Creighton ’ s win over Drake was historic for a few reasons , chief among them McDermott setting the Creighton career scoring record .
Creighton
creighton s win drake historic reason chief mcdermott set creighton career scoring record
Creighton ’ s win over Drake was historic for a few reasons , chief among them McDermott setting the <m> Creighton </m> career scoring record .
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Ott ’ s Thoughts : Creighton Returns to MVC Semis With Win Over Drake
Posted on March 09 , 2013
The roar .
My goodness , the roar .
Take approximately 7 , 000 Creighton hoops fans .
Ply them with a cocktail or two .
Heap a few heavy dashes of high expectations for the weekend , and shake it all up with one big sense of being on vacation .
That concoction looks like a blue - out in the Scottrade Center .
It sounds like an overwhelming tidal wave of blue - clad crazies crashing onto the hard court after every Doug McDermott make and terrible officiating call .
Creighton fans overtook the turnstiles in St . Louis Friday afternoon .
They came from all over the Midwest and beyond to see CU win the weekend , and the Bluejays obliged the first of three requisite wins for an Arch Madness championship .
Drake put up a fight ; the Bulldogs twice cut Creighton ’ s lead to 3 points midway through the second half .
But a 15 - 2 run during 5 minutes late in the game sealed the deal for the Jays , who will meet Indiana State in the semifinals Saturday afternoon after the Sycamores outlasted Evansville 51 - 50 Friday .
Creighton ’ s win over Drake was historic for a few reasons , chief among them McDermott setting the <m> Creighton </m> career scoring record .
McDermott scored 10 of the team ’ s first 17 points , displaying a mix of three - point touch and the ability to finish around the rim .
You know , classic Dougie Fresh .
Those 10 points tied McDermott with Rodney Buford , Creighton ’ s all - time leading scorer .
And as those of us in the crowd who paid attention to such things held off on a bathroom or beer trip to watch him score one more point to break the record , McDermott wouldn ’ t do so for another 8 minutes of game time .
Still , it was inevitable .
And a bit anticlimactic , frankly , when he toed the free throw line and set the record with a one - for - two trip to the charity stripe .
Still , that McDermott broke Rodzilla ’ s record in just three seasons is wild to me .
I ’ m lucky to say I ’ ve been able to watch McDermott , Buford , Bob Harstad , and Chad Gallagher — the school ’ s top four scorers in history — during my time on Earth cheering for the Jays .
But had you told me after that NCAA Tournament game in 1999 that Buford ’ s record would be bested by a guy in only three seasons , I ’ d have called you nuts .
Or , as the kids around the Valley type on Twitter right now , #nutz .
As for the entirety of his afternoon , McDermott was usual Dependable Doug .
With a building full of NBA scouts hanging on his moves ( and , later , on Illinois State ’ s Jackie Carmichael ’ s ridiculous individual performance ) , McDermott scored 23 points and grabbed 7 rebounds in 35 minutes .
He left the court to chants of “ ONE MORE YEAR ! ONE MORE YEAR ! ONE MORE YEAR ! ”
Indeed .
But for all of McDermott ’ s historic accomplishments and his game - high scoring output , the storyline from the CU side of things was the combined play of Gregory Echenique and Will Artino .
Echenique hadn ’ t scored much in two games against Drake earlier this season : he put up just 2 points in a 30 - point CU win in Omaha , and then battled foul trouble all night in Des Moines as Drake upset CU .
And he went scoreless in the first half Friday .
But up stepped Artino , Echenique ’ s sub when the CU coaching staff goes in favor of size and a high / low game instead of Ethan Wragge ’ s shooting touch from deep .
Friday afternoon , Artino gave the Bluejays 14 energized and efficient minutes .
Entering February , he had played double - digit minutes in just six games .
Since the calendar flipped from January , though , he ’ s had five such games .
Friday was arguably his most important performance of the season , given the stakes .
Artino checked in at the under - 16 : 00 media timeout and immediately broke a 12 - 12 tie with a dunk .
Fouled on the flush , he finished the traditional three - point play with a free throw .
Two trips later , Artino missed a shot but secured the follow and scored again .
He would grab two more rebounds before checking out with 9 : 07 to play in the first half .
While he was in , Creighton ’ s lead grew as great as 9 points .
In 8 first - half minutes , the guy teammates and fans call Big Swag scored 7 points and ripped down 5 rebounds .
He played the high - low possessions well .
While Drake held Echenique scoreless in the first half , Artino was able to find success .
He finished the day with a career - high 14 points and 6 rebounds ( 5 on the offensive glass ) .
In the second half , though , Echenique got , um , engaged with things .
He scored all 11 of his points , grabbed 6 of his team - high 11 rebounds , and swatted 5 of his season - high 6 blocked shots ( the 6 blocks are second - most in an MVC Tournament game ) .
During the game ’ s deciding 15 - 2 run , Echenique scored two traditional three - point plays , grabbed 3 of his 11 rebounds , and blocked two shots .
Hammered on a no - call and forced to play at a disadvantage based on inconsistent referring in the frontcourt , Echenique seemed fired up .
He flexed a few times , too , so as to remind the Bulldogs who the alpha dog in the paint was on Friday afternoon .
The tournament ’ s top seed sticks around for Semifinal Saturday .
The 1998 Bradley Braves remains the only play - in winner to advance past the quarterfinals , when they beat a two - seeded Creighton team .
Wichita State survived a close game against Missouri State Friday evening , and Illinois State broke away late from Northern Iowa to advance as the six - seed .
The Valley will have four solid fan bases represented in the Scottrade Center Saturday afternoon , with white and blue and black and gold the predominant colors swirling around the lower bowl .
The day sets up for some solid matchups :
The last time the two teams played , Indiana State made Creighton look completely lost .
A blacked out crowd in Terre Haute helped the Sycamores to a resounding win .
Meanwhile , it took a Carmichael karate kick and other late - game miscues for Illinois State to practically hand over a win to Wichita State in Normal .