 11 rebounds on Nov. 9 against North Texas in a 71-51 win.
He was the first Creighton player to have a double-double in a season-opener since Kyle Korver opened his junior campaign with 14 points and 10 rebounds in a 72-51 victory over North Carolina A&T.
Korver would go on to earn MVC Player of the Year accolades as both a junior and as a senior. Last year McDermott was the first player in MVC history named MVC Player of the Year as a sophomore.
Creighton has won either the MVC regular-season title or MVC Tournament each of its previous six seasons it had a player with a double-double in the opener (2001-02, 1999-00, 1998-99, 1990-91, 1989-90, 1988-89).
Preseason MVC Poll
Creighton was picked to win the Missouri Valley Conference in the preseason poll of league coaches, SID's and media. The Bluejays earned 38-of-40 first-place votes and 398 points overall.
Illinois State was second with 327 points and the remaining two first-place votes, while Northern Iowa was third with 316 points. Wichita State (298) and Evansville (240) rounded out the upper half of the league.
In sixth was Drake (184), while Indiana State (165), Missouri State (122), Bradley (84) and Southern Illinois (66) round out the rest of the league predictions.
Creighton junior Doug McDermott was named preseason MVC Player of the Year. He's joined on the team by repeat selections Jake Odum (Indiana State) and Colt Ryan (Evansville) as well as new picks Ben Simons (Drake) and Jackie Carmichael (Illinois State).
Creighton's women were also picked to win the MVC, just the third time in league history the MVC favorites came from the same schools.
Portman To Enter MVC Hall of Fame
Bob Portman will enter the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame on March 8, 2013, during a banquet at the MVC Tournament in St. Louis, Mo.
Portman played for Creighton from 1966-69 and averaged 24.6 points and 12.9 rebounds per game during his college career.
Portman owns the Creighton records for single-game scoring (51), single-season scoring average (29.5) and career scoring average (24.7). He is also second for points in a season (738) and ranks fourth in career points (1,876), rebounds (979), free throws (382) and field goals made (747).
Going For 20, Again
Creighton has won 20 or more games in 13 of the last 14 seasons, an unprecedented feat in Missouri Valley Conference history that puts the Jays among an exclusive group, nationally.
Just five schools nationally have had 20 or more wins each of the last 14 years: Duke, Florida, Gonzaga, Kansas and Syracuse.
Creighton is one of six schools with 20 or more wins in exactly 13 of the past 14 years. That list consists of Creighton, Kent State, Kentucky, Texas, Utah State and Xavier.
That's better than traditional powers Arizona, Connecticut and Memphis (12 each) and also ahead of Michigan State, Pittsburgh and Wisconsin (11 each).
Postseason x 15
Creighton has made the postseason in 15 consecutive seasons, the longest streak of postseason bids in MVC history.
The only eight schools to make the postseason in each of the last 14 years are Creighton, Duke, Florida, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State and Syracuse.
Postseason Win Streak
Thanks to an NCAA Tournament win over Alabama, the Creighton men's basketball team has now won a postseason game in a school-record five straight seasons. The previous mark was three in a row from 1962-64.
The following eight programs are the only ones that have won a postseason game in five straight seasons, including 2011-12: Creighton, Kansas, Kansas State, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Syracuse and Wisconsin.
Long-Distance Streak Alive
Creighton has made at least one three-pointer in a league-best 625 straight games since a 59-53 loss at Illinois State on Feb. 20, 1993. That's the longest active streak in the MVC.
CenturyLink Center Omaha Success
Creighton has played 164 regular and postseason contests at CenturyLink Center Omaha all-time in its 10 seasons at the facility.
The Bluejays own an 140-24 (.854) record all-time at the facility, and have never lost there on a Thursday (7-0) or Friday (6-0).
Creighton has outscored its opponents 12,328-10,386 in games at CenturyLink Center Omaha, an average margin of 11.8 points per game. Creighton has led wire-to-wire 40 different times, including seven times last season and four times this winter (Longwood, Saint Joseph's, Tulsa, Drake).
Piling Up The Points, and Wins
Creighton has won 56 straight games when scoring 90 points or more, dating to Jan. 11, 1988.
Creighton has won 19 straight (at all sites) when scoring 100 points or more, dating to Feb. 26, 1977.
In home games only, Creighton has won 98 straight games when scoring 71 or more points since a Feb. 5, 2005 loss to Missouri State.
Here's To History
With the 2012 MVC Tournament title, Creighton head coach Greg McDermott became the first head coach in league history to win a Valley Tournament title at more than one school.
McDermott previously won a title in 2004 at Northern Iowa. The 1988 Northern Iowa grad McDermott also holds the honor of being the first coach in league history to win an MVC Tournament title at his alma mater.
Dance Partners
Only two schools won their league tournament in both men's and women's basketball in 2011-12: Creighton and South Dakota State.
This was the fifth time in MVC history that the same school has won the men's and women's tournament titles in the same season. Creighton, however, was the first program to do it twice (UNI 2010, Creighton 2002 and 2012, Missouri State 1992, Illinois State 1983).
McDermott A Preseason All-American
Junior forward Doug McDermott became the first player in MVC history to be named a preseason First Team All-American by the Associated Press. The team was announced on October 28th.
McDermott earned acclaim on 62-of-65 ballots, trailing only Indiana's Cody Zeller. The rest of the team consisted of Isaiah Canaan (Murray State), Deshaun Thomas (Ohio State), Trey Burke (Michigan) and C.J. McCollum (Lehigh).
The preseason All-America team was first announced in 1986-87.
Watch This!
Junior Doug McDermott is on the preseason watch lists for both the Wooden Award and the Naismith Award, two of the top awards in college basketball.
McDermott is the only man who was a finalist for either award to return to school this season.
The Naismith Award is presented by the Atlanta Tipoff Club and will be presented on April 7, 2013, in Atlanta.
The Wooden Award is presented by the Los Angeles Athletic Club and will handed out the weekend of April 12-13, 2013, in Los Angeles.
Everybody's All-American
Doug McDermott hauled All-America honors on a regular basis last year.
He was named a First Team All-American by the Associated Press, NABC, USBWA, Basketball Times and ESPN.com, and a second-team selection by The Sporting News and CBSSports.com. He was also named to the 10-man John R. Wooden Award All-America team.
Prior to McDermott, the only other player honored by the USBWA with All-America status had been second-team selection Kyle Korver in 2003, and the only prior NABC selections from Creighton had been second-teamer Paul Silas (1964) and third-team selections Benoit Benjamin (1985) and Kyle Korver (2003).
Last year McDermott was named CollegeInsider.com's Lute Olson National Player of the Year. He was also a finalist for the Naismith and Wooden Award, though Anthony Davis won both awards.
Scoring In Numbers
Doug McDermott owned 801 points in 35 games last year, an average of 22.9 per contest that ranked him third nationally in scoring.
McDermott's 22.9 points per game ranked fourth-most in CU single-season history and were the most since Bob Portman averaged 26.2 points per game in 1968-69.
Portman, who finished fifth nationally in scoring in 1967-68 (29.5 ppg.), was the only previous Bluejay to ever rank in the top-10 of the year-end scoring leaders.
McDermott's 22.9 points per game made him the first MVC player over 20 points per game since Illinois State's Tarise Bryson (2000-01) and the most by a MVC player since Northern Iowa's Randy Blocker (23.0 ppg.) in 1993-94. Bryson had been the only MVC player since 1989 to rank in the top-five nationally in scoring.
No Bluejay had averaged more than 20 points per game since Bob Harstad's 22.2 average in 1989-90.
Oscar, Bird, Doug
Doug McDermott set a Creighton (and MVC) record for points by a freshman with 581 in 2010-11. Last season, McDermott had 801 points, the most single-season points in school history by any player.
McDermott's 1,382 points after two seasons were the most in school history by a player in their first two seasons, passing Bob Portman (1,195). According to STATS Inc., the only other players since 1996-97 with at least 1,382 points or more by the end of their sophomore season had been Davidson's Stephen Curry (1,661 points from 2006-08), Eastern Washington's Rodney Stuckey (1,438 points from 2005-07) and VMI's Keydren Clark (1,497 points from 2002-04).
He became just the third sophomore in MVC history to reach 800 points in a season, trailing only Oscar Robertson and Larry Bird on that list. His 801 points from last year rank 10th-most in MVC single-season history and were the most by any Valley player since 1988.
Below is a list of the most prolific sophomore scorers in MVC history, as well as the top single-season scorers in Creighton history (all classes):
Top Scorers, MVC History (All Years)
Pts. Name, School Years
1125 Hersey Hawkins, Bradley 1987-88
1011 Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati 1959-60
984 Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati 1957-58
978 Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati 1958-59
973 Larry Bird, Indiana State 1978-79
959 Larry Bird, Indiana State 1977-78
918 Larry Bird, Indiana State 1976-77
844 Xavier McDaniel, Wichita State 1984-85
815 Lewis Lloyd, Drake 1979-80
801 Doug McDermott, Creighton 2011-12
788 Hersey Hawkins, Bradley 1986-87
788 Willie Biles, Tulsa 1972-73
Top Sophomore Scorers, MVC History
Pts. Name, School Years
984 Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati 1957-58
918 Larry Bird, Indiana State 1976-77
801 Doug McDermott, Creighton 2011-12
680 Mitchell Anderson, Bradley 1979-80
Top Scorers, Creighton Single-Season History
Pts. Name (Class) Year
801 Doug McDermott (So.) 2011-12
738 Bob Portman (Jr.) 1967-68
734 Bob Harstad (Jr.) 1989-90
Familiar Fives
Creighton utilized the same starting line-up all season long in 2011-12, as Gregory Echenique, Doug McDermott, Grant Gibbs, Jahenns Manigat and Antoine Young started all 35 games.
According to STATS Inc., the only schools with the same starting five every game were Creighton, Missouri, Nevada, Wisconsin and Youngstown State.
Of those five schools above, the only team to use the same starting five for every game in 2012-13 is Creighton.
All-Around Doug
Last season Doug McDermott joined Texas' Kevin Durant (in 2006-07) as the nation's only player since 1996-97 to finish a season with at least 800 points, 280 rebounds and 50 three-pointers.
It came on the heels of McDermott's remarkable freshman season with 581 points, 280 rebounds and 47 three-point baskets.
According to research by STATS Inc., the last two freshmen (before McDermott) to attain 525 points, 270 rebounds and 40 three-pointers in a season were Durant and Carmelo Anthony (Syracuse) in 2002-03. The previous two freshmen before them to do so, Quentin Richardson (1998-99 at DePaul) and Eddie Griffin (2000-01 at Seton Hall), like Durant and Anthony, were also named the National Freshman of the Year.
Below is the list, compiled by STATS Inc., of all 19 Division I players since 1996-97 to have McDermott's levels of at least 581 points, 280 rebounds and 47 three-pointers in one season.
McDermott, who repeated the feat in 2011-12, joins Kyle Singler (Duke) as one of two men to do it twice.:
581+ Pts., 280+ Reb., 47+ 3FG Since 1996-97
Source: STATS Inc. & Creighton Sports Info
Name, School Year 3FG Reb. Pts.
Kevin Durant, Texas* 2006-07 82 390 903
Doug McDermott, Creighton 2011-12 54 288 801
Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse* 2002-03 56 349 778
Shane Battier, Duke 2000-01 124 285 778
Kyle Singler, Duke 2009-10 85 280 707
Keith Van Horn, Utah 1996-97 58 303 705
Ryan Anderson, Cal 2007-08 64 328 697
Matt Harpring, Ga. Tech 1997-98 52 302 691
Rasual Butler, LaSalle 2001-02 57 283 670
Wendell McKinies, New Mex St. 2011-12 51 374 653
Brian Heinle, CS-Northridge 2000-01 52 293 646
Jae Crowder, Marquette 2011-12 61 295 614
Jamine Peterson, Providence 2009-10 51 315 609
James Posey, Xavier 1998-99 48 322 609
Kyle Singler, Duke 2008-09 69 284 609
Matt Howard, Butler 2010-11 53 285 608
Romain Sato, Xavier 2003-04 75 297 603
Draymond Green, Michigan St. 2011-12 52 392 601
Doug McDermott, Creighton* 2010-11 47 280 581
*Freshmen
Last Season Recap
Creighton went 29-6 and reached the third round of the MVC Tournament last season. Creighton started the year 7-0 to move into the Associated Press top-25, a spot they would hold for 12 of the final 15 weeks.
Doug McDermott ranked third nationally in scoring (22.9), scoring a school-record 801 points. He became the first sophomore named MVC Player of the Year and was a consensus First Team All-American.
Point guard Antoine Young (12.1 ppg., 4.5 apg.) was a second-team all-Valley pick, while center Gregory Echenique (9.7 ppg., 7.3 rpg., 1.6 bpg.) was named MVC Defensive Player of the Year. In addition, Grant Gibbs was runner-up for MVC Newcomer of the Year accolades after dishing a league-high 176 assists.
The Jays ranked second nationally in field goal percentage (.504), third in three-point percentage (.424), fifth in assists (17.6), sixth in home attendance (16,665) and ninth in scoring offense (79.2).
Creighton finished the regular-season second in the MVC before winning its league-record 11th Valley Tournament title to clinch an NCAA bid. At the NCAA's, Creighton topped Alabama 58-57 before falling to No. 4 North Carolina.
Creighton Will Host in 2015, Again
The NCAA announced on Nov. 12, 2012, that Creighton will serve as the host institution on March 20/22, 2015, when the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament returns to CenturyLink Center Omaha for second/third-round games.
This will be the third time in a seven-year span the arena has hosted, having previously done so in 2008 and 2012 to much acclaim.
CenturyLink Center Omaha has previously hosted NCAA finals for women's volleyball (2006, 2008) and wrestling (2010), as well as the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Swimming (2008, 2012). This January, it will host the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
Shuttle Service Provided Again
Chief Bus will provide complimentary shuttle service from the Creighton University campus to CenturyLink Center Omaha for all men's basketball home games this season. The service is available to all fans, not just Creighton students.
The shuttle will start 75 minutes before tip-off and shuttles will continue to operate the route during the game. The three designated stops for pick-up around the CU campus are: 24th & California (nearside/southbound); 20th & Cass (nearside/eastbound) and at Billy Blues Alumni Grill (outside the Mike & Josie Harper Center in the turnaround which is on the east side of the building).
The shuttle will then go eastbound on Capitol Avenue and then go north up 10th Street for drop-off at the CenturyLink Center Omaha convention center entrance. The route is designed for each shuttle driver to make a roundtrip every 15 minutes.
Following the game's conclusion, the shuttle will start at the CenturyLink Center Omaha convention center entrance on 10th Street and loop the original route with the first of three stops at 24th & California Streets.
Ticket Information
Single-game tickets for the 2012-13 season went on sale on October 29th at 10 am.
Fans can purchase single-game tickets at CenturyLink Center Omaha Box Office, Ryan Athletic Center, all Ticketmaster locations (Baker's, Younkers), Ticketmaster online at http://www.ticketmaster.com or by calling Ticketmaster and charging by phone at (800) 745-3000. Only upper bowl seats will be available for any game and cost is $12 for adults and $8 for youth ages 3-18 (children two and under are free). For more information, call the Creighton Ticket Office at (402) 280-JAYS.
Game #17 at Missouri State • Friday, Jan. 11, 2013 • 7:05 pm
#13 Creighton Bluejays at Missouri State Bears
JQH Arena (11,000) • Springfield, Mo.
Radio: KXSP 590 AM, www.am590espnradio.com
Television: KMTV; ESPN FullCourt; ESPN3
Series History: Creighton leads, 31-28
Last Meeting: Creighton 66, Missouri State 65 on 1/18/12 in Springfield, Mo.
Next Game
No. 13 Creighton (15-1, 4-0 MVC) puts its unbeaten MVC start on the line when it visits Missouri State (5-11, 3-1 MVC) for a rare Friday night league game.
Tip-off at JQH Arena (11,000) in Springfield, Mo., is set for 7:05 pm.
Radio Broadcast Information
KXSP (“AM 590 - Omaha's ESPN Radio”) will broadcast all Creighton men's basketball games during the 2012-13 season, including Friday. T. Scott Marr and Ross Ferrarini will call the action. The audio is also webcast live at www.AM590espnradio.com.
TV Broadcast Information
Friday's game is the fourth of five games in the KMTV television package. The game will also be carried nationally on ESPN Full Court as well. Chase Williams and Nick Bahe will announce the contest.
Coordinates follow:
AMC 16, K-21, Slot B - KU Band 18 MHZ
Uplink: 14429 MHz (Horizontal)
Downlink: 12129 MHz (Vertical)
Video Webcast Information
ESPN3 has a free video webcast of the game at http://es.pn/mbb-CREIGHTONvsMSU.
Live Stats Information
All of Creighton's games this season will have free live stats. Visit www.gocreighton.com and click on the Live Stats tab on the top of the page for a link the exact URL.
Home games can also be followed by those who have mobile devices with internet capability at www.gocreightonstats.com.
Scouting No. 13 Creighton
Creighton is 15-1 this season, including wins over Wisconsin, Arizona State, UAB, Saint Joseph's, Nebraska, Akron, Cal, Tulsa, Evansville, Illinois State, Indiana State and Drake. Creighton has won nine straight games since suffering its only loss of the season against Boise State on Nov. 28th.
Junior forward Doug McDermott (22.6 ppg., 7.3 rpg.) is the nation's only returning consensus First Team All-American, as well as the nation's leading returning scorer (22.9 ppg. last year). He's led the Jays in scoring and rebounding each of the past two seasons, and has already picked up MVC Freshman of the Year, MVC Newcomer of the Year, MVC Player of the Year and MVC Tournament MVP honors in his career. McDermott is 28-of-49 from three-point range in the past 10 contests and has already been named MVC Player of the Week four times this season.
The other three returning starters include senior center Gregory Echenique (10.8 ppg., 7.6 rpg., 1.7 bpg.), senior guard Grant Gibbs (7.1 ppg., 5.9 apg.) and junior guard Jahenns Manigat (.468 3FG% last year). Gibbs led the MVC with 176 assists last year, while Echenique had a league-high 57 blocks en route to earning MVC Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Sophomore Austin Chatman replaced three-year starter Antoine Young, the lone player from last year's rotation to depart. Chatman is averaging 8.1 points and 5.0 assists per contest.
The Bluejays returned 10 lettermen and four starters from last year's 29-6 team that reached the third round of the NCAA Tournament, and have been widely praised for having one of the nation's most potent offenses.
Creighton is shooting 51.9 percent from the floor, 44.9 percent from downtown (first nationally), 75.0 percent at the line, and outrebounding foes by 4.8 caroms a game. CU scores 80.2 points per game.
Scouting Missouri State
Missouri State is 5-11 on the season, including a 4-4 mark at home. The Bears opened the season 2-10 with a pair of non-Division I wins, but have opened league play with wins over Southern Illinois, Drake and Illinois State sandwiched around an overtime loss at Evansville.
Anthony Downing leads MSU with 14.6 points and 1.3 steals per game. Downing's scored 20.3 points per league game, leading the team each Valley contest.
Freshman Marcus Marshall is also scoring at an impressive clip, scoring 10.1 points per game.
Junior Nathan Scheer, a member of the MVC's 2010-11 All-Freshman Team, averages 5.4 points per game but has upped that average to 10.3 ppg in league play on 10-of-16 (62.5 percent) long-range shooting.
As a team, Missouri State averages 59.8 points per game while shooting 39.8 percent from the floor, 30.1 percent from downtown and 62.0 percent at the line. The Bears surrender 62.4 points per game and are outrebounded by 4.3 rebounds per game.
The Coaches
Greg McDermott (Northern Iowa, 1988) is in his third season as head coach at Creighton. He led CU to a 29-6 mark last year, and is now 67-23 with the Bluejays. McDermott has previously been a head coach at Iowa State (2006-10), Northern Iowa (2001-06), North Dakota State (2000-01) and Wayne State (1994-2000). He owns a career mark of 347-218 in 19 seasons and is 216-154 in 12 Division I campaigns. McDermott is assisted by Darian DeVries, Steve Lutz and Steve Merfeld.
Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is in his second season at Missouri State, where he owns an 21-27 mark. Combined with a season at Dubuque in 2002-03, he owns a career record of 23-50. He is assisted by Jermaine Henderson, Pat Baldwin and Derrick Tilmon.
The Series With Missouri State
Creighton has won nine of the last 15 meetings to claim a 31-28 lead over Missouri State in the series, but the Bears have six of the last seven contests.
Last season the teams traded road victories, as MSU opened league play with a 77-65 win in Omaha before the Jays answered with a 66-65 win in Springfield three weeks later.
Missouri State is 18-8 all-time at home against Creighton, including a 3-2 mark at JQH Arena.
Greg McDermott is 7-11 in his career (and 1-4 at Creighton) against Missouri State, including a 79-74 double-overtime victory over the Bears to win the 2004 MVC Tournament (while coaching UNI). He is 1-1 against Paul Lusk.
Creighton's series history vs. Missouri State can be found on page 11 of these notes.
Last Game Recap
Creighton bolted to leads of 20-2 and 42-12 while crushing Drake, 91-61, on Tuesday. Ethan Wragge had a career-high 22 points in just 17 minutes of work, sinking six of CU's 16 three-pointers on the night. The Jays shot 64.2 percent from the field and outrebounded the Bulldogs 40-22.
Coaching Connection
Missouri State coach Paul Lusk made his debut as a head coach during the 2002-03 season with the University of Dubuque. Lusk would resign after one season to serve as an assistant coach to Matt Painter at Southern Illinois, who he later followed to Purdue.
When Lusk stepped down at Dubuque, the man who followed him was Marty McDermott, brother of Creighton head coach Greg McDermott and uncle to Creighton junior Doug McDermott.
Marty McDermott was replaced by his assistant coach and former Northern Iowa standout Robbie Sieverding, who starred for Greg McDermott at UNI.
Marty McDermott is currently the Director of Athletics at Muskegon Community College.
Shooting Stars
Creighton has made 55.1 percent of its shots in four MVC games to date. Eleven of its 12 men to score in league play are shooting 50 percent or better from the field.
Take out Creighton and only one team has had a single league game while making 54 percent this season, as Evansville shot 57.7 percent vs. Southern Illinois on Jan. 5th.
Winning Half The Battle
The team with the halftime lead has lost the last five meetings between Creighton and Missouri State.
Creighton is 12-0 this year when leading at half, improving to 51-9 under Greg McDermott when leading at the break.
Creighton has won 24 straight games when tied or leading at halftime, dating to Dec. 28, 2011 vs. Missouri State.
Last Five Meetings CU vs. MSU
Date Half Score Final Score
01/04/11 CU 29-20 MSU 67-55
01/22/11 CU 35-29 MSU 69-67
03/05/11 CU 30-25 MSU 60-50
12/28/11 CU 34-32 MSU 77-65
01/18/12 MSU 34-30 CU 66-65
Big Win
Creighton's 91-61 victory over Drake on Tuesday was its largest in any MVC game since a 93-56 win over Evansville on Jan. 15, 2003.
Six of Creighton's victories this season (including non-conference) have been by 20 or more points.
Thank Heaven For Nevin
Nevin Johnson made the most of his career-high 12 minutes of playing time in Tuesday's win over Drake.
He blocked a Ben Simons lay-up shortly after checking in, then drained a three-pointer the next trip down.
Johnson would finish with nine points, one more than his previous career total set in CU's first 15 games this season.
Wragge = Instant Offense
Ethan Wragge had 22 points in just 17 minutes on Tuesday, sinking six three-pointers for the fourth time in his career.
It's the second time in Wragge's career he's had 20 or more points in 17 minutes or less, having gone for 21 points in 17 minutes as a freshman vs. Xavier.
Before Wragge arrived on campus four years ago, no other Creighton player had 20 or more points in 19 minutes or less since Vernon Moore put up 21 points in 19 minutes against Nebraska-Kearney on Nov. 24, 1984.
Dingman Heads Home
A native of Branson, Mo., Creighton sophomore Avery Dingman returns to the Ozarks to play for the second time as a collegian.
Dingman is averaging 5.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game while making 24-of-50 three-pointers (48 percent) this season.
In the last five games, Dingman has stepped up his play by averaging 9.2 points and 4.4 rebounds on 57.1 percent shooting from downtown.
CU's last Ozark-area recruit, Springfield native Anthony Tolliver, is in the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks.
To The Wire?
Each of Creighton's last two trips to Springfield have come down to the final seconds.
Last year's game featurd 16 ties and 10 lead changes before Creighton used a pair of defensive stops in the last 10 seconds to emerge with a 66-65 win. MSU trailed by one with 22.8 seconds left. Defending Valley Player of the Year Kyle Weems missed a shot, but the Bears got another chance after CU missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 6.4 seconds left. Anthony Downing's pull-up jumper at the buzzer missed, giving CU the victory.
Two seasons ago, Weems hit a lay-up with 14.2 seconds left to help MSU to a 67-66 victory. MSU didn't take its first lead until 1:13 remained in the game, but CU answered 30 seconds later to retake the lead. After a MSU miss, Creighton would miss a free throw with 27.5 left, giving the Bears another chance. Adam Leonard missed a shot, but MSU retained the ball via the possession arrow. Weems would then make a lay-up on the inbounds pass with 14.2 left. Creighton never got a shot off in the final seconds.
About The Final Seconds
Creighton has played 16 games this season, but has yet to have a single lead change in the final five minutes in any of them.
Last year's Creighton team went 5-1 in games that went to overtime or had a lead change in the final five minutes of regulation and were 7-1 in games decided by six points or less.
Who Will Start?
Creighton has utilized the same starting five in every game this season, and four of their five starters have streaks of 51 or more straight starts:
Consecutive Starts, Creighton (Active)
Doug McDermott 90
Gregory Echenique 75
Jahenns Manigat 66
Grant Gibbs 51
Austin Chatman 16
Jays Reach 10 Home Wins, Again
With Tuesday's win vs. Drake, Creighton won its 10th home game this season. Creighton has now won 10 or more home games in 17 straight seasons.
The streak is easily a school-record, five more than the previous standard of 12 straight seasons from the 1969-70 season to the 1980-81 campaign with 10 or more home wins.
There He Goes Again
One year after leading the MVC with 49.2 percent accuracy from three-point land in Valley play, Jahenns Manigat is off to another hot start. Manigat has made 10-of-16 three-pointers in Valley action this year, ranking third in both 3's made and 3-point percentage.
Over the past two seasons, Manigat is 41-for-79 from downtown in league action, good for 51.9 percent.
Wragge, For Three!
Ethan Wragge started the season red-hot from three-point range, sinking 21-of-36 three-pointers in CU's first six games (58.3 percent). He then made 7-of-33 trifectas in CU's next seven games (21.2 percent).
Wragge sank his first four treys at Illinois State on Jan. 2nd, finishing 6-for-9 overall, and last Saturday made 3-of-6 shots from downtown vs. Indiana State.
He continued his torrid pace on Tuesday vs. Drake, making 6-of-9 treys and tying a career-high with 22 points in just 17 minutes.
Filling It Up
Ethan Wragge owns the MVC lead with 43 three-pointers made this season, giving him 189 in his career. That places him fifth in Creighton history.
All four men ahead of him were named MVC Tournament Most Outstanding Player at some point in their careers.
Most 3FG Made, Career
3FG Name Years
371 Kyle Korver 1999-03
245 Ryan Sears 1997-01
212 Rodney Buford 1995-99
200 Nate Funk 2002-07
189 Ethan Wragge 2009-Pres.
185 Matt Roggenburk 1986-90
Three-Point Barrage
Creighton has started MVC play shooting the daylights out of the ball. The Jays were 12-of-24 from downtown vs. Evansville on Dec. 29, went 13-of-25 at Illinois State on Jan. 2nd, were 11-of-22 from deep vs. Indiana State last Saturday, and then an absurd 16-of-27 on Tuesday vs. Drake.
This is the first time since January of 2008 that Creighton's had four straight games with 10 or more three-pointers, and first time the Jays have shot 50 percent or better in four straight games from downtown since February of 1997.
This is the first time in history that Creighton has shot 50 percent or better from deep while making 10 treys or more in three consecutive contests, let alone four straight.
Creighton's 16 three-pointers vs. Drake were tied for second-most in school history, tied for 10th-most in MVC history and the most in the MVC in 2012-13. The league record for three-pointers in a game is 20, done by Creighton (vs. Chattanooga on 2/19/05) and later matched by Bradley vs. Florida A&M on Nov. 21, 2006.
Friday's opponent, Missouri State, has not allowed a team to make more than eight three-pointers all season, nor have they allowed a team to shoot better than 45.5 percent from downtown this year.
Racing To 16
Creighton enters Friday's game with a 15-1 record. The 15 wins were tied for the second-most nationally after Wednesday's games. With a win on Friday, the Jays can join Michigan (and possibly Gonzaga) as the nation's second (or third) squad to 16 victories this year.
Below is a list of the teams with 15 or more wins, as well as the teams with 14 wins that play on Thursday.
Most Wins (Through 1/9)
School W-L Next Game
Michigan 16-0 1/13
Duke 15-0 1/12
Gonzaga 15-1 1/10
Creighton 15-1 1/11
Syracuse 15-1 1/12
Minnesota 15-1 1/12
Wichita State 15-1 1/13
Arizona 14-0 1/10
Best 16 Game Starts
Creighton has started 15-1 or better for the first time since 2003-04, and third time overall. Below are Creighton's best 16-game starts in history:
Best 16-Game Starts
First 16 Year Final W-L
16-0 1942-43 16-1
15-1 2002-03 29-5
15-1 2012-13 ? ? ?
What's Your Digits?
Creighton has played just one game decided by 10 points or less all season, a 79-72 win at Illinois State.
Eleven of Creighton's last 13 games at Missouri State have been decided by seven points or less, including three games by one point.
Prime Nine
Creighton has won nine straight games heading into Friday. This is the sixth different win streak of six or longer in the three years with Greg McDermott as coach.
Longest Win Streaks Under Greg McDermott
W's Dates Snapped By
11 Dec. 31, 2011 - Feb. 1, 2012 at Northern Iowa
9 Dec. 1, 2012 - Present ? ? ?
8 Feb. 14 - March 16, 2012 vs. North Carolina
7 Nov. 11, 2011 - Dec. 4, 2011 at Saint Joseph's
6 Dec. 11, 2010 - Jan. 1, 2011 Missouri State
6 Nov. 9-24, 2012 Boise State
Thorns In Their Side
Creighton is 68-37 vs. MVC schools since the start of the 2007-08 season, but this week's two scheduled opponents have given the Jays more trouble than anyone else.
Creighton owns a winning record against eight schools, but are 6-6 against Friday's foe, Missouri State. Creighton improved to 7-6 against Tuesday's victim, Drake.
Creighton vs. MVC Schools, Since 2007-08
Southern Illinois 9-1
Evansville 10-2
Bradley 9-3
Indiana State 8-3
Northern Iowa 6-5
Wichita State 6-5
Illinois State 7-6
Drake 7-6
Missouri State 6-6
On A Roll
Since the start of last season, Creighton is a remarkable 44-7. That ranks as the best record over any 51 games since the Jays went 44-7 in 51 games from Nov. 17, 2002 to Jan. 28, 2004.
On a national basis, Creighton's 44 wins since the start of last season ranks tied for fourth, as seen below.
Most Wins, Since 2011-12
School '11-12 '12-13 W-L Next
Syracuse 34-3 15-1 49-4 1/12
Kentucky 38-2 9-4 47-6 1/10
Kansas 32-7 13-1 45-8 1/12
Creighton 29-6 15-1 44-7 1/11
Louisville 30-10 14-1 44-11 1/12
Murray State 31-2 11-4 42-6 1/12
North Carolina 32-6 10-4 42-10 1/10
Ohio State 31-8 12-3 43-11 1/13
MVC's Best On The Road
In addition to owning one of the MVC's best home-court advantages, Creighton has easily posted the league's best record in MVC road games since 2000-01 as well.
Creighton is 60-49 in MVC road games in that span, a win percentage of .550. A distant second is Southern Illinois (53-58, .477). As a league, the road winning percentage has been .349 in the same span.
MVC Road Records (since 2000-01)
Team W L Pct.
Creighton 60 49 .549
Southern Illinois 53 58 .477
Wichita State 48 62 .436
Northern Iowa 45 65 .409
Missouri State 43 67 .391
Drake 31 79 .282
Illinois State 30 80 .273
Bradley 30 80 .273
Indiana State 24 86 .218
Evansville 20 90 .182
All MVC Teams 384 716 .349
The Road Less Traveled
Creighton won its final two road games last year (at Southern Illinois, at Indiana State) and have won its first three road games this year too (Nebraska, Cal, Illinois State).
The five-game road win streak is tied for the nation's eighth-longest active streak nationally. Last season Creighton won six straight true road games, its longest such streak since 1975.
Strong On the Road
Off to a 15-1 start overall, Creighton is 5-0 away from home this season. Four of those victories have come against two Big Ten teams (Wisconsin, Nebraska) and two Pacific-12 teams (Arizona State, Cal).
Impressively, all four BCS wins have been by double-digits. Creighton is 8-1 in the past two years against BCS teams, including six victories by double-digits and another triumph by eight.
Winning Away From Home
Creighton won a school-record 15 games away from home last season. The Jays went 10-3 in true road games and were also 5-1 on neutral floors.
Creighton's lone neutral-site loss came to North Carolina in a not-so “neutral” Greensboro, N.C., in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
This year's team is 5-0 away from home, with four of those victories against a BCS school (Wisconsin, Arizona State, Nebraska, Cal) by double-digits, as well as a seven-point win at Illinois State.
This season is the first time since 1999-00 that Creighton has won its first five games away from home. Creighton hasn't won its first six games away from home since 1942-43.
Each of Creighton's last nine NCAA Tournament teams have won 10 or more games away from home, and eight of those teams had a winning record in true road contests.
Road Warriors
Creighton is 13-3 in true road games over the past two seasons, one of the nation's best such marks. Only five teams have fewer true road losses in that span, a group consisting of Murray State, Syracuse, Wichita State, Kansas and Duke.
Fewest Road Losses, Last 2 Seasons (1/9)
Team W-L Pct. Next Road
Murray State 18-1 .947 1/12
Syracuse 12-1 .923 1/19
Wichita State 13-2 .867 1/12
Kansas 9-2 .818 1/12
Duke 8-2 .800 1/12
Creighton 13-3 .813 1/11
VCU 13-3 .813 1/12
Kentucky 8-3 .727 1/10
Celsius or Fahrenheit?
Jahenns Manigat led the MVC with his 49.2 percent marksmanship from three-point range in league play a year ago. When it came to CU's nine MVC road games last year, he was the barometer.
In Creighton's seven Valley road wins, Manigat shot a robust 19-of-27 (70.4 percent) from downtown. In CU's two Valley road losses, Manigat was just 2-of-9 (22.2 percent) from downtown.
Manigat is 14-for-24 (62.5 percent) from three-point range in the past six games this year after starting the season 8-for-28 (28.6 percent) in his first 10 outings.
Mighty Impressive Run
Creighton's been on an amazing run in the sports of men's soccer, volleyball, men's basketball and women's basketball in the past nine months.
Since March 4, 2012, Creighton is a remarkable 36-1-1 against other Valley schools. The lone loss was in volleyball (at Southern Illinois), while the lone tie came at Drake in men's soccer.
Army of Iowans
Every Creighton team since 1988-89 has had at least one Iowa native, and this season is no exception.
Creighton has four players from Iowa on this season's team, continuing a long trend of relying on some of the Hawkeye State's top preps. CU's Iowans this season includes senior Grant Gibbs (Marion), junior Doug McDermott (Ames), sophomore Will Artino (Waukee) and redshirt freshman Alex Olsen (Council Bluffs).
Other past notable Iowans include Kyle Korver (Pella), Ryan Sears (Ankeny), Brody Deren (Harlan), Tyler McKinney (Urbandale) and Nate Funk (Sioux City).
Creighton has played at least one Iowa native in 601 straight games. That streak dates to a Feb. 5, 1994 win against Wichita State. In that time, 903 of Creighton's 3,005 starts (30 percent) can be attributed to Iowans. Here's a list of the Iowans and how many starts they've made during this run:
Creighton's Starts By Iowans, Since 2/5/1994
Ryan Sears 124
Nate Funk 99
Kyle Korver 95
Michael Lindeman 94
Doug McDermott 90
Tyler McKinney 89
Brody Deren 89
Joel Templeman 57
Grant Gibbs 51
Kaleb Korver 46
Pierce Hibma 27
Adam Reid 24
Casey Harriman 16
John Klein 2
Get Your Tickets!
Creighton fans have already purchased 4,000 lower bowl all-session tickets for the MVC Tournament, which will be March 7-10 at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo. The mark shatters the previous MVC record for sales by a school set by Bluejay fans last year (2,575).
To join the Creighton contingent at Arch Madness, call the CU Ticket Office at 402-280-JAYS.
Poll Position
Creighton remained ranked 11th in this week's USA Today Top 25 Coaches poll and is up three spots to 13th in this week's Associated Press poll. Creighton's best AP ranking this year was 11th on Nov. 26th, while this week's No. 11 coaches poll rank matches the best (also Nov. 26th and Dec. 31st).
Creighton was ranked 15th in this year's preseason coaches poll, its first preseason recognition since coming in at No. 23 in 2006-07.
Creighton started this year with a No. 16 preseason ranking by the AP, its highest preseason mark in program history and the best by any MVC school since No. 6 Wichita State in 1981-82.
Including the Jan. 7th poll, Creighton has now been ranked 22 times in 47 weeks of polls under Greg McDermott, and ranked between 26th-to-28th in five other polls. The 22 weeks in the top-25 under McDermott is more than any coach in Bluejay history.
Coaches Spending Most Weeks in Top 25 at CU
Greg McDermott, 2010-Pres. 22 (of 47)
Dana Altman, 1994-2010 18
Tom Apke, 1974-81 5
Eddie Sutton, 1969-74 5
Big Man In The Middle
Gregory Echenique is on the best offensive roll of his career, scoring in double-figures eight of the last nine games. Included in that play is three double-doubles, and averages of 11.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game.
Echenique has shot better than 50 percent from the field in nine of the last 10 games, and continues to lead the MVC in field goal percentage at 67.6 percent.
Echenique's 67.6 percent marksmanship from the field is on pace to set not only the Creighton (67.4%) mark, but also the MVC single-season mark (also 67.4%) as well.
It's also worth noting that Echenique ranks fourth in Creighton history with 139 career blocked shots. Echenique also ranks 13th in Rutgers history with 94 career swats, where he spent the first three semesters of college.
Most Blocked Shots, Creighton History
(Since 1979-80)
Blk. Name Years
411 Benoit Benjamin 1982-85
183 Chad Gallagher 1987-91
153 Kenny Lawson Jr. 2006-11
139 Gregory Echenique 2010-Pres.
138 Brody Deren 2001-04
136 Anthony Tolliver 2003-07
Offense AND Defense
This year's team is playing some much-improved defense to go with a highly-lauded offense.
This year's Creighton team is shooting 51.9 percent from the field, while holding foes to 39.7 percent from the field on the defensive end.
Creighton, Notre Dame, Indiana and Pitt are the nation's only teams shooting 50 percent or better on offense, and holding foes to less than 40 percent from the field.
Creighton's 51.9 percent shooting from the field would rank seventh in MVC single-season history, and the best mark since 1985-86 (Creighton, .535).
RPI Update
Through games of January 9th, Creighton is ranked 16th in the RPI according to WarrenNolan.com, while Missouri State ranks 272nd.
Creighton owns 11 wins against RPI teams in the top-140 and seven in the top-90. By comparison, defending national champion Kentucky has one top-210 win.
As a league, the MVC is the ninth-best conference nationally.
Full House
Creighton has attracted four of its 13 largest home crowds in program history this season.
Creighton's home crowd of 18,073 vs. Drake on Tuesday was largest ever for a non-weekend game.
Here's a look at Creighton's top-15 home crowds all-time.
Rank Att. Opponent Date
1. 18,735 Wichita State 02/11/12
2. 18,458 Evansville 12/29/12
3. 18,436 Bradley 01/28/12
4. 18,073 Drake 01/08/13
5. 17,954 Wichita State 12/28/08
6. 17,694 Indiana State 01/05/13
7. 17,676 Northwestern 12/22/11
8. 17,665 Missouri State 12/28/11
9. 17,607 Drexel 02/17/07
10. 17,459 Southern Illinois 01/20/07
11. 17,411 George Mason 02/21/09
17,411 Indiana State 01/21/12
13. 17,390 Saint Joseph's 12/01/12
14. 17,371 Indiana State 01/19/08
15. 17,311 Illinois State 02/01/12
Honors Roll In
Already seventh in school history with 1,744 career points, Doug McDermott can join Creighton's top-10 in rebounding as well vs. Missouri State. McDermott owns 684 career rebounds, two behind Dane Watts for 10th.
Most Rebounds, Career
Reb. Name Years
1,751 Paul Silas 1961-64
1,126 Bob Harstad 1987-91
1,005 Benoit Benjamin 1982-85
979 Bob Portman 1966-69
891 Chad Gallagher 1987-91
762 Kenny Lawson Jr. 2006-11
716 Rodney Buford 1995-99
709 Rick Apke 1975-78
696 Wally Anderzunas 1965-67, 1968-69
686 Dane Watts 2004-08
Honors Roll In
Doug McDermott picked up two big honors in early January, adding to his collection.
ESPN.com named McDermott the National Player of the Month after a December that saw him average a nation-best 26.5 points per game while shooting 57.5 percent from the field, 57.6 percent from three-point range and 88.9 percent in the line in six Creighton victories.
McDermott was also named the Lute Olson Award Midseason National Player of the Year honoree. McDermott was named the Lute Olson Award National Player of the Year at the end of last season.
Let's Get It Started
Creighton is off to a 4-0 start in league play, and could improve to 5-0 with a win on Friday at Missouri State.
As good as Creighton's been since rejoining the MVC in 1977-78, this would be just the fifth time the program has started 4-0 in league play in that span. Each of the previous four occasions it happened, the team would finish first or second in the final Valley standings.
Creighton's Best MVC Starts, Since 1977-78
Start Year Finish/Place
7-0 2002-03 15-3/2nd (won MVC Tourney)
5-0 1988-89 11-3/1st (won MVC Tourney
4-0 2003-04 12-6/T-2nd
4-0 1980-81 11-5/T-2nd (won MVC Tourney)
4-0 2012-13 ? ? ?
Conference Starts Are Big
Since 1993-94, only one team (Northern Iowa, a 2008-09 co-champion) has won at least a share of the regular-season title without winning its league opener. In fact, 16 of the last 18 regular-season champs (or co-champs) have opened 2-0 or better in MVC play, with UNI in 2008-09 and Wichita State in 2011-12 serving as the exceptions.
This season the only MVC teams to start 2-0 were Bradley, Wichita State, Creighton and Indiana State.
Point, Counterpoint
No player in the MVC owns more assists in the past two seasons than Creighton senior Grant Gibbs. Here's the top-four:
MVC Assist Leaders, Since 2011-12
271 Grant Gibbs, Creighton
222 Jake Odum, Indiana State
182 Troy Taylor, Evansville
174 Michael Bizoukas, Missouri State*
graduated in 2012
What A Start!
Now in his third year, Greg McDermott is 67-23 in his first 90 games on the Creighton sideline. The 67 wins is tied for the most in Creighton history after 90 games, matching Arthur A. Schabinger (1922-35).
Here's a breakdown of how he compares to some other Creighton coaches after 90 games.
W-L After 90 Games, Select CU Coaches
Coach Years W-L After 90
Greg McDermott 2010-Pres. 67-23
Arthur A. Schabinger 1922-35 67-23
Tom Apke 1974-81 66-24
Eddie Sutton 1969-74 53-37
Red McManus 1959-69 51-39
Dana Altman 1994-10 39-51
Tony Barone 1985-91 37-53
Willis Reed 1981-85 35-55
Unbeaten December
Creighton went 6-0 in December wrapping up an unbeaten December with a victory over Evansville on Dec. 29.
Since 1946-47, Creighton's only two other teams to go unbeaten in December were in 2003 and 2008.
The 2008-09 team went 9-0 in December and would go on to win a share of the MVC regular-season title.
The 2003-04 squad finished tied for second in the MVC. That team began the season 12-0 before suffering an overtime loss in a game hosted by Northern Iowa and its then-coach, Greg McDermott.
10 Conference Wins x 16
Last season's Creighton team extended its MVC record by winning 10 or more league games for a 16th consecutive season.
On a national basis, the only other current school with at least 16 straight years of 10 or more league wins is Kansas (18).
Each of the last 16 seasons has seen the team finish fourth place or better in the MVC as well.
Team of the Millennium?
Below is the records for each MVC school from the start of the 2000-01 season until the start of this season, ranked by overall winning percentage.
Creighton leads the MVC overall with 295 wins in the millennium, as well as 12 postseason appearances:
MVC Standings (start 2000-01 to Jan. 10, 2013)
MVC only All Games
Team W L Pct. W L Pct.
Creighton 153 67 .695 295 121 .709
Wichita State 129 91 .586 253 152 .625
Southern Illinois 134 86 .609 245 159 .606
Northern Iowa 119 101 .541 234 166 .585
Missouri State 120 100 .545 228 174 .567
Illinois State 99 121 .450 210 182 .536
Bradley 95 125 .432 199 203 .495
Drake 92 128 .418 186 200 .482
Indiana State 82 138 .372 172 217 .442
Evansville 77 143 .350 152 222 .406
Postseason Appearances by MVC Teams
(Since 2000-01)
Team NCAA NIT CBI CIT Total
Creighton 6 4 1 1 12
Wichita State 2 5 1 0 8
Southern Illinois 6 1 0 0 7
Northern Iowa 5 1 0 1 7
Bradley 1 2 1 1 5
Missouri State 0 4 0 1 5
Illinois State 0 5 0 0 5
Indiana State 2 0 1 1 4
Drake 1 0 0 2 3
Evansville 0 0 2 1 3
Consistent Challengers
Ten of Creighton's last 15 teams have finished either first or second in The Valley's regular-season race. Two of the five that didn't won the MVC Tournament.
The Bluejays won the MVC in 2000-01 and tied for the title in 2001-02 and 2008-09. CU was second in the MVC in 1997-98 and 2006-07, tied for second in the MVC in 1998-99, 2003-04 and 2005-06, and finished tied for third in 2004-05. The 1999-00 club was fourth in the MVC, but won the MVC Tournament, while the 2010-11 club tied for fourth place.
Creighton's MVC Finishes, Last 15 Years
1st Place 2000-01
Tied for First 2001-02 (won MVC Tourn.), 2008-09
2nd Place 1997-98, 2002-03 (won MVC Tourn.),
2006-07 (won MVC Tourn.), 2011-12 (won MVC Tourn.)
Tied for 2nd 1998-99 (won MVC Tourn.), 2003-04, 2005-06
Tied for 3rd Place 2004-05 (won MVC Tourn.)
4th Place 1999-00 (won MVC Tourn.); 2007-08; 2009-10
Tied for 4th Place 2010-11
Dingman Rings It Up
Creighton has needed someone to step up once Josh Jones was forced out of the line-up, and that someone has been Avery Dingman.
Since Jones met the media and disclosed he'd be out for at least a month (which has now turned out to be career-ending), Dingman is averaging 9.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.0 steals in five games while sinking 12-of-21 three-point shots.
In Creighton's Dec. 19 win over Tulsa, Dingman scored a career-best 21 points against the Golden Hurricane while also plucking a career-high three steals. Dingman made his first seven attempts and finished 8-for-9 from the field, including 5-of-6 from three-point land.
Dingman also had 11 points and a career-high seven rebounds in the win over Evansville.
Dingman is the sixth player on this year's Creighton roster to own a 20-point game in his career. Doug McDermott's done it 40 times, Ethan Wragge has done it three times, Gregory Echenique has done it twice, and Grant Gibbs, Jones and Dingman each have done it one time.
Creighton's Exclusive 30/30 Club
Doug McDermott scored 30 points in a Dec. 9 win vs. Akron, then followed that performance with a season-high 34 seven days later at Cal.
McDermott, who leads the MVC with 22.6 points per game, became the first Creighton player with 30 points in consecutive contests since Bob Harstad in 1990.
Doing It All
Reigning MVC Player of the Year Doug McDermott has one of the nation's best set of post moves, and now the junior forward is taking his skills to the perimeter with similar success.
Eight days after tying a career-high with five-three pointers in a 29-point thrashing of Atlantic-10 favorite Saint Joseph's, McDermott shot 6-for-8 from downtown in a 77-61 win over defending MAC champion Akron on Dec. 9th.
McDermott's career 45.6 percent accuracy from three-point range ranks tops in CU history. Since starting his career 15-of-53 (28.3 percent) after 20 games from downtown, McDermott has made 120-of-243 three-pointers (49.4 percent) in his past 70 games.
McDermott Earns MVC Awards
Doug McDermott has been named MVC Player of the Week four times this season.
His first honor came Nov. 12th for his performance in a Nov. 9 win vs. North Texas. McDermott had 21 points and 11 rebounds to produce CU's first double-double in a season-opener since Kyle Korver in 2001-02.
He was then honored on Nov. 26th after averaging 25.3 points and 7.3 rebounds while earning MVP honors of the Las Vegas Invitational.
McDermott was honored on Dec. 10th after averaging 28.5 points in wins vs. Nebraska and Akron.
Most recently, McDermott was honored on Dec. 17th after scoring 34 points and hauling down nine rebounds in a win at Cal on Dec. 15th. He was also named National Player of the Week by Seth Davis (CBS/Sports Illustrated) and the USBWA for that performance.
McDermott now owns nine career MVC Player of the Week honors, something only Bradley great Hersey Hawkins (14) can top. Including his seven MVC Newcomer of the Week honors in 2010-11, McDermott has won at least one weekly award from the MVC in 16 of 41 weeks since enrolling at Creighton.
Chasing History, Part I
Doug McDermott has scored 21 or more points in 11 of the season's 16 games, moving up to seventh on Creighton's all-time scoring list with 1,744 career points.
At McDermott's current scoring average of 22.6 points per game this year he'll become Creighton's all-time leading scorer in 17 more games. Creighton has a minimum of 16 games remaining this season.
By comparison, both of Creighton's top two all-time leading scorers, Rodney Buford (1995-99) and Bob Harstad (1987-91), had exactly 1,540 points at the end of their junior seasons.
McDermott is within range to make huge gains on both the MVC and Creighton scoring charts should he continue his recent productivity.
All-Time MVC Scoring Leaders
Rk. Name, School Points
1. Hersey Hawkins, Bradley 3,008
20. Kyle Weems, Missouri State 1,868
21. Ashraf Amaya, Southern Illinois 1,864
22. Jason Perez, Wichita State 1,839
23. Osiris Eldridge, Illinois State 1,838
24. Johnny Murdock, Missouri State 1,834
25. Tracy Moore, Tulsa 1,823
26. Colt Ryan, Evansville* 1,816
27. Kyle Korver, Creighton 1,801
28. Josh Young, Drake 1,789
29. Ben Jacobson, UNI 1,787
30. Aubrey Sherrod, Wichita State 1,765
31. Joe Allen, Bradley 1,763
32. Andy Elkins, Evansville 1,761
Darren Brooks, Southern Illinois 1,761
34. Slab Jones, New Mexico State 1,758
35. Nate Funk, Creighton 1,754
36. Doug McDermott, Creighton* 1,744
37. Tarise Bryson, Illinois State 1,736
*active
All-Time Creighton Scoring Leaders
Rk. Name, Years Points
1. Rodney Buford, 1995-99 2,116
2. Bob Harstad, 1987-91 2,110
3. Chad Gallagher, 1987-91 1,983
4. Bob Portman, 1966-69 1,876
5. Kyle Korver, 1999-03 1,801
6. Nate Funk, 2002-07 1,754
7. Doug McDermott, 2010-Pres.* 1,744
8. Rick Apke, 1974-78 1,682
9. Paul Silas, 1961-64 1,661
*active
More Than The Rest
Doug McDermott has scored 1,744 points in his career, 10th-most among active players. He is the only active junior with at least 1,400 career points.
Most Points, Active Players (though 1/9)
Source: Stats Inc./MVC
Rk. Pts. Name, School Next Game
1. 2,361 C.J. McCollum, Lehigh 1/12
2. 2,006 Kevin Foster, Santa Clara 1/10
3. 1,943 Nate Wolters, S. Dakota State 1/10
4. 1,844 Markeith Cummings, Kennesaw St. 1/10
5. 1,826 C.J. Reed, Georgia Southern 1/12
6. 1,816 Colt Ryan, Evansville 1/13
7. 1,814 D.J. Cooper, Ohio 1/12
8. 1,772 Stan Okoye, VMI 1/12
9. 1,762 Kenny Boynton, Florida 1/12
10. 1,744 Doug McDermott, Creighton 1/11
11. 1,713 Seth Curry, Duke 1/12
12. 1,708 Mike Muscala, Bucknell 1/12
13. 1,698 Isaiah Canaan, Murray State 1/12
14. 1,673 Shane Gibson, Sacred Heart 1/10
15. 1,641 Matthew Dellavedova, St. Mary's 1/10
Most Career Points, Active Juniors
Source: Creighton Sports Info/STATS Inc. (1/10)
Rk. Pts. Name, School Next Game
1. 1,744 Doug McDermott, Creighton 1/11
2. 1,334 Devon Saddler, Delaware 1/12
3. 1,227 DeAndre Kane, Marshall 1/12
Ball Control Offense
Creighton owns a stellar 295/189 assist/turnover ratio (1.53) as a team to rank sixth nationally.
Last year Creighton ranked sixth nationally by finishing with a 1.48 assist/turnover ratio.
BCS Busters, Again
Creighton improved to 8-1 in the past two seasons vs. teams from BCS conferences with wins this year over Wisconsin & Nebraska (Big Ten) and Arizona State and Cal (Pacific-12). Last year Creighton defeated Alabama (SEC) as well as Big 10 foes Nebraska, Northwestern and Iowa, losing only to North Carolina (ACC) in the NCAA Tournament.
In those nine games, All-American Doug McDermott has averaged 25.3 points and 8.3 rebounds, well above his career averages (19.4 ppg., 7.6 rpg.), as seen below:
McDermott vs. BCS Schools, Last 2 Years
Date Opponent Pts. Reb. Score
11/20/11 vs. Iowa 25 9 W 82-59
12/04/11 Nebraska 24 12 W 76-66
12/22/11 Northwestern 27 5 W 87-79
03/16/12 vs. Alabama 16 10 W 58-57
03/18/12 vs. North Carolina 20 9 L 73-87
11/23/12 vs. Wisconsin 30 8 W 84-74
11/24/12 vs. Arizona State 29 9 W 87-73
12/06/12 at Nebraska 27 4 W 64-42
12/15/12 at California 30 9 W 74-64
Efficiency Improves
Because Creighton tends to play at a faster pace and have more possessions than the average school, Bluejay coaches place significant emphasis on stats like average points per possession, with data that can be found on a site such as bbstate.com.
Creighton's offense is still clicking as one of the nation's best, but the team has made huge strides on the defensive end of the floor, jumping from 222nd last year to 58th this season.
Twelve of Creighton's first 16 opponents have been hold under 1.00 points per possession this season.
Points Per Possession
2010-11 2011-12 2012-13
Offense 1.065 1.150 1.183
Offense Rank 46th 2nd 4th
Defense 1.006 1.014 0.902
Defense Rank 192nd 222nd 58th
Defense! Defense!
Creighton ranked 222nd nationally last season in field goal percentage defense at 44.1 percent, one area that the program has tried hard to improve on in the off-season.
The early results have been promising, as CU has limited foes to 39.7 percent marksmanship. That figure ranked 86th-best nationally in 2012-13 through Sunday's games.
Only one team (Boise State) has shot better than 43.4 percent this season against the Jays.
The 42 points by Nebraska on Dec. 6th were its fewest against Creighton since 1932, a span of 39 meetings.
Full House
This year's Creighton team ranks sixth nationally in average home attendance, averaging 16,810 fans per game.
Creighton finished sixth nationally in home attendance, averaging 16,665 fans per home game, in 2011-12. It's the sixth straight season that CU has been among the nation's top-25 in average home attendance, and set an MVC average home attendance record.
Last year Creighton surpassed 200,000 home fans in a season for the sixth time. No other school in the history of the MVC has ever done so even once.
Creighton also ranked seventh nationally in men's soccer attendance and 10th in baseball attendance, the nation's only school in the top-10 of those three sports.
2012-13 Attendance Leaders (1/9)
Rk. School Average Next Home
1. Kentucky 22,323 1/12
2. Louisville 20,826 1/12
3. Syracuse 19,095 1/12
4. North Carolina 17,620 1/10
5. Indiana 17,358 1/12
6. Creighton 16,810 1/15
7. BYU 16,784 1/10
8. Tennessee 16,573 1/19
9. Wisconsin 16,555 1/12
10. Kansas 16,549 1/14
11. Memphis 16,031 1/19
12. Ohio State 15,678 1/13
2011-12 Attendance Leaders (Final)
Rk. School Average
1. Kentucky 23,721
2. Syracuse 23,618
3. Louisville 21,503
4. North Carolina 20,159
5. Wisconsin 17,181
6. Creighton 16,665
7. Tennessee 16,543
8. Ohio State 16,510
9. Indiana 16,462
10. Kansas 16,300
Highest Season Home Attendance, MVC History
Home Att. School Year
302,676 Creighton 2008-09
297,161 Creighton 2010-11
276,000 Creighton 2007-08
266,632 Creighton 2011-12
246,419 Creighton 2009-10
Highest Average Attendance, MVC History
Avg. Att. School Year
16,810 Creighton 2012-13
16,665 Creighton 2011-12
15,930 Creighton 2008-09
15,909 Creighton 2006-07
15,333 Creighton 2007-08
Inside The Numbers
Creighton's Doug McDermott (22.6) enters this weekend as the nation's top scoring junior. As can be seen below, good things have happened to the top-scoring juniors in the past nine years:
NCAA's Top-Scoring Juniors, Last Nine Years
NBA
Year Name, School PPG Draft #
2011-12 Damian Lillard, Weber St. 24.5 6th
2010-11 Kemba Walker, UConn. 23.5 9th
2009-10 Adnan Hodzic, Lipscomb 22.7 not picked
2008-09 Stephen Curry, Davidson 28.6 7th
2007-08 Lester Hudson, UT-Martin 25.7 58th
2006-07 Reggie Williams, VMI 28.1 not picked*
2005-06 Adam Morrison, Gonzaga 28.1 3rd
2004-05 Ike Diogu, Arizona State 22.6 9th
2003-04 Kevin Martin, W. Carolina 24.9 26th
*wasn't drafted, but currently in fourth year in NBA
BCS Bracket Buster
Some of Creighton's most thrilling victories in recent seasons have been against teams from the six major college football BCS Conferences (ACC, SEC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12, BIg East), as Creighton owns a 32-21 mark in the past 15 seasons.
Among CU's victims in that time have been Nebraska (12 times), Iowa (three times) DePaul (twice), Florida (twice), Baylor (twice), Oklahoma State (once), Notre Dame (once), Providence (once), Missouri (once), Oregon (once), Northwestern (once), Alabama (once), Wisconsin (once), Cal (once), TCU (once) and Ohio State (once).
Jones Hangs Up High Tops
Josh Jones was hospitalized prior to Creighton's Dec. 6 game at Nebraska after he fainted during pre-game warm-ups on the Bob Devaney Sports Center court prior to Creighton's 64-42 win.
Jones was released from a Lincoln hospital on Dec. 7th. Jones was underwent a nine-hour medical procedure on Dec. 18th, and on Dec. 26th announced his basketball career is done due to an atrial flutter.
The senior guard was averaging 7.0 points per game as the team's top guard off the bench.
Top Four From Three
While Gregory Echenique has yet to attempt a three-point shot this season, Creighton's other top three scorers continue to fill it up from deep.
Austin Chatman (.593), Ethan Wragge (.462) and Doug McDermott (.493) have combined to make 93-of-189 three-point attempts this season, good for 49.2 percent.
Chatman is 15-for-21 from three-point range in the past 12 games, while McDermott is 28-of-49 from downtown in the past 10 contests. Wragge started the season 18-for-29 and leads the MVC with 43 three-pointers, including 15 in the past three games.
Either Wragge or McDermott has had three or more three-pointers in 16 of Creighton's last 19 games dating back to late last season.
Creighton owns four men on its roster who have made 106 or more career three-pointers.
Comparing Offenses
Last season Creighton had one of the nation's most effective and most efficient offenses. With all but one regular from that squad back, we thought we'd take a second to compare the 2011-12 and 2012-13 teams through 16 games:
Stat 2011-12 2012-13
Record 14-2 15-1
FG Made 470 454
FG% .511 .519
3FG Made 140 159
3FG% .452 .449
FT Made 231 216
FT% .704 .750
Rebound Margin +5.0 +4.8
Assists 319 295
Turnovers 207 189
Scoring Average 81.9 80.2
Scoring Margin +13.1 +17.9
Pick Your Poison
Last season Creighton ranked third nationally in three-point percentage, making 42.4 percent from downtown.
This year's team can still fill it up from long-range (44.9 percent, good for second nationally), but are off the charts from close-range as well.
This year's Bluejay team is shooting 56.7 percent from two-point range, fifth-best in the nation.
According to data from bbstate.com, no team since at least 2005-06 has shot better than 58.7 from two-point range.
Might As Well Jump
Creighton is 10-0 this season when Gregory Echenique wins the opening tip.
Dating to last year, the Jays have won 18 straight games when Echenique wins the tip.
Creighton is 40-9 all-time when Echenique wins the opening tip, but 13-7 when he loses the tip.
Pizza Pie, Piled High = Wins
Thanks to a promotion with Omaha-based Godfather's Pizza, Creighton season ticket-holders can get a free mini pizza any time the Jays score 75 points at home.
History has proven that when the team earns the fans pizza, it often leads to a victory as well.
The first three years of CenturyLink Center Omaha (2003-06), Creighton needed 70 points to earn its fans free pizza, and the Jays went 27-3 when reaching that threshold, closing out that run with 12 straight wins.
Since upping the standard to 75 points prior to the 2006-07 campaign, Creighton is a perfect 63-0 when scoring 75 points or more at CenturyLink Center Omaha.
In other words, Creighton is a perfect 75-0 in CenturyLink Center Omaha since Feb. 6, 2005 when scoring enough points to earn its fans some free pizza.
A New Streak
Now that the impressive streak when scoring 70 or more is over, it's time to look at a few other eye-opening streaks still in play.
Since Greg McDermott took over three years ago, Creighton is averaging 77.20 points per home game (3,832 points in 49 home games).
That's a vital number since Creighton is 87-0 at home (60-0 at CenturyLink Center Omaha) when scoring 78 points or more and 70-0 at home (47-0 at CenturyLink Center Omaha) when scoring 80 points or more at home dating to a 92-83 loss to Southern Illinois on Feb. 19, 2000.
Stat Leaders
Statistically, Creighton ranks among the nation's top-21 in 10 different categories through games of Jan. 6th. The Jays lead the nation with 9.5 three-pointers per game while also ranking second with 43.7 percent marksmanship from three-point range. Creighton's also fifth in field goal percentage (.512), sixth in win percentage (.933) and assist/turnover ratio (1.53), ninth in assists per game (17.8), 18th in both total points (1,192) and scoring offense (79.5), 19th in scoring margin (17.1) and 21st in free-throw percentage (.757).
Individually, Grant Gibbs is second in assist/turnover ratio (5.06) and 22nd in assists per game (6.06), Doug McDermott is third in points per game (23.1), 38th in free-throw percentage (.871) and 49th in field goal percentage (.543). In addition, Gregory Echenique ranks 63rd in double-doubles (4), 85th in blocked shots per game (1.73) and 113th in rebounds per game (7.8). Also in the top-100 are Ethan Wragge, who is 88th with 2.47 three-pointers per game, and Austin Chatman who ranks 80th with 4.7 assists per game and 83rd with a 2.15 assist/turnover ratio.
Big Road Win
Creighton's 64-42 win at Nebraska matched its largest victory margin in a true road win since an 82-60 win at Southern Illinois on Feb. 14, 2009.
It was also the largest margin in a non-conference road win since winning at Drexel, 72-48, on Dec. 1, 2007.
Before Dec. 6th, last time Creighton won a true road game by 22+ points vs. a BCS-league team was 12/18/76 at Oregon State (90-68).
Scoring On The Badgers
Creighton scored 84 points on Nov. 23rd against Wisconsin's vaunted defense that has ranked among the nation's top-10 in scoring defense in each of the past six seasons.
It was the first time in either of the last two seasons that Wisconsin had allowed 80 points in a game, and the eighth-most allowed in regulation in Bo Ryan's 12 years as a head coach.
Third-Year Coaches Update
Greg McDermott was one of 53 head coaches hired to coach a school prior to 2010-11. His 67 wins in that span are easily the most of that group, and McDermott, Tad Boyle (Colorado) and Dana Altman (Oregon) are the only men to win a postseason game each of their first two seasons.
Below is a list of the new coaches with 51 or more wins at their school since being hired.
School Coach W-L Next Game
Creighton Greg McDermott 67-23 1/11
Iona Tim Cluess 59-26 1/10
Colorado Tad Boyle 58-30 1/10
Oregon Dana Altman 57-30 1/10
Robert Morris Andy Toole 52-32 1/10
Marshall Tom Herrion 51-34 1/12
Austin Powers
After spending last year as a back-up to Antoine Young, sophomore Austin Chatman has taken over as Creighton's starting point guard. Creighton's been blessed with a legacy of some of the MVC's best point guards in the last 15 years, a streak that began with four-year starters Ryan Sears (1997-2001), Tyler McKinney (2001-05) and Josh Dotzler (2005-09) at the point before Young ran the offense while starting the last three years.
Here's a look at the stats, by year, of the men that Chatman is trying to replace.
Freshman Sophomore
Name PPG APG CU W-L PPG APG CU W-L
Sears 10.5 4.8 18-10 8.7 4.0 22-9
McKinney 4.3 2.1 23-9 5.0 4.1 29-5
Dotzler 6.4 4.2 20-10 2.2 2.0 22-11
Young 4.9 1.4 27-8 7.1 3.1 18-16
Chatman 2.4 1.9 29-6 8.1 5.0 15-1
Dime Time
Austin Chatman's 11 assists on Nov. 18 vs. Presbyterian were one shy of the CenturyLink Center Omaha record, set last season by Grant Gibbs vs. Northwestern. Chatman entered the game with a career-high of seven assists, then had nine by halftime.
Chatman's 11 dimes led to 30 Bluejay points, and Creighton outscored the Blue Hose 63-26 in his 24 minutes of play.
In addition, Chatman's 11 assists were the most by a Bluejay sophomore since Tyler McKinney had 12 assists in a 81-73 win at Nebraska on Dec. 21, 2002.
Quick Starts Key To Playing in Postseason
Creighton has started off 3-0 (or better) in 12 of the previous 14 seasons. Each of Creighton's previous 13 3-0 starts have been culminated in a postseason tournament appearance at the end of the year.
Not Half Bad
Doug McDermott outscored Presbyterian 20-17 in the first half in a Nov. 18 win. It was the second-most points McDermott has ever had at halftime, and the fourth-highest half of his career.
McDermott's highest scoring half of his career has been 31 points, done last year in the second half at Bradley when he scored a career-best 44 points.
McDermott has scored 15 points or more in a half 31 times during his career, and Creighton is 28-0 in those contests (three times he's scored 15 or more in both halves).
Rare Air
Gregory Echenique had one of the best all-around games of his career on Nov. 14 in the win vs. UAB, finishing with 13 points, 16 rebounds and four blocked shots. For good measure, he made 5-of-5 shots from the field and was a perfect 3-for-3 at the line.
Echenique was the first Bluejay with at least 13 points, 16 rebounds and four blocked shots in the same game since Benoit Benjamin had 15 points, 17 rebounds and four swats on Feb. 28, 1985 at Dayton.
Echenique was the first Bluejay to have a 13/16/4 game at home since Benjamin had 26 points, 18 rebounds and seven rejections in a win vs. Marquette on Jan. 27, 1985.
Incredibly, Benjamin had nine different games in his junior season with at least 13 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks before Echenique ended the 27-year drought.
Playing With The Lead
In 164 games at CenturyLink Center Omaha all-time, Creighton has not trailed in 40 of those contests, a staggering 24.4 percent of the time, including seven wire-to-wire wins at home last season and four wins (Longwood, Saint Joseph's, Tulsa, Drake) this season.
Creighton has trailed by double-digits in 37 career games at CenturyLink Center Omaha, only to rally to win 22 of those contests.
On The Trail
Creighton won six games last season after trailing by 10 or more points, including wins away from home at San Diego State and at Wichita State, on neutral floors vs. Drake and Alabama, and in home triumphs over Long Beach State and Evansville.
In its Nov. 14 win vs. UAB, Creighton trailed 45-35 in the second stanza, only to rally for a 77-60 win. It was the first time since Feb. 3, 2010 (vs. Evansville) that Creighton trailed by double-digits at any point before rallying to win by double-figures. That UAB game was also the first time in CenturyLink Center Omaha history that Creighton trailed by double-figures in the second half, yet still won by double-digits.
Creighton, which trailed 37-33 at the half to UAB, is 9-6 in the last two seasons when facing an intermission deficit.
Pencil Him In
According to STATS Inc., Doug McDermott is one of 14 juniors or seniors nationwide to start every game of his career (min. 2 years played):
Juniors/Seniors To Start Every Game
Source: STATS Inc., through 1/9
Starts Name, School Next Game 123 Brandon Triche, Syracuse 1/12
110 Dorian Green, Colorado State 1/12
90 Doug McDermott, Creighton 1/11
84 Ray McCallum, Detroit 1/10
83 Cody Doolin, San Francisco 1/10
83 Brian Voelkel, Vermont 1/12
82 Frantz Massenat, Drexel 1/12
82 Deonte Burton, Nevada 1/12
80 Jeromie Hill, UTSA 1/10
80 Holton Hunsaker, Utah Valley 1/12
77 Devon Saddler, Delaware 1/12
77 Travis McKie, Wake Forest 1/12
76 Daniel Miller, Georgia Tech 1/12
75 Marshall Bjorklund, N. Dakota St. 1/10
Chasing History
Doug McDermott has scored 941 points in his first 49 career home games. He is the all-time leading scorer in CenturyLink Center Omaha history.
McDermott also owns CenturyLink Center Omaha career records in points per game (19.2) and rebounds per game (7.6).
McDermott enters Friday's game with 1,744 career points in all venues, good for seventh in school history.
Super Streak Ends At 37
Doug McDermott's streak of 37 straight games in double-figures came to an end when he was held to five points vs. UAB on Nov. 14th.
McDermott had owned the nation's third-longest active streak in the country, and the longest by any Bluejay since Vernon Moore's stretch of 46 in a row in 1984 and 1985.
McDermott's five points were the second-fewest in his career. His only game lower was his freshman season vs. Saint Joseph's, when he was scoreless in his ninth career contest.
CU's Top 10+ Point Streaks, Since 1981-82
No. Name Dates
46 Vernon Moore Jan. 30, 1984 - Mar. 5, 1985
37 Doug McDermott April 1, 2011-Nov. 9, 2012
32 Bob Harstad Feb. 24, 1990-Feb. 25, 1991
31 Benoit Benjamin Mar. 8, 1984 - Feb. 20, 1985
Milestone Man
Because he's split his college career between Rutgers and Creighton, you might not realize the rather impressive college stats being generated by Gregory Echenique.
Echenique owns 1,188 points, 872 rebounds and 233 blocked shots in his first 119 games as a collegian. He entered the season as the nation's only active player with at least 1,000 point, 750 rebounds and 200 blocked shots, and is currently the nation's only active player with 1,100 points, 850 rebounds and 225 or more blocked shots.
Had all those stats been generated at Creighton, Echenique would rank 26th in career points, sixth in career rebounds and second in career blocked shots at CU.
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Senior center Gregory Echenique played for coach Eric Musselman on the Venezuelan National Team last summer, alongside the likes of former Maryland star and current Memphis Grizzlies guard Greivis Vasquez.
Echenique averaged 7.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in two games at the FIBA Olympic Qualifier in Caracas in July against Lithuania and Nigeria, where he went head-to-head against NBA players such as Linas Kleiza, Jonas Valanciunas, and Al-Farouq Aminu.
Double-Double Opener
Doug McDermott opened his junior season with 21 points and 11 rebounds on Nov. 9 against North Texas in a 71-51 win.
He was the first Creighton player to have a double-double in a season-opener since Kyle Korver opened his junior campaign with 14 points and 10 rebounds in a 72-51 victory over North Carolina A&T.
Korver would go on to earn MVC Player of the Year accolades as both a junior and as a senior. Last year McDermott was the first player in MVC history named MVC Player of the Year as a sophomore.
Creighton has won either the MVC regular-season title or MVC Tournament each of its previous six seasons it had a player with a double-double in the opener (2001-02, 1999-00, 1998-99, 1990-91, 1989-90, 1988-89).
Preseason MVC Poll
Creighton was picked to win the Missouri Valley Conference in the preseason poll of league coaches, SID's and media. The Bluejays earned 38-of-40 first-place votes and 398 points overall.
Illinois State was second with 327 points and the remaining two first-place votes, while Northern Iowa was third with 316 points. Wichita State (298) and Evansville (240) rounded out the upper half of the league.
In sixth was Drake (184), while Indiana State (165), Missouri State (122), Bradley (84) and Southern Illinois (66) round out the rest of the league predictions.
Creighton junior Doug McDermott was named preseason MVC Player of the Year. He's joined on the team by repeat selections Jake Odum (Indiana State) and Colt Ryan (Evansville) as well as new picks Ben Simons (Drake) and Jackie Carmichael (Illinois State).
Creighton's women were also picked to win the MVC, just the third time in league history the MVC favorites came from the same schools.
Portman To Enter MVC Hall of Fame
Bob Portman will enter the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame on March 8, 2013, during a banquet at the MVC Tournament in St. Louis, Mo.
Portman played for Creighton from 1966-69 and averaged 24.6 points and 12.9 rebounds per game during his college career.
Portman owns the Creighton records for single-game scoring (51), single-season scoring average (29.5) and career scoring average (24.7). He is also second for points in a season (738) and ranks fourth in career points (1,876), rebounds (979), free throws (382) and field goals made (747).
Going For 20, Again
Creighton has won 20 or more games in 13 of the last 14 seasons, an unprecedented feat in Missouri Valley Conference history that puts the Jays among an exclusive group, nationally.
Just five schools nationally have had 20 or more wins each of the last 14 years: Duke, Florida, Gonzaga, Kansas and Syracuse.
Creighton is one of six schools with 20 or more wins in exactly 13 of the past 14 years. That list consists of Creighton, Kent State, Kentucky, Texas, Utah State and Xavier.
That's better than traditional powers Arizona, Connecticut and Memphis (12 each) and also ahead of Michigan State, Pittsburgh and Wisconsin (11 each).
Postseason x 15
Creighton has made the postseason in 15 consecutive seasons, the longest streak of postseason bids in MVC history.
The only eight schools to make the postseason in each of the last 14 years are Creighton, Duke, Florida, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State and Syracuse.
Postseason Win Streak
Thanks to an NCAA Tournament win over Alabama, the Creighton men's basketball team has now won a postseason game in a school-record five straight seasons. The previous mark was three in a row from 1962-64.
The following eight programs are the only ones that have won a postseason game in five straight seasons, including 2011-12: Creighton, Kansas, Kansas State, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Syracuse and Wisconsin.
Long-Distance Streak Alive
Creighton has made at least one three-pointer in a league-best 625 straight games since a 59-53 loss at Illinois State on Feb. 20, 1993. That's the longest active streak in the MVC.
CenturyLink Center Omaha Success
Creighton has played 164 regular and postseason contests at CenturyLink Center Omaha all-time in its 10 seasons at the facility.
The Bluejays own an 140-24 (.854) record all-time at the facility, and have never lost there on a Thursday (7-0) or Friday (6-0).
Creighton has outscored its opponents 12,328-10,386 in games at CenturyLink Center Omaha, an average margin of 11.8 points per game. Creighton has led wire-to-wire 40 different times, including seven times last season and four times this winter (Longwood, Saint Joseph's, Tulsa, Drake).
Piling Up The Points, and Wins
Creighton has won 56 straight games when scoring 90 points or more, dating to Jan. 11, 1988.
Creighton has won 19 straight (at all sites) when scoring 100 points or more, dating to Feb. 26, 1977.
In home games only, Creighton has won 98 straight games when scoring 71 or more points since a Feb. 5, 2005 loss to Missouri State.
Here's To History
With the 2012 MVC Tournament title, Creighton head coach Greg McDermott became the first head coach in league history to win a Valley Tournament title at more than one school.
McDermott previously won a title in 2004 at Northern Iowa. The 1988 Northern Iowa grad McDermott also holds the honor of being the first coach in league history to win an MVC Tournament title at his alma mater.
Dance Partners
Only two schools won their league tournament in both men's and women's basketball in 2011-12: Creighton and South Dakota State.
This was the fifth time in MVC history that the same school has won the men's and women's tournament titles in the same season. Creighton, however, was the first program to do it twice (UNI 2010, Creighton 2002 and 2012, Missouri State 1992, Illinois State 1983).
McDermott A Preseason All-American
Junior forward Doug McDermott became the first player in MVC history to be named a preseason First Team All-American by the Associated Press. The team was announced on October 28th.
McDermott earned acclaim on 62-of-65 ballots, trailing only Indiana's Cody Zeller. The rest of the team consisted of Isaiah Canaan (Murray State), Deshaun Thomas (Ohio State), Trey Burke (Michigan) and C.J. McCollum (Lehigh).
The preseason All-America team was first announced in 1986-87.
Watch This!
Junior Doug McDermott is on the preseason watch lists for both the Wooden Award and the Naismith Award, two of the top awards in college basketball.
McDermott is the only man who was a finalist for either award to return to school this season.
The Naismith Award is presented by the Atlanta Tipoff Club and will be presented on April 7, 2013, in Atlanta.
The Wooden Award is presented by the Los Angeles Athletic Club and will handed out the weekend of April 12-13, 2013, in Los Angeles.
Everybody's All-American
Doug McDermott hauled All-America honors on a regular basis last year.
He was named a First Team All-American by the Associated Press, NABC, USBWA, Basketball Times and ESPN.com, and a second-team selection by The Sporting News and CBSSports.com. He was also named to the 10-man John R. Wooden Award All-America team.
Prior to McDermott, the only other player honored by the USBWA with All-America status had been second-team selection Kyle Korver in 2003, and the only prior NABC selections from Creighton had been second-teamer Paul Silas (1964) and third-team selections Benoit Benjamin (1985) and Kyle Korver (2003).
Last year McDermott was named CollegeInsider.com's Lute Olson National Player of the Year. He was also a finalist for the Naismith and Wooden Award, though Anthony Davis won both awards.
Scoring In Numbers
Doug McDermott owned 801 points in 35 games last year, an average of 22.9 per contest that ranked him third nationally in scoring.
McDermott's 22.9 points per game ranked fourth-most in CU single-season history and were the most since Bob Portman averaged 26.2 points per game in 1968-69.
Portman, who finished fifth nationally in scoring in 1967-68 (29.5 ppg.), was the only previous Bluejay to ever rank in the top-10 of the year-end scoring leaders.
McDermott's 22.9 points per game made him the first MVC player over 20 points per game since Illinois State's Tarise Bryson (2000-01) and the most by a MVC player since Northern Iowa's Randy Blocker (23.0 ppg.) in 1993-94. Bryson had been the only MVC player since 1989 to rank in the top-five nationally in scoring.
No Bluejay had averaged more than 20 points per game since Bob Harstad's 22.2 average in 1989-90.
Oscar, Bird, Doug
Doug McDermott set a Creighton (and MVC) record for points by a freshman with 581 in 2010-11. Last season, McDermott had 801 points, the most single-season points in school history by any player.
McDermott's 1,382 points after two seasons were the most in school history by a player in their first two seasons, passing Bob Portman (1,195). According to STATS Inc., the only other players since 1996-97 with at least 1,382 points or more by the end of their sophomore season had been Davidson's Stephen Curry (1,661 points from 2006-08), Eastern Washington's Rodney Stuckey (1,438 points from 2005-07) and VMI's Keydren Clark (1,497 points from 2002-04).
He became just the third sophomore in MVC history to reach 800 points in a season, trailing only Oscar Robertson and Larry Bird on that list. His 801 points from last year rank 10th-most in MVC single-season history and were the most by any Valley player since 1988.
Below is a list of the most prolific sophomore scorers in MVC history, as well as the top single-season scorers in Creighton history (all classes):
Top Scorers, MVC History (All Years)
Pts. Name, School Years
1125 Hersey Hawkins, Bradley 1987-88
1011 Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati 1959-60
984 Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati 1957-58
978 Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati 1958-59
973 Larry Bird, Indiana State 1978-79
959 Larry Bird, Indiana State 1977-78
918 Larry Bird, Indiana State 1976-77
844 Xavier McDaniel, Wichita State 1984-85
815 Lewis Lloyd, Drake 1979-80
801 Doug McDermott, Creighton 2011-12
788 Hersey Hawkins, Bradley 1986-87
788 Willie Biles, Tulsa 1972-73
Top Sophomore Scorers, MVC History
Pts. Name, School Years
984 Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati 1957-58
918 Larry Bird, Indiana State 1976-77
801 Doug McDermott, Creighton 2011-12
680 Mitchell Anderson, Bradley 1979-80
Top Scorers, Creighton Single-Season History
Pts. Name (Class) Year
801 Doug McDermott (So.) 2011-12
738 Bob Portman (Jr.) 1967-68
734 Bob Harstad (Jr.) 1989-90
Familiar Fives
Creighton utilized the same starting line-up all season long in 2011-12, as Gregory Echenique, Doug McDermott, Grant Gibbs, Jahenns Manigat and Antoine Young started all 35 games.
According to STATS Inc., the only schools with the same starting five every game were Creighton, Missouri, Nevada, Wisconsin and Youngstown State.
Of those five schools above, the only team to use the same starting five for every game in 2012-13 is Creighton.
All-Around Doug
Last season Doug McDermott joined Texas' Kevin Durant (in 2006-07) as the nation's only player since 1996-97 to finish a season with at least 800 points, 280 rebounds and 50 three-pointers.
It came on the heels of McDermott's remarkable freshman season with 581 points, 280 rebounds and 47 three-point baskets.
According to research by STATS Inc., the last two freshmen (before McDermott) to attain 525 points, 270 rebounds and 40 three-pointers in a season were Durant and Carmelo Anthony (Syracuse) in 2002-03. The previous two freshmen before them to do so, Quentin Richardson (1998-99 at DePaul) and Eddie Griffin (2000-01 at Seton Hall), like Durant and Anthony, were also named the National Freshman of the Year.
Below is the list, compiled by STATS Inc., of all 19 Division I players since 1996-97 to have McDermott's levels of at least 581 points, 280 rebounds and 47 three-pointers in one season.
McDermott, who repeated the feat in 2011-12, joins Kyle Singler (Duke) as one of two men to do it twice.:
581+ Pts., 280+ Reb., 47+ 3FG Since 1996-97
Source: STATS Inc. & Creighton Sports Info
Name, School Year 3FG Reb. Pts.
Kevin Durant, Texas* 2006-07 82 390 903
Doug McDermott, Creighton 2011-12 54 288 801
Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse* 2002-03 56 349 778
Shane Battier, Duke 2000-01 124 285 778
Kyle Singler, Duke 2009-10 85 280 707
Keith Van Horn, Utah 1996-97 58 303 705
Ryan Anderson, Cal 2007-08 64 328 697
Matt Harpring, Ga. Tech 1997-98 52 302 691
Rasual Butler, LaSalle 2001-02 57 283 670
Wendell McKinies, New Mex St. 2011-12 51 374 653
Brian Heinle, CS-Northridge 2000-01 52 293 646
Jae Crowder, Marquette 2011-12 61 295 614
Jamine Peterson, Providence 2009-10 51 315 609
James Posey, Xavier 1998-99 48 322 609
Kyle Singler, Duke 2008-09 69 284 609
Matt Howard, Butler 2010-11 53 285 608
Romain Sato, Xavier 2003-04 75 297 603
Draymond Green, Michigan St. 2011-12 52 392 601
Doug McDermott, Creighton* 2010-11 47 280 581
*Freshmen
Last Season Recap
Creighton went 29-6 and reached the third round of the MVC Tournament last season. Creighton started the year 7-0 to move into the Associated Press top-25, a spot they would hold for 12 of the final 15 weeks.
Doug McDermott ranked third nationally in scoring (22.9), scoring a school-record 801 points. He became the first sophomore named MVC Player of the Year and was a consensus First Team All-American.
Point guard Antoine Young (12.1 ppg., 4.5 apg.) was a second-team all-Valley pick, while center Gregory Echenique (9.7 ppg., 7.3 rpg., 1.6 bpg.) was named MVC Defensive Player of the Year. In addition, Grant Gibbs was runner-up for MVC Newcomer of the Year accolades after dishing a league-high 176 assists.
The Jays ranked second nationally in field goal percentage (.504), third in three-point percentage (.424), fifth in assists (17.6), sixth in home attendance (16,665) and ninth in scoring offense (79.2).
Creighton finished the regular-season second in the MVC before winning its league-record 11th Valley Tournament title to clinch an NCAA bid. At the NCAA's, Creighton topped Alabama 58-57 before falling to No. 4 North Carolina.
Creighton Will Host in 2015, Again
The NCAA announced on Nov. 12, 2012, that Creighton will serve as the host institution on March 20/22, 2015, when the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament returns to CenturyLink Center Omaha for second/third-round games.
This will be the third time in a seven-year span the arena has hosted, having previously done so in 2008 and 2012 to much acclaim.
CenturyLink Center Omaha has previously hosted NCAA finals for women's volleyball (2006, 2008) and wrestling (2010), as well as the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Swimming (2008, 2012). This January, it will host the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
Shuttle Service Provided Again
Chief Bus will provide complimentary shuttle service from the Creighton University campus to CenturyLink Center Omaha for all men's basketball home games this season. The service is available to all fans, not just Creighton students.
The shuttle will start 75 minutes before tip-off and shuttles will continue to operate the route during the game. The three designated stops for pick-up around the CU campus are: 24th & California (nearside/southbound); 20th & Cass (nearside/eastbound) and at Billy Blues Alumni Grill (outside the Mike & Josie Harper Center in the turnaround which is on the east side of the building).
The shuttle will then go eastbound on Capitol Avenue and then go north up 10th Street for drop-off at the CenturyLink Center Omaha convention center entrance. The route is designed for each shuttle driver to make a roundtrip every 15 minutes.
Following the game's conclusion, the shuttle will start at the CenturyLink Center Omaha convention center entrance on 10th Street and loop the original route with the first of three stops at 24th & California Streets.
Ticket Information
Single-game tickets for the 2012-13 season went on sale on October 29th at 10 am.
Fans can purchase single-game tickets at CenturyLink Center Omaha Box Office, Ryan Athletic Center, all Ticketmaster locations (Baker's, Younkers), Ticketmaster online at http://www.ticketmaster.com or by calling Ticketmaster and charging by phone at (800) 745-3000. Only upper bowl seats will be available for any game and cost is $12 for adults and $8 for youth ages 3-18 (children two and under are free). For more information, call the Creighton Ticket Office at (402) 280-JAYS.
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/ Men's BasketballCreighton Men's Basketball Availability - 9/24/25
Wednesday, September 24
Meet the Jays - MBB Blake Harper
Friday, August 15
Meet the Jays - MBB Austin Swartz
Friday, August 15
Meet the Jays - MBB Jasen Green
Friday, August 15
