BJ's win a pair in Canada

[shockball]

Creighton Opens Foreign Tour With Pair of Wins on Saturday
Courtesy: The Valley
Release: 09/02/2007


Courtesy: The Valley
http://www.mvc-sports.com/
Dane Watts, Creighton

Box Scores at
http://admin.xosn.com/fls/1000/stats/m-basketball/0708/canada/canada01.htm
http://admin.xosn.com/fls/1000/stats/m-basketball/0708/canada/canada02.htm

CALGARY, Alberta -- The Creighton men's basketball team won its second exhibition game of the day with an 85-77 victory over host Calgary. Earlier in the day the Bluejays beat Saskatchewan by an 87-82 count.

After trailing 17-9 with four minutes left in the opening quarter, the Bluejays went to work. CU closed to within 21-18 after one quarter and would take a 26-23 lead on a three-ball from Cavel Witter. The Jays then closed the first half with a 10-0 run to take a 42-31 lead into the break and never looked back.

In the second half, Creighton's lead never dropped below the final margin of eight. With CU up 52-39, the Jays took their biggest lead after a 7-0 spurt that included five points from Nick Bahe made it 59-39.

Dane Watts led Creighton with 21 points, while Bahe (15 points) and Chad Millard (11) also scored in double-figures. Also having a solid all-around statistical night was junior point guard Josh Dotzler, who had eight points, seven assists and five steals in 20 minutes.

The Bluejays return to action with two games Sunday, starting with a 2 pm (Central) game against Lethbridge. Lethbridge fell earlier in the day to NCAA Division I member Weber State by a 97-31 score. The Pronghorns managed just seven second-half points on 1-of-19 shooting from the field in that game.

Creighton is making their first trip to Canada since November of 2003. Below is CU's remaining game schedule in Calgary, with all times Central:

Saturday, Sept. 1
Creighton 87, Saskatchewan 82
Creighton 85, Calgary 77

Sunday, Sept. 2
Creighton vs. Lethbridge (2 pm)
Creighton vs. Saskatchewan (9 pm)

Monday, Sept. 3
Creighton at Calgary (1 pm)

[LincolnJay]

Won by 40 in today's afternoon session. Watts only played 8 minutes against an obviously inferior bunch {still got 6 and 6}. Lawson went for 12 and 10. No one got more than 21 minutes and that was freshman Korver.

Only blemish was a knee tweak by Kenton Walker. :ermm:

[Dawgbit]

Has that Korver lady stopped cranking out babies?:innocent:

[txsaluki05]

Has that Korver lady stopped cranking out babies?:innocent:

hopefully!

[IH8SIU]

Nope. One more Korver.

[outpost]

Did they go to the Rush concert afterward?

The best group to ever come from Canada.

[LincolnJay]

Tour is over with a 5-0 record - beat the hosts today who had beaten Weber State the night before.

Injury report is pretty good - Chad Millard and Kenton Walker tweaked knees but the early word is no biggie although Kenton did not play the last two games. Nice series for Kenny Lawson. Word from fans in attendance is the CU "40 minutes of heck" is back with pressing HARD {versus that slow em down crap from the last couple years due to being so thin}. All 14 players including walkons got substantial minutes and 20 minutes for any one player in any game was rare.

CALGARY, Alberta – Kenny Lawson Jr. had 22 points in 19 minutes, leading the Creighton men's basketball team past host Calgary, 97-78, on Monday afternoon. The victory concluded the Bluejays five-game, three-day exhibition series in Calgary, the program's first voyage to Canada since 2003.

Creighton scored the first six points of the game and took its largest lead of the first quarter at 13-3 early. However, the Dinos would fight back with a strong second quarter. Cody Darrah had six points during an 8-0 run that gave UC a 29-25 lead. Calgary took its biggest lead of the game at 42-34 on a lay-in by Josh Lovestone with 3:43 left in the opening half, giving the home crowd dreams of a second consecutive upset after they witnessed Calgary’s win over Weber State on Sunday.

Creighton ended the final four minutes of the third quarter with a 14-2 run, breaking a 57-57 tie and taking the lead for good. The surge continued when CU started the fourth quarter with a 7-2 spurt, giving CU a commanding 78-61 lead that put the game away.

Lawson scored a team-high 22 points, making 10-of-13 shots from the field while adding six rebounds and three blocks in 19 minutes of work. Dane Watts scored 18 points and pulled down a team-best seven rebounds. Also in double-figures was Booker Woodfox with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting and 12 points from Nick Bahe. CU outrebounded Calgary 42-30 and outscored the Dinos 34-19 off the bench, including a 24-2 margin in the second half.

Calgary was paced by 24 points from Henry Bekkering, while Darrah added 17 on 5-of-6 shooting from downtown.

Creighton finished its five-game trip with a perfect 5-0 record while averaging 89.8 points per game. Watts paced the squad with 16.0 points per game, while Lawson also scored in double figures at 14.0 per contest. Lawson’s 6.8 rebounds per game edged Watts (6.4 rpg.) for the team lead on the glass, while Josh Dotzler topped the club with 19 assists and 14 steals. The Jays averaged 14.4 steals per contest while forcing an average of 27.6 turnovers per game. CU also outrebounded foes by 10.4 caroms per contest.


Saturday, Sept. 1
Creighton 87, Saskatchewan 82
Creighton 85, Calgary 77

Sunday, Sept. 2
Creighton 88, Lethbridge 49
Creighton 92, Saskatchewan 66

Monday, Sept. 3
Creighton 97, Calgary 78

First hand observations from a Cafe'r who was there {be nice, this was posted at the Cafe with a BJay slant}:

We are deep. The press is back. Kenny is a rebounding machine. Chad didnt play in 2nd 1/2 he had a knee sleeve on but I think he is ok. Kenton was walking without crutches.
The suprise players to me after watching summer league. P playing D. & playing a team game. Kenny is nearly in shape. Pierce played every position except point. Booker when on is really on. Kaleb is faster than I expected & plays better D than an Kyle as freshmen. Cavel is fast. Two guys are a little slow getting up when they get fouled & it doesnt get called, P. & Cavel. AAron has a sweet shot. Casey really goes for the rebounds & mixes it up inside. Chad really works on D.
Most improved of the old guys. Probably Josh on D. & Offense driving, or Dane mixing it up & going srtong to the hole. Or Nick on shooting but he still looses his man once in a while on D. even Dustin looks a lot better.

[WSUbballer]

Hopefully these Canadian games don't aid in a potential run-out-of-gas collapse at the end of the season.. :innocent:

[LincolnJay]

If 1 1/2 weeks of practice and three days of playing games in late summer makes the Jays run out of gas this year, then they deserve what they get.

PS - a nice recap from a Cafe'r friend in Canada here:

http://www.polyfro.com/creiblog/2007/09/jays-in-canada.html

[Mc Bulldog]

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http://www.sportsfanbedding.com/Sports_Coverage_College/Arkansas_Razorbacks.jpg

[WSUbballer]

If 1 1/2 weeks of practice and three days of playing games in late summer makes the Jays run out of gas this year, then they deserve what they get.

PS - a nice recap from a Cafe'r friend in Canada here:

Hey, I'm just pointing out what us Shocker fans were told when we ran out late last year. Maybe the Jays will be better conditioned.. who knows.

[LincolnJay]

-
http://www.sportsfanbedding.com/Sports_Coverage_College/Arkansas_Razorbacks.jpg

Oh McShat, you are only dreaming that Altman took the Sooie job cause you're tired of the Jays splattering the midlands with Bullpup guts!

[Mc Bulldog]

And the paying off of refs by either Altman or some other abuse victim. Nowakowski is a cakeshucker and I hope he doesn't do any Drake games this year.

Remember your words LJ.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20552914/

[cufan]

I am concerned about the grind of the extra long season, and still miffed we pulled out of the Vegas tourney. I do think the Shockers ran were mentally and physically drained by the end of last year. I also think the Jays ran out of gas mid February the last time we went up to Canada before the season. So, this does concern me.

However, in the grand scheme of things, I believe the risk is worth the reward. CU more than any season in recent memory has more new pieces to put together. This gave them the chance to get some practice and games in. Now they have stuff to work on in individual workouts in Sept. and Oct. They will be that much further ahead on Nov. 1 than they would have been.

Hopefully, the fact that we will have so many youthful legs and depth this year, they will be able to fight through the grind of the last four weeks. As long as no one rinsed his contact lenses in tap water this time, it was probably the right move for CU this year.

[The Mad Hatter]

I am concerned about the grind of the extra long season, and still miffed we pulled out of the Vegas tourney. I do think the Shockers ran were mentally and physically drained by the end of last year. I also think the Jays ran out of gas mid February the last time we went up to Canada before the season. So, this does concern me.

However, in the grand scheme of things, I believe the risk is worth the reward. CU more than any season in recent memory has more new pieces to put together. This gave them the chance to get some practice and games in. Now they have stuff to work on in individual workouts in Sept. and Oct. They will be that much further ahead on Nov. 1 than they would have been.

Hopefully, the fact that we will have so many youthful legs and depth this year, they will be able to fight through the grind of the last four weeks. As long as no one rinsed his contact lenses in tap water this time, it was probably the right move for CU this year.

I think that you are probably right. Whatever you think of CU's chances this year, with as much as they lost and as young as they will be, the following year holds a much better shot at a Valley title. I can understand CU risking wearing down late this year if it means that their young players have had more experience playing together and running the system for the following year.

[DoubleJayAlum]

I think that you are probably right. Whatever you think of CU's chances this year, with as much as they lost and as young as they will be, the following year holds a much better shot at a Valley title. I can understand CU risking wearing down late this year if it means that their young players have had more experience playing together and running the system for the following year.

The following year? Let's be honest here - with all the newbies, they need the extra practice time to be able to run the offense this year! We're deeper than we've been the last several years, so maybe the lengthened season won't prove as draining.

The early start may also prove extremely beneficial as the rumors are that we open the season with DePaul. That doesn't leave a lot of opportunities to try to work things out early in the season...

[The Mad Hatter]

The following year? Let's be honest here - with all the newbies, they need the extra practice time to be able to run the offense this year! We're deeper than we've been the last several years, so maybe the lengthened season won't prove as draining.

The early start may also prove extremely beneficial as the rumors are that we open the season with DePaul. That doesn't leave a lot of opportunities to try to work things out early in the season...

I certainly wasn't denying that with a young team the practice is important for this year. I was just noting that even if the benefit for this year was offset by wear down later in the year, there would also be benefit for the following year when most of the guys on this team will be back.

[blueness]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the two examples we are comparing to are the trip that WuShock took (last year?) and the trip that Creighton took before the 03-04 season.....which if I remember correctly both were much closer to the start of the season than this most recent trip by the Bluejays..

Fatigue from this trip (over Labor Day) will not/should not be a problem.

My only question is, where are these questions about the fatigue for UNI and Drake :original: Why the obsession with Creighton's fatigue?

[The Mad Hatter]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the two examples we are comparing to are the trip that WuShock took (last year?) and the trip that Creighton took before the 03-04 season.....which if I remember correctly both were much closer to the start of the season than this most recent trip by the Bluejays..

Fatigue from this trip (over Labor Day) will not/should not be a problem.

My only question is, where are these questions about the fatigue for UNI and Drake :original: Why the obsession with Creighton's fatigue?

That may well make a difference. As to whether CU and WSU were the only cases, if I remember correctly, Turgeon mentioned that other coaches he talked to about the trip who had taken similar ones warned him that these kind of trips can lead to fatigue and peaking too early. These coaches still thought such trips could be productive, but I don't think WSU and CU are the only ones to have seen the potential downside.

[DoubleJayAlum]

FWIW - I still think the Jays 03-04 season ends in a completely different fashion if Tyler McKinney doesn't wash out his contact in Canadian tap water.

[Little Eddie]

Do you fans of the other teams believe that your universities players were shuckin' and jivin', playin' grab ***, and shooting billiards while CU was up in Canada? I'm sure there has been some serious conditioning going on at all schools. My opinion is that it was a fluke that both WSU and CU had problems after their jaunts to Cannuckland...nothing to worry about.

[CharlieHog]

These are, for the most part, 18-20 year old kids. If they are tiring at the end of the season, it's because they have poor conditioning, not because of extra practice and a few games in the summer.