Date: January 19, 2008
Location: Omaha, Neb.
Site: Qwest Center (17,272)
Tip-off: 8:35 p.m. EST
TV: FSN Midwest
TALENT: Mitch Holthus and Charlie Spoonhour
Radio: The Crock 92.7 FM
Talent: Brian Fritz & Matt Renn
Series: Creighton Leads 45-22
Last Time: ISU 62, CU 54 (1/2/08)
Here is the channel information for Terre Haute for Saturday's Indiana State-Creighton game:
Time Warner Terre Haute:
Indiana State-Creighton on channel 13
Pacers on FSN Indiana channel 36
Avenue Broadband Terre Haute:
Indiana State-Creighton on channel 24
Pacers on FSN Indiana channel 24
DirecTV:
Indiana State-Creighton on channel 647 (as usual)
Pacers on FSN Indiana channel 663
Dish Network:
Indiana State-Creighton on channel 418 (as usual)
Pacers on FSN channel 452
The Sycamores head to Omaha, Neb., for their second-straight road contest when they face off against the Creighton Bluejays. ISU earned a 62-54 victory over Creighton on January 2 at the Hulman Center and will be looking for just their second road win of the season and for the season sweep of the Bluejays in tonight's game.
ISU is coming off a disappointing 65-44 loss on Tuesday at Missouri State. It was the second-straight road loss for ISU in Valley play, after it opened conference play with a 70-56 win over Evansville on December 29.
Sophomores Harry Marshall and Marico Stinson led the way for ISU with nine and eight points, respectively, and will attempt to get the team back on its winning ways tonight.
The Bluejays are coming off a 65-44 win on the road over Northern Iowa. That victory extended Creighton's winning streak to four games and the Bluejays have not lost since their defeat at the hands of the Sycamores earlier this month.
Creighton had three players in double figures against the Panthers. Nick Bahe led the way with 15 points and was joined by Dane Watts with 14 points and P'Allen Stinnett with 12.
Creighton owns a 45-22 record all-time against Indiana State and has won 12 of the last 15 games in the series between the two schools. In addition, the Bluejays are 25-7 in Omaha all-time against the Sycamores, including eight straight wins headed into tonight's game.
► Indiana State's Kevin McKenna is in his first season at the helm of the Sycamores program, after completing his ninth season at Creighton as an assistant coach, where he helped the Bluejays advance to four NCAA tournament appearances. From 2001-05, McKenna spent four years as the head coach (89-33) at NCAA Division II Nebraska-Omaha, where he guided the Mavericks to four consecutive 20-win seasons and three appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament. He is assisted by Greg Lansing, Stan Gouard and Lou Gudino.
► Creighton's Dana Altman is in his 14th season as the head coach at Creighton. In his time as the Bluejays' mentor, Altman has led the Bluejays to a 273-144 record as well as seven NCAA Tournament births and three NIT appearances. He is assisted by Darian DeVries, Brian Fish, and Mike Maker.
► Creighton University is located in Omaha, Neb., and has an enrollment of 6981. The Bluejays are members of the Missouri Valley Conference and play their home games at Qwest Center Omaha (17,272).
► The Bluejays are led by head coach Dana Altman, who is in his 14th season at the helm of the program. In his time as the Bluejays mentor, Altman has posted a 273-144 record and a 356-211 record in 18 years as a Division I collegiate head coach.
► Creighton returns six letterwinners from last season, but just one starter from a team that finished 22-11 overall and won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship and advanced to the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
► Freshman P'Allen Stinnett averaged 14.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game last week as CU beat Evansville (77-59) and Wichita State (68-65). That earned him Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week honors for the third time this season. He Stinnett had 13 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals in the team's 18-point win over Evansville and followed that up with 16 points, five rebounds, two steals and an assist in the win over the Shockers.
► The Bluejays are led in scoring and rebounding by senior Dane Watts, who is averaging 13.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per contest.
When ISU faced off against Creighton on January 2, it was the first for ISU head coach Kevin McKenna against his old team. The game was a success for the former longtime assistant coach and player, as the Sycamores picked up an impressive 62-54 win over the Bluejays to improve to 2-0 in Missouri Valley Conference play. However, tonight will be a different story as he will try to win on the Bluejays' home court, where ISU teams have a combined record of 7-25. McKenna spent nine seasons on the Creighton bench as an assistant coach(1994-2001, 2005-07) before taking over the helm at ISU. McKenna also had an illustrious career at CU, as scored 1,500 career points and was enshrined into the Creighton Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998.
Somebody had to be the hero in last Saturday's win over Southern Illinois and Marico Stinson stepped up to take the honors. The sophomore guard battled through 44 minutes of action on the court, but saved his biggest shots for when they counted the most. In the first overtime session, Stinson connected on a three-pointer with 1:33 left to tie the game at 52-52 and send it to the second overtime period. During the second OT period, his three-pointer with 1:22 left gave ISU a two-point lead at 59-57. However, after SIU got the lead back at 62-61, it was Stinson who nailed a three-pointer with just two seconds left to propel the Sycamores to a 64-62 victory at the Hulman Center.
To Harry Marshall, the best way for him to contribute against Southern Illinois was to connect from the free-throw line. The night did not start well for the sophomore guard, however, as he missed his first four attempts from the charity stripe. But, he turned that all around by continuing to drive to the basket and get to the foul line. He made all that hard work count, as he connected on his next 12 free throws and finished the game making his last 14-for-15 attempts from the line. He finished the game with 16 points total and was 14-for-19 from the free throw line to set a new season and career high. Marshall's 14 free throws were the most by an ISU player since Gabe Moore connected on 13 against Wagner on December 21, 2006.
Senior Gabe Moore joined a very exclusive club at Drake, as he is scored eight points to take him over 1,000 in his career, becoming just the 30th player in Indiana State history to achieve that milestone. Moore headed into the game with 995 career points, but his eight points against the Bulldogs put him over the top and give him 1,003 in his four-year career at ISU. With three more points against SIU, Moore now needs just With 58 more points to tie Harry Morgan for 29th place with 1,064 points.
The importance of home field/court advantage is often debated upon in collegiate athletics. However, one look at ISU's record this season and the Sycamores would surely be believers, as the Sycamores have started the season 8-0 at home, which ranks as the second-longest home winning streak since 1999, when the team won 22-straight before falling to Creighton on Feb. 4, 2001. In the team's eight games at home, the squad is averaging 67.1 points per game while allowing opponents just 55.2 points per contest. The Sycamores are also shooting .449 from the field, including .389 from three-point range, while posting a +27 turnover margin.
It's not coincidence that one of the quietest members on the Sycamores roster is quietly having a very impressive season. Sophomore Marico Stinson has been on a roll as of late for ISU, as he has scored in double figures in seven out of his last eight games with the only single digit number coming in the form of nine points in a win over Creighton last week. The Memphis, Tenn., native was a bright spot in the team's loss at Drake on Wednesday, as he scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds. He followed that up with a game-high 20 points and hit the game-winning three-pointer in double overtime to propel ISU to the 64-62 win over SIU on Saturday. On the season, Stinson leads the Sycamores in points (187), points per game (12.5), field goals (74) and three-pointers (31).
Last week was a memorable one for senior point guard Gabe Moore. On Monday, the week started out on a high note as the Little Rock, Ark., native was named the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week by the conference office for his performance in ISU's two wins last week. Moore averaged 10.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.5 steals per game for the Sycamores as they earned wins at home against Creighton (62-54) and UNI (74-56). After the weekly honor on Monday, Moore tallied eight points in the team's loss at Drake to go over 1,000 in his career at ISU
Junior forward Jay Tunnell had his sights set in on keeping his team undefeated at home and in the Missouri Valley Conference against Northern Iowa. The Topeka, Kan., native scored the second basket of the game for the Sycamores and never looked back, as he tallied a game-high 19 points to lead ISU to the 74-56 win over UNI and improved the team's home record to 7-0 at the time and its Valley record to 3-0. Tunnell was solid from everywhere on the court, as he finished 6-for-11 from the field including going 3-for-5 from three-point range and was also 4-for-5 from the charity stripe to post a new season high scoring mark.
When the Sycamores earned a 74-56 victory over UNI on Saturday night at Hulman Center, it marked the first time since the 2000-01 season that ISU started Missouri Valley Conference play with a 3-0 record. During that season, the Sycamores started conference play with a 3-0 record, after beating Bradley (79-70), Northern Iowa (69-57) and Illinois State (78-71) before falling to Creighton in their fourth game. The result has been the same this year, as the Sycamores started the season 3-0 before losing on Wednesday night at Drake. ISU went on to finish the season 2000-01 with a 22-12 overall record and won the MVC Tournament championship to earn an automatic birth in the NCAA Tournament. Let's hope the same success happens this year.
The paint is quickly becoming freshman Isiah Martin's neighborhood and opponents are quickly beginning to find out that it is not a very hospitable place. The forward from Chicago, Ill., has amassed 30 blocked shots in 16 games for an average of 1.88 per game. His 30 blocks are second in the league behind Illinois State's Anthony Slack (32), but his 1.88 average per game is tied with Slack for the highest mark in the conference. On the season, Martin has blocked at least two shots in nine games and has 13 in his first six Valley games, which is two more than Drake's Jonathan Cox with 11.
One reason for the Sycamores' 4-2 start in Valley play is their increase in defensive pressure. In last Wednesday's loss at Drake, ISU forced 16 turnovers and stole the ball 11 times and followed that up by forcing 12 turnovers against Southern Illinois. With eight more steals on Tuesday at Missouri State, the team now has to 45 in league games, for an average 7.5 per game. Both of those marks currently rank tied for third among all teams in conference games, just behind of Creighton Southern Illinois, who each have 46 in five games for an average of 7.67 per game.
The Sycamores are 9-6 on the season, thanks to some strong defensive efforts against opponents shooting three-pointers. Through 16 games, ISU has allowed just 94 three-pointers to its opponents. In addition, opponents are shooting just .337 from three-point range against ISU this season, which currently ranks as the fourth-best 3-point field goal percentage defense in the Missouri Valley Conference.
ISU's new offensive scheme gives several players a chance to score points. Senior Gabe Moore and sophomore Marico Stinson have taken advantage of their opportunities and both are averaging in double figures so far this season. Stinson is averaging 12.2 points per game, while Moore is right behind with 10.6 points per contest. In addition, Moore has led the team in scoring six times this season while Stinson has led the way five times in the scoring column, including scoring a season-high 20 points last Saturday against SIU. Last season, Moore was the only Sycamore to average double figures with 11.5 points per contest in the team's 31 games.
Senior guard Gabe Moore is known for being a solid all-around player, as he is at or near the top of several offensive and defensive categories for the Sycamores this season. However, his steal numbers have put him among the best in the Missouri Valley Conference. Moore has 35 swipes this season for an average of 2.19 per game, both of which rank second in the league statistics. In addition, the Little Rock, Ark., native has swiped 173 in his career, which puts him in fourth place on the all-time list at ISU. Moore needs 16 more steals to take over third place, which is currently held by Michael Menser, who collected 188 steals from 1997-2001.
They Sycamores are off to a 4-2 start in conference play, thanks to limiting their own turnovers and forcing more from their opponents. In conference play, the Sycamores have posted a +4.17 turnover margin, which currently ranks second among teams in Valley play.
It had been almost a year since an ISU player last recorded a double-double, but Jay Tunnell put an end to that string with his 16 point, 10 rebound performance against Ball State. Coincidentally, it was Tunnell and teammate Adam Arnold who last achieved the feat as both recorded double-doubles against Wagner on December 22, 2006. Tunnell recorded 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Arnold chipped in with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
National Signing Day can be a very stressful time for coaching staffs, as they wonder whether or not their coveted recruits will sign on the dotted line. However, the Indiana State men's basketball staff now has nothing to worry about as Carl Richard Jr. (Chicago, Ill./Richards HS), Tyler Cutter (Murfreesboro, Tenn./Siegel HS) and Koang Doluony (Omaha, Neb./Bryan HS) have all signed National Letters of Intent to continue their basketball careers as Sycamores.
