Devil of an opener

Junior forward Dane Watts blocks a shot attempt by Mississippi Valley State guard Mike Davis during the Jays' 78-42 season-opening wil over the Delta Devils.

By JOE BYAM
Assistant Sports Editor

The Creighton men’s basketball team spent the entire off-season hearing about how good it was. The team then spent the week after its first two exhibition games hearing about how poor its effort was in the preseason.

Apparently the team didn’t take kindly to having its intensity questioned.

The Jays opened the season with a dominating 78-42 win over Mississippi Valley State.

“I thought we gave a better effort tonight,” said coach Dana Altman. “We played so much harder on the defensive end it took us out of our rhythm on offense.”

The Jays’ tenacious defensive effort forced Mississippi Valley State into 23 turnovers and held the Delta Devils to 30.8 percent shooting. As Altman noted though, the energy the Jays exerted on the defensive end took away from their offensive production.

The Jays shot just 39.4 percent from the field and were only 2-13 from 3-point range.

“Tonight was one of those nights where the ball wasn’t going in the hole,” said senior guard Nate Funk.

Seniors Anthony Tolliver and Nick Porter led the Jays with 14 points each. In his first game since November 2005, Funk chipped in with 13 points and five rebounds.

Funk said the team was pleased with the opener but still has plenty of room for improvement.

“We got some things accomplished that we wanted to, but we still have a long way to go,” Funk said.

With point guard Josh Dotzler still out with a knee injury, freshman guard Isacc Miles looks poised to see a lot of playing time this season.

In his first collegiate game, Miles led the team in minutes played, 29, and scored 10 points, grabbed five rebounds and had three assists.

Miles said that he is not looking to be a scorer, but rather bring energy and defense to the Jays.

Creighton will return to the court Saturday when they head to Lincoln for the annual game with in-state rival Nebraska.

The Huskers struggled in the preseason, barely beating the University of Nebraska-Kearney and losing at home to Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

Funk said that it is always a big game, regardless of how good each team is.

“It’s always a big game both for their fans and our fans,” Funk said. “It doesn’t matter who’s playing for them or who’s playing for us.”

Altman said that it’s still so early in the year that you just have go out and play the game.

“It’s early in the year for them and still early for us,” Altman said. “We’ve always struggled over there, so we’ll just go and play and see what happens.”