Bluejay WBB Returns Home to Battle Kansas

Omaha, Neb. -- Back in the States, the Creighton women's basketball team has a short time to prepare for Kansas as the Bluejays host the Jayhawks at 7:00 pm on Wednesday evening in D.J. Sokol Arena.

11/30: - 7:00 - Kansas (3-2) vs. Creighton (2-3)

Video (Free): http://www.gocreighton.com/watch

Radio (Free): 1290 AM
Brad Burwell (Play-by-Play) and Jon Schriner (Color Analyst)

Stats (Free): http://creighton.statbroadcast.com

Series History: Kansas leads Creighton, 26-13

Bird Seeds:

The Bluejays posted a 67-54 victory over the Bluejays last season in Lawrence on Dec. 2, 2015.
Creighton, however, delivered a thrilling 84-81 win in overtime against the Jayhawks the last time Kansas came to Omaha (12/22/14).
The Bluejays' win over the Jayhawks in 2014 broke a string of 11 consecutive wins for Kansas. Despite that run, Creighton is 8-10 against Kansas in Omaha.
The Jayhawks have won their last three contests, including two straight in overtime.
Wednesday will be Kansas' second road game of the season, having defeated Memphis (68-58) on Nov. 20 in its first road contest of the year.
Kansas will be the second home game of the year for the Bluejays. Ironically both the Jayhawks and Drake came to Omaha after posting a victory over North Dakota in the previous contest.
After opening the season with four of five contests away from home, the Bluejays will be ready for a bit of home cooking. Creighton plays five of the next seven games in Omaha, including three of the next four.

Kansas vs. Creighton Series:
Kansas leads the overall series 26-13, but the Bluejays won the last meeting in Omaha on Dec. 22, 2014. Creighton is 8-10 against the Jayhawks in Omaha, winning the 2014 contest in dramatic fashion as MC McGrory's half court heave sent the game to overtime to allow the Bluejays to post an 84-81 win in extra time.

About Kansas

Located in Lawrence, Kansas
The Jayhawks are coached by Brandon Schneider, who is in his second season at Kansas.
Schneider led the Jayhawks to a 6-25 mark in his first season in Lawrence.
He has a career record of 410-165 over 18 seasons.
The Jayhawks were picked to finish 10th in the Big 12's Preseason Poll.

Scouting Kansas (3-2)
After closing out last season with just six wins, the Jayhawks are off to a much better start in 2016-17 with three straight victories to bring Kansas to Creighton. Kansas fell to Missouri State and SMU to open the season, but have rattled off victories at Memphis and against Oral Roberts as well as North Dakota at home.

McKenzie Calvert leads Kansas in scoring with a 17.0 points per game average. Jessica Washington is second in scoring with 12.5 ppg, but was forced to sit our the game with Oral Roberts due to a suspension for an altercation in the game at Memphis.

The Jayhawks defense has caused 111 turnover (more than 22 per game), but as a team the Jayhwaks have just 63 assists compared to 93 turnovers.

Keys to the Game w/Kansas

Ball Security: In the loss to the Jayhawks last season in Lawrence, Creighton committed 18 turnovers. The Bluejays cannot afford to give extra possessions away.
Make shots: The offense has not clicked the way Bluejay fans may have expected it to through five games, but Creighton's execution was much better in Bimini last weekend. The Bluejays, however, were just a feather off from long range.
Stay competitive in the paint: Last season Creighton was outscored 34-12 in the paint at Lawrence. The presence of a healthy Brianna Rollerson will help in that area, but the rest of the Bluejay defense must force Kansas into more difficult shots.

Rollerson's Block Party
In each of the Bluejays two victories this season, senior Brianna Rollerson has come up with a critical block in the waning moments.

Against Drake she preserved the win with a block of the Bulldogs' Lizzy Wendell in the closing seconds.

Versus Dayton, Rollerson stopped the Flyers chance to tie the game with 1:28 left, then grabbed an offensive rebound and made two free throws with 1:00 remaining to seal the win.

Bluejays Have Gilligan Type Travel Woes
The travel home from the Junkanoo Jam was an adventure to rival Lost or Gilligan's Island as the Bluejays' travel party (players, staff, families and a small handful of boosters) spent well over 40 hours trying to return to Omaha.

Scheduled to depart the island at 9 am (ET) on Sunday, the Bluejays did not board an airplane until Monday at 5:45 pm and did not arrive in Omaha until 2:30 am (CT).

The total travel time was 42.5 hours, including approximately seven hours over two trips at the Bimini airport.

As a comparison it takes three hours to boat from Bimini to Miami, while driving time from Miami to Omaha is 24 hours.

Wrong Side of the Gym
While is was surely coincidence, consider the three-point shooting woes on the left side of the gym at Gateway Christian Academy during the Creighton/Dayton contest.

In the first half Creighton was 2-for-16 (12.5%) from long range shooting at the left basket, Dayton meanwhile was 1-for-7 (14.3%) in the final two periods. A combined 3-for-23 (13.0%).

Conversely on the right side Dayton was 3-for-4 (75.0%) and Creighton was 4-for-9 (44.4%) for a combined 7-for-11 (63.6%).

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Players Mentioned

MC McGrory

Brianna Rollerson