I guess I am the only one who was not shocked by the result. I figured that we would get killed on the defensive glass (which is not rocket science, since we are about the worst defensive rebounding team in the country), but that we would do well enough in the turnover-differential department to offset those lost possessions. Setting aside the impact of game flow, that pretty much happened.
I expected that if turnover differential and rebounding offset or close to it, then the game would come down to offensive efficiency. I expected Creighton to go for about 90 points, which they did. If we had played some defense after the first possession, we could probably have held them under 80, but Anderson's pressure defense does tend to struggle against disciplined teams that move the ball and shoot the 3 which is the definition of Creighton. So their scoring was not a huge surprise to me.
The problem as many have identified is that we were not offensively efficient. Champ was 1-10 before he got garbage-time points, and it is not that he didn't have looks. We needed a couple of 3s from Posh and didn't get them. Mathis is an excellent defender but brings very little on offense. Wheeler was the only bright spot.
To some extent it's one game on the road in a tough place to play, but the team has been offensively challenged all year. The only evident answers are to play Wheeler more and to try to get more out of Smith and Coburn who are superior offensively to Mathis. Let's see what Coach does.
Needless to say I am not in "burn it all down" mode over one game. It was a terrible game, just as Nova got whacked the same way in Omaha. It would be nice to get a road win against a good team, and they really do need to do that sooner or later, but this wasn't that game. It was just one of those nights. On to the home-and-home with the Hall, in which coming away with one win IS essential.
I expected that if turnover differential and rebounding offset or close to it, then the game would come down to offensive efficiency. I expected Creighton to go for about 90 points, which they did. If we had played some defense after the first possession, we could probably have held them under 80, but Anderson's pressure defense does tend to struggle against disciplined teams that move the ball and shoot the 3 which is the definition of Creighton. So their scoring was not a huge surprise to me.
The problem as many have identified is that we were not offensively efficient. Champ was 1-10 before he got garbage-time points, and it is not that he didn't have looks. We needed a couple of 3s from Posh and didn't get them. Mathis is an excellent defender but brings very little on offense. Wheeler was the only bright spot.
To some extent it's one game on the road in a tough place to play, but the team has been offensively challenged all year. The only evident answers are to play Wheeler more and to try to get more out of Smith and Coburn who are superior offensively to Mathis. Let's see what Coach does.
Needless to say I am not in "burn it all down" mode over one game. It was a terrible game, just as Nova got whacked the same way in Omaha. It would be nice to get a road win against a good team, and they really do need to do that sooner or later, but this wasn't that game. It was just one of those nights. On to the home-and-home with the Hall, in which coming away with one win IS essential.
