Date: January 2, 2008
Location: Terre Haute, Ind.
Site: Hulman Center
Tip-off: 7:05 p.m. EST
Radio: The Crock 92.7 FM
Talent: Brian Fritz and Matt Renn
Series: Creighton Leads 45-21
Last Time: CU 59, ISU 38 (3/2/07)
Tonight's game will no doubt be an emotional one. Not only because it's the first Missouri Valley Conference home game of the season for ISU, but also because it will be the first for head coach Kevin McKenna against his old team from Creighton.
Both teams have something to prove in tonight's contest. ISU is looking to keep its record at home flawless after starting the season 5-0 at home so far. The Sycamores are also coming off a crucial conference road win last Saturday against in-state foe Evansville. ISU has won its last two Valley home openers and would like to go 2-0 to start the conference season for the first time sin the 2000-01 campaign, when the Sycamores wen on to win the MVC Tournament.
Senior Gabe Moore led all scorers in the game and was one of our Sycamores in double figures. He was joined by Todd McCoy and Marico Stinson with 13 points each and freshman Isiah Martin with 10, who also added eight rebounds and four blocks to earn Valley Newcomer of the Week honors.
Creighton is coming off a disappointing loss at home to Illinois State last Saturday and will be trying to avoid going to MVC play, something they haven't done since the 1993-94 season. Freshman P'Allen Stinnett had 22 points against Illinois State to lead the way for Creighton.
The Bluejays own a 45-21 record all-time against the Sycamores and have won 12 of the last 14 games in the series between the squads. In addition, ISU is 13-16 in Terre Haute all-time against the Sycamores.
► 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 269-143 record as well as seven NCAA Tournament births and three NIT appearances. Prior to taking over at Creighton in 1994, he served as the head coach at Kansas State four four seasons and one at Marshall. 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 269-143 record and a 352-210 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.
► 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 had 22 points against Illinois State last Saturday in the first MVC game of his career. Stinnett is now averaging 11.4 points per game and is averaging 22.1 minutes per contest off the bench for the Bluejays.
When Indiana State head coach Kevin McKenna looks across the court tonight, he will see several familiar faces on the opposing bench. McKenna spent nine seasons on the Creighton bench as an assistant coach(1994-2001, 2005-07) before taking over the helm at ISU. As an assistant coach, McKenna was part of four NCAA Tournament qualifiers (1999-00, 2000-01, 2001-02 and 2006-07) as well as two NIT clubs (1997-98 and 2005-06). McKenna also had an illustrious career as a Bluejay, as he currently ranks 12th in Creighton history with 1,500 career points. He also ranks in the CU all-time top-10 lists in field goal attempts, free-throw percentage and assists. McKenna was enshrined into the Creighton Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998.
Freshman forward Isiah Martin has been a consistent contributor for Indiana State this season and his performance in Saturday's win at Evansville earned him Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week honors on Monday. Martin was strong off the bench in the first half for ISU against Evansville, as he scored eight points, grabbed six rebounds and blocked two shots to keep the score close for ISU. The Chicago, Ill., native finished the game with 10 points, his fifth double-digit scoring effort of the season, eight rebounds and four blocked shots while altering several others on the defensive side of the court to help the team to a 70-56 victory over the Purple Aces.
Heading into last Saturday's Missouri Valley Conference opener at Evansville, the Sycamores had not won a road game all season and for some time in conference play. However, that all changed with the team's 70-56 win over their in-state rivals at Roberts Stadium. The win was ISU's first Valley road win since Jan. 6, 2007, when it won at Illinois State and marked the first time since the 2004-05 season that the Sycamores are 1-0 to start Valley play. In addition, the win broke a four-game losing streak to the Purple Aces and a three-game losing streak at Roberts Stadium in Evansville.
Senior Gabe Moore is getting extremely close to a very prestigious milestone in his career at ISU, as he is just 25 points away from becoming the 30th player in Indiana State history to amass 1,000 career points. With two games at home this week, there is a good chance that the point guard from Little Rock, Ark., will achieve the feat at home in front of the fans at the Hulman Center.
One look at the season statistics for ISU and one can see that the team has shared the scoring duties. In four games this season, four Sycamores have scored in double figures. In Saturday's win at Evansville, Gabe Moore (22), Marico Stinson (13), Todd McCoy (13) and Isiah Martin (10) shared in the scoring duties to lead the Sycamores to their first win in five tries against the Purple Aces. The team previously achieved the feat on the road at Tulane and in back-to-back games at home early in the season against Northern Illinois and IPFW.
Gabe Moore has been a consistent scorer throughout the season and during his four-year career at Indiana State. However, the senior point guard has turned it up a notch as of late, as he is averaging 17.3 points per game over his last three contests while dishing out 19 assists and swiping nine passes. He scored 11 points at Tulane before scoring a season-high 19 points against Bowling Green. He then followed that up with a new season-high with 22 points in the team's win at Evansville. In addition, he has at least four assists in his last five games while scoring double figures in four out of those five contests.
Senior guard Gabe Moore had one of the best all-around performances of his career
against Bowling Green last Saturday with 19 points, seven assists and five rebounds.
However, it was his thievery that stole the show as Moore swiped a career-high seven
steals against the Falcons to give him 27 on the season. In addition, those seven steals upped the Little Rock, Ark.,native's career mark to 165, which ties him for fourth place on the all-time list with former Sycamore great and current radio color analyst Matt Renn. Moore needs 24 more steals to take over third place, which is currently held by Michael Menser at 188.
The first half of ISU's game at Tulane was extremely competitive, thanks to a pair of
strong performances by freshmen Aaron Carter and Isiah Martin. With the team trailing
10-2 at the 15:28 mark, Martin jump-started a 13-4 run for the Sycamores with a layup.
Carter followed by connecting on back-to-back three-pointers and added a jumper to
score the next eight points in a row for ISU to tie the game at 12-12 at the 11:04 mark.
Later in the half, Martin made himself known once again by converting a layup to give
ISU a 26-25 lead with four minutes left in the half. Then, he added his third layup
of the half with a minute left in the half to put the Sycamores up 32-31 at the time.
Carter finished the half with eight points, while Martin chipped in with six points.
Whenever the Sycamores play their in-state rival Ball State, Jay Tunnell seems to put together career games. In the team's 59-48 win over the Cardinals, Tunnel recorded his first double-double of the season by scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. However, that performance falls short of his day against the Cardinals last season, when he scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in a win over BSU on December 2, 2006. In three career games against Ball State, Tunnell is averaging 14.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per game and has recorded two of his four career double-doubles.
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.
