#20 Texas A&M (4-2) vs #21 Creighton (4-2)
Date: November 27
Time: 5:30pm
Location: VIVA LAS VEGAS
TV: MAX
Tourney: Players Era Festival
Spread: Texas A&M -3.5
O/U: 143.5
Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=557276&_gl=1*1inlrcn*_ga*MTU1NTQzMTYxLjE3MzIzNTk3NjI.*_ga_2ZWVK1X7BJ*MTczMjY5Nzk5Ni40LjAuMTczMjY5Nzk5Ni4wLjAuMA..
For those of us whose television is not broken after a fit of rage after a 16-0 Oregon run and for those of us whose heart for Aggie Basketball remains even after the heartbreaks and pain. We have a basketball game to play today and at 5:30pm when the ball tips off at the MGM Grand Garden Arena it'll be time to BTHO Creighton.
An opportunity to flip the script, mend some broken Aggie basketball fans hearts, earn a quad 1 win, an opportunity. We were blessed to be placed in one of the premier tournaments. With that comes an increased in strength of schedule and on opportunity to pick up some quality wins. We are well aware of Buzz's lack of success in early season tournaments and non conference woes. And we all hoped that with a roster this experienced and this talented, that those previous shortcomings would fail to haunt us. However, a win today can definitely change all that.
Creighton is a storied program who as of recently is a mainstay in the NCAA Tournament and have made the sweet sixteen 3 of the past 4 years. This season they came in with lofty expectations led by pre season All American Center #11 Ryan Kalkbrenner who stands at 7'1 270. This season he got off to a monstrous start scoring 49 in the season opener, then the hot start came to a halt with a 4 point on 1 shot attempt in 39 minutes last week against Nebraska. Creighton was completely ineffective that game and if you slow him down, you slow the team down. Yesterday they got walloped by Sam Diego State and are on a losing streak that I'm sure they'll be anxious to put away. Their backcourt is solid in guards Steven Ashworth and Tech transfer Pop Isaacs who average 16.0 and 14.4. They take a lot of threes and they're only averaging like 10 fouls a game which is a crazy stat. However they turn the ball over at an alarming rate.
There are many questions on our side of the ball. There is a lack of cohesion with the offense. It seems stagnant at times and there isn't much ball movement. When the three's aren't falling and we aren't getting to the free throw line 30+ times a game, we don't seem to have an answer. I'd love to see us play smarter and with more composure but move the back quicker if that makes sense. We have to utilize our athleticism and attack the lane, especially if the threes aren't falling. This is an experienced lineup and we have to compose ourselves as such. I trust Buzz's game plan against Kalkbrenner, but a poor offense will ultimately break your stellar effort on the defensive end.
This win can really flip the script for us. Let's hope for a more focused and motivated group out there today. The season is still very young and for all the crap we give Buzz, he's often turned a season around. And I know these slow starts are questionable and frustrating, there's hope we can turn it around quicker. We're losing to solid teams not group of 5 schools like in previous years. I still believe we can have a great season. The seeding part of it all scares me, but if we can turn this around sooner rather than later, we can still have an amazing season.
Date: November 27
Time: 5:30pm
Location: VIVA LAS VEGAS
TV: MAX
Tourney: Players Era Festival
Spread: Texas A&M -3.5
O/U: 143.5
Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=557276&_gl=1*1inlrcn*_ga*MTU1NTQzMTYxLjE3MzIzNTk3NjI.*_ga_2ZWVK1X7BJ*MTczMjY5Nzk5Ni40LjAuMTczMjY5Nzk5Ni4wLjAuMA..
For those of us whose television is not broken after a fit of rage after a 16-0 Oregon run and for those of us whose heart for Aggie Basketball remains even after the heartbreaks and pain. We have a basketball game to play today and at 5:30pm when the ball tips off at the MGM Grand Garden Arena it'll be time to BTHO Creighton.
An opportunity to flip the script, mend some broken Aggie basketball fans hearts, earn a quad 1 win, an opportunity. We were blessed to be placed in one of the premier tournaments. With that comes an increased in strength of schedule and on opportunity to pick up some quality wins. We are well aware of Buzz's lack of success in early season tournaments and non conference woes. And we all hoped that with a roster this experienced and this talented, that those previous shortcomings would fail to haunt us. However, a win today can definitely change all that.
Creighton is a storied program who as of recently is a mainstay in the NCAA Tournament and have made the sweet sixteen 3 of the past 4 years. This season they came in with lofty expectations led by pre season All American Center #11 Ryan Kalkbrenner who stands at 7'1 270. This season he got off to a monstrous start scoring 49 in the season opener, then the hot start came to a halt with a 4 point on 1 shot attempt in 39 minutes last week against Nebraska. Creighton was completely ineffective that game and if you slow him down, you slow the team down. Yesterday they got walloped by Sam Diego State and are on a losing streak that I'm sure they'll be anxious to put away. Their backcourt is solid in guards Steven Ashworth and Tech transfer Pop Isaacs who average 16.0 and 14.4. They take a lot of threes and they're only averaging like 10 fouls a game which is a crazy stat. However they turn the ball over at an alarming rate.
There are many questions on our side of the ball. There is a lack of cohesion with the offense. It seems stagnant at times and there isn't much ball movement. When the three's aren't falling and we aren't getting to the free throw line 30+ times a game, we don't seem to have an answer. I'd love to see us play smarter and with more composure but move the back quicker if that makes sense. We have to utilize our athleticism and attack the lane, especially if the threes aren't falling. This is an experienced lineup and we have to compose ourselves as such. I trust Buzz's game plan against Kalkbrenner, but a poor offense will ultimately break your stellar effort on the defensive end.
This win can really flip the script for us. Let's hope for a more focused and motivated group out there today. The season is still very young and for all the crap we give Buzz, he's often turned a season around. And I know these slow starts are questionable and frustrating, there's hope we can turn it around quicker. We're losing to solid teams not group of 5 schools like in previous years. I still believe we can have a great season. The seeding part of it all scares me, but if we can turn this around sooner rather than later, we can still have an amazing season.