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Records: CU 21-5, 11-4; SIU 8-18, 5-10
TV: KMTV
Radio: 590 AM KXSP
STARTERS
CREIGHTON (21-5, 11-4)
F, D. McDermott, 6-7, So., 22.9
C, G. Echenique, 6-9, Jr., 9.7
G, Grant Gibbs, 6-4, Jr., 7.2
G, Jahenns Manigat, 6-1, So., 6.6
G, Antoine Young, 6-0, Sr., 11.3
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (8-18, 5-10)
F, Mamadou Seck, 6-7, Sr., 12.3
F, Dantiel Daniels, 6-6, Fr., 8.7
G, Kourtney Goff, 6-0, Jr., 1.5
G, T.J. Lindsay, 6-3, Jr., 7.4
G, Jeff Early, 6-3, Jr., 8.5
The calendar tells Greg McDermott that staying the course gives Creighton the best possible chance to snap out of its February fizzle.
The Bluejays have lost their past three games. The skid has cost them their spot atop the Missouri Valley and put a bit of a haze on their once sunny NCAA tournament chances.
Yet, McDermott said Creighton can't afford to stray far from the formula that produced a 21-2 start. He does not plan to alter the starting lineup for Tuesday's 7:05 p.m. game against Southern Illlinois at SIU Arena in Carbondale, Ill.
There will be no radical changes in philosophy on offense or defense. The calendar tells McDermott that this is not the time for that.
"If this were the first week of December or we were six or seven games into our season, and we had lost some games we were supposed to win, then maybe you might be able to risk trying to juggle things," McDermott said. "You might change some things up to try to send your team a message.
"But when you're in the middle of February, and you've been successful for the first 23 games, it really makes no sense to try to reinvent the wheel. You stick to the things that made you successful."
On Feb. 1, Creighton scored 102 points in cruising past Illinois State for its 11th straight Valley win. The 28-point win improved the Bluejays to 21-2 and left them with a one-game lead on Wichita State.
Creighton has not won since. The Bluejays lost 65-62 at Northern Iowa when Anthony James made a buzzer-beating shot. Evansville then outscored the Bluejays 13-1 down the stretch of a 65-57 win.
On Saturday, Wichita State dominated all facets of the game in an 89-68 victory, Creighton's worst home loss since 1995. Since then, McDermott has gotten plenty of advice from Internet coaches on how to get the Bluejays back on track.
"Unfortunately for them, I don't read the Internet," McDermott said. "The reality of it is that we played on Saturday. We play again on Tuesday night. Any changes that you make in a 48-hour period probably aren't going to bring great results."
In order to change its recent fortunes, McDermott said, Creighton must get back to communicating on defense and having better attention for detail on both ends of the court. Of course, making a few shots wouldn't hurt, either.
Creighton has been one of the nation's best shooting teams all season. The Bluejays still lead the country in field-goal percentage despite shooting 42.1 percent, 40.4 percent and 40.4 percent in their past three games.
A team that was shooting 45.3 percent from 3-point range after the Illinois State game has missed 47 of its past 61 shots from beyond the arc. The Bluejays made 13 3-point baskets in the win over Illinois State. They've made 14 in the past three games.
"We haven't been as sharp offensively as we've been," McDermott said. "When that happens, minor mistakes can be magnified. I don't know if what we're doing defensively has slipped all that much, but I think some of our outstanding offensive performances masked some things that we weren't doing well."
One thing McDermott did do to try to change things up was to give his team a day off Sunday. The Bluejays were supposed to practice, "but I thought a day off might help re-energize them," McDermott said. "We came back today and had a spirited workout."
Tuesday, Creighton will try to post its ninth straight win over a Southern Illinois team that again is struggling toward the finish line. The Salukis have lost four of their past five games in an 8-18 season. At 5-10, they stand ninth in the Valley.
Southern Illinois is 3-2 in its past five home games, with the losses coming by two points to Missouri State and by seven points in overtime to Drake.
"We can't afford to hang our heads," Jays forward Doug McDermott said. "We have a big week ahead of us. Southern Illinois is good at home."
Creighton posted a 90-71 win over the Salukis a month ago. The win was the sixth straight in a streak that eventually reached 11 before the Bluejays' recent struggles.
"As a group, we've been through a lot these past two years," guard Jahenns Manigat said. "We're going to bounce back, and we're going to bounce back with a vengeance."
• NOTES: Southern Illinois is getting outscored by an average of 5.3 points and outrebounded by an average of 1.4 per game. ... Creighton and Southern Illinois have played once previously on Valentine's Day. The Bluejays posted an 82-60 win in 2009, their largest margin of victory in 39 games in Carbondale. ... Creighton will try to avoid losing four straight games for the first time since 1999. The Bluejays haven't lost four straight conference games since 1995.
Jays tumble out of national polls
As expected, Creighton was nowhere to be found in the national Top 25s released Monday.
The Bluejays' three-game skid ended their 12-week run in the USA Today-ESPN ratings. They had been ranked in the Associated Press poll nine of the past 11 weeks and had reached highs of 12th in the coaches' ratings and 13th in the AP poll.
Creighton received enough votes to rank 28th in both polls after standing 15th in the coaches' ratings and 17th in the AP rankings last week. That was before losses to Evansville and Wichita State stretched their skid to three games after a 21-3 start.
Despite a three-game shooting slump, the Bluejays continue to lead the nation in field-goal percentage (.504) but dropped from first to third in 3-point percentage (.426). Creighton is third in assists per game (18.3) and is 10th in scoring offense (79.5 points per game).
Sophomore Doug McDermott's scoring average has dipped to 22.9, but he remains third nationally. He also is seventh in field-goal percentage (.606), 64th in free-throw percentage (.840) and 72nd in rebounding (8.3).
Other Creighton players in the top 100 nationally are Grant Gibbs, Antoine Young and Gregory Echenique. Gibbs is 30th in assists-to-turnovers ratio (2.37 to 1) and 33rd in assists per game (5.7), while Young is 20th in assists-to-turnovers ratio (2.53 to 1). Echenique is 84th in blocked shots per game (1.7).
Contact the writer:
402-679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com
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