The No. 23 Creighton men’s basketball team dropped their third straight game in a row in a defensive struggle that saw the Jays accumulate their lowest point total of the season, losing 61-54 to the Northern Iowa Panthers. The loss moved the Jays to 20-6 (10-5 MVC) on the season and into second place in the Missouri Valley Conference behind the Wichita State University Shockers.
“We cannot go on the road and turn it over 18 times and shoot 30 percent and 35 percent from the free-throw line and expect to win,” head coach Greg McDermott said. “We played well enough defensively to win and we rebounded well enough to win. But there were a lot of careless mistakes, some of them forced by UNI, and their free-throw defense was pretty good tonight, and it really came back to bite us.”
In the first nine possessions of the game the Jays turned the ball over five times, giving the Panthers a lead that they would keep for the majority of Wednesday night’s game. The Jays finished the game with 17 turnovers (10 in the first half), compared to the 8 of UNI. Junior forward Doug McDermott scored nearly half of Creighton’s 25 points, finishing with 12 points and four rebounds. Senior guard Grant Gibbs was the next highest scorer for the Jays, finishing with five points and four assists.
The Jays shot 41.7 percent from the field compared to the 38.5 percent of the Panthers. Free throws proved to be the difference in the first half, as the Jays were 0-2 from the line while the Panthers shot 10-13 to take a 32-25 lead into the locker room. The Panthers scored 12 points off of turnovers.
The Jays came out strong to start the second half, slowly chipping away at the Panther lead with scoring help from Gibbs. With 11:29 to go the Jays took the lead, 42-41, their first lead since 8-6. The Jays got as much as a five point lead with 5:27 to go, but it would be all UNI the rest of the way. A 9-0 run helped propel the Panthers to finish the game dominantly as the Jays would make just four free throws and one 2-point shot in the last 5:26 of the game.
In the final 10 seconds of the game junior forward Ethan Wragge went down with an injury after junior guard Jahenns Manigat fell on top him. Wragge was able to leave the court with the help of trainers. McDermott finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Gibbs finished with 14 points and five assists. Senior center Gregoy Echenique chipped in with 11 points and 6 rebounds. The Jays finished shooting 43.8 percent from the field and 30.4 percent from three-point range.
“I felt that we were in a good spot there (with five minutes left),” Gibbs said. “But there were a few careless turnovers and a couple of mental lapses on defense and they were right back in the game and it was a fight again. Our attention to detail has to be better in that situation.”
The Jays will try to stop their losing skid at the University of Evansville Purple Aces on Saturday at 2 p.m.. The Jays beat the Aces 87-70 on Dec. 29 in their MVC opener. The Aces are 14-12 this season and 7-7 in the Missouri Valley Conference.