Omaha-Somewhere in Middle America
The St. Thomas Tommies last night in Omaha led for less than a minute of gametime, however that sure felt like a long 59 seconds for the 17000+ in attendance at CHI Health Center. The story of the night was Creighton’s woeful shooting almost leading to a top ten upset. They missed 26 from beyond the arc on 34 attempts. The last time that happened was their season opener back in 2021 versus fellow SL team North Dakota State. Creighton’s motto is #LetItFly JT’s motto last night was #LetThemLetItFly–load the paint with as many as three guys to take away Kalkbrenner and their other inside scoring threats. Coupled with significantly increasing the defensive distance baiting them into long range shoots, hoping their 3 point problems from last season continue. They did. Without off-season addition Baylor Scheieirman’s important contributions, the bluejays would not be the #9 ranked team in the country anymore.
FINAL
Creighton Bluejays 72
St. Thomas Tommies 60
Game Recap
UST took a lead early, thanks to a classic Riley Miller off-balance three pointer. Creighton would follow that up by going on a 14-2 run over 5 minutes, St Thomas was not able to get anything to go in. JT was looking for the right combination of Engels, Blue, Lee, Bjorklund, and Allen to put together a scoring possession. This year’s Tommies are very patient to set up the right look or the right matchup to take advantage of.
The momentum then seemed to flip, where UST took advantage of Creighton’s inability to sink even a wide open three pointer. UST chipped away the the Jays lead to four on some impressive scoring in the paint. Their run was stopped by Greg McDermott who took a timeout to calm his team down. UST kept it close and got it to as close as two on the ensuing possessions. With no shot clock at the end of the half, with the ball they make a mental error and passed it out of bounds. That ruined their chance to tie or take the lead, and allowed Creighton to bury a three at the buzzer to extend their lead to five: 35-40. The first half saw 4 lead changes.
The second half saw the Tommies continue their first half momentum out of the gate. There were many lead changes, however UST was not able to get a lead larger than one possession. Brooks Allen with under ten minutes remaining buried a three pointer to have UST take the lead 57-56. He shushed the sea of blue, who were quiet….until Baylor Scheierman in his third game vs UST showed his SL POY stuff, immediately responding with a three of his own. Sending the crowd into a frenzy, especially when he followed it up with another a possession later. Creighton took control in the last ten minutes going on a 16-3 run to end the game, and sending St. Thomas back to St Paul, with their heads held up high having put the number 9 team in the country on the ropes.
St. Thomas Thoughts
Will Engels seemingly outta nowhere (to me) not only got the start, but was key to locking down Arthur Kaluma as best he could. Kaluma down the stretch was making unnecessary passes, and never found a true scoring rhythm. Will is going to be a fun physical player to watch.
Brooks Allen on paper had the best night of any player in the Summit League, leading the Summit League with an impressive 6.9 PRPG! He played over 38 minutes with impressive efficiency, and was able to distribute the ball to get the matchups that UST wanted. He matched his new roster number scoring 14.
Andrew Rohde and Parker Bjorklund were picking matchups over what should be the guy that UST should have avoided, Ryan Kalkbrenner. Reports are out today that Ryan may have been still recovering from an illness. It was impressive to see these two make that 7-0 center defend on the move, and they both were able to take get points in the paint, or float one right over him. Rohde led scoring among the Tommies with 15. He has some work to do with shot selection, however as a young player thankfully he has some time to hone that in before conference play. Joining this older group of players is certainly a challenge, but one his fearless play is well suited for.
Riley Miller His first half was phenomenal and was crucial to them keeping it close. Creighton made his chances tough, and was clearly a guy they were closely keyed in on. Thankfully his teammates around him were able to compliment his long range scoring.
Plus Three
- Scoring droughts continue to be a problem for this team, going 6 or more minutes without scoring is not ideal.
- Up Next is two opponents UST played on the road last season. If UST is able to find a solid scoring rhythm, St Francis and Chicago State are in for some trouble. Tommie Magic early last season was real, we will see if that is the case early in this season.
- Bench Scoring is going to be very important on the long road to Sioux Falls. Last night Ahjany Lee scored 2 points, which was UST’s only bench points of the night. Against a team like Creighton, utilizing UST’s Starting five as much as they were last night is reasonable. Last Season’s second half slump needs to be avoided, and can be if they can use their bench depth.