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Greg McDermott has watched his Creighton basketball team go against what he considers a developing norm and improve while its wins have mounted this season.

Now, for just the third time, the Bluejay coach will get a chance to see how his team reacts when it comes away from a game without a win.

Northern Iowa stopped Creighton's 11-game winning streak with a 65-62 victory Saturday on its home court in Cedar Falls. The No. 13 Bluejays hadn't lost in 38 days, but now have just two days to get ready for Tuesday's Missouri Valley Conference game at Evansville.

"This group of guys have done an unbelievable job of learning through our success and improving as we've been successful," McDermott said. "That's rare in this day and age. Usually, when your back is being patted all the time, you're not as apt to listen to the things that are going wrong.

"All I asked after the game is that we need to approach defeat the same way we've approached victory. We have to figure out what went wrong and what we need to fix, put this one in the rear-view mirror and get ready for the next one."

In addition to Tuesday's game against the Purple Aces, Creighton has a showdown with Wichita State at the end of the week. The Bluejays and Shockers will meet Saturday in what could be the biggest game in the nine-year history of CenturyLink Center.

"This is a big week for us." McDermott said.

The list of what went wrong in Cedar Falls starts with Creighton's inability to get the tempo to its liking. McDermott said Northern Iowa has disrupted the tempo better than any team Creighton has played this season.

The Panthers did it Jan. 10 in Omaha and narrowly missed pulling off the upset, losing 63-60. They did it again Saturday, and emerged with the win when Anthony James made a game-winning 3-pointer as time expired.

"Everyone knows we like to play fast and tries to slow it down against us," Creighton center Gregory Echenique said. "We have to keep getting better at staying with what we want to do."

Other teams have tried to take the zip out of Creighton's transition attack without success. Why has Northern Iowa been able to do that in the two meetings and turn the games into halfcourt battles, which plays to the Panthers' strength as the best defensive team in the Valley?

"They're a team that likes to grind it out and take advantage of your mistakes," Doug McDermott said. "They do a good job of getting back, and they do a good job of bringing the double teams when they get you in the halfcourt.

"When teams do that against us, we need to do a better job of finding guys that are open."

For the most part, the Bluejays were able to do that against Northern Iowa but suffered from an uncharacteristic poor shooting night from the perimeter. Creighton came into the game leading the nation in 3-point percentage (.453) but made only 5 of 16 shots (.313) from beyond the arc.

That matched the Bluejays' lowest percentage in Valley play — they also shot 5 of 16 from 3-point range in a Jan. 18 win at Missouri State. The only times Creighton shot worse from beyond the arc came in early-season wins against Alabama-Birmigham (.294) and Houston Baptist (.250).

"They made us work for every basket we got," guard Jahenns Manigat said, "and we couldn't knock down the shots that we normally do."

Creighton's previous losses came within a span of five games in December. After winning eight straight to open the season, the Bluejays dropped an 80-71 decision at St. Joseph's on Dec. 10. Creighton came back with three straight wins, then dropped its Valley opener to Missouri State on Dec. 28.

The Bluejays followed up that loss with 11 straight wins.

"This team knows how to bounce back whether it's from something positive or negative," Manigat said. "That's something you couldn't say about us last year. That's something we've learned, and I'm actually optimistic about how we're going to prepare for Evansville.

"I think we'll have a good chance to go there and hopefully get a victory."

Because of a quirk in the schedule, Creighton and Evansville have yet to play this season but then will meet twice in a span of five games.

"We've done a good job of learning from wins, and we've learned from our losses, too," said guard Antoine Young, whose 3-pointer with 4.6 seconds left tied the game against Northern Iowa. "We just have to regroup, clean up some of the mistakes we've made and then get ready to go back on the road."

Notes

• Creighton and Wichita State each have reached the 20-win mark. In the Valley's 105-year history, the league has had two teams win 20 games before Valentine's Day three times. The other times came in 1951 and 2006.

• Evansville is tied with Drake and Northern Iowa for fifth place in the Valley with 6-7 records, and the Purple Aces are 11-12 overall. After Saturday's game against Wichita State, the Bluejays' remaining Valley games will be against Evansville and the two teams tied for eighth (Indiana State and Southern Illinois). Wichita State has to play Northern Iowa on Wednesday, and the Shockers' last three league games will be against the teams tied for third (Illinois State and Missouri State) and Drake.

Contact the writer:

402-679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com

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