Creighton knew opening the season at nationally ranked Dayton was as a tough assignment.

What the Bluejays didn’t figure into the equation was that they could be without their two toughest players for Saturday’s 12:05 p.m. game at Dayton Arena. Forward Justin Carter definitely is out, having suffered a tear to the medial collateral ligament in his left knee in Sunday’s exhibition game against UNO.

The status of forward Casey Harriman, who ranks a close second to Carter on the Bluejays’ toughness scale, remains uncertain. Harriman has been ill with the flu since Thursday, and he again missed practice Tuesday. Coach Dana Altman said he does not know when the 6-foot-5 Harriman might be back.

That leaves the Bluejays wondering where the toughness will come from if they are without Carter and Harriman against a Dayton team that features one of the nation’s top power forwards in Chris Wright.

“To be honest, I don’t know,’’ Creighton guard P’Allen Stinnett said. “It’s going to be a gut-check here for some of us, myself included. We’re just going to have to roll up and fight.’’

Creighton likely will be without 6-8 senior Chad Millard as well, who has been sidelined since early October with a foot injury. Millard had resumed practicing last week, but aggravated the injury and spent Tuesday watching practice, his right foot in a protective boot.

“We’re going to have to depend on the new guys more, which probably isn’t the ideal situation,’’ Altman said. “We’re just going to have to throw them into it right away.’’

If Millard and Harriman join Carter on the sidelines, Creighton would enter Saturday’s game with 6-9 junior Kenny Lawson as its only experienced frontcourt player. Altman’s other options would include junior college transfers Wayne Runnels and Darryl Ashford, a true freshman in Ethan Wragge and a redshirt freshman Matt Dorwart. At 6-4, Ashford is more suited to playing the wing but did see action as a forward in junior college. Dorwart is a 6-8 walk-on whose chances of playing would be remote if CU was at full strength.

“We have a lot of guys who will need to step in to try to fill in for what Justin gives us,’’ Stinnett said. “He gets a lot of boards for us, is physical and is a threat on offense. With his absence, we’ll definitely have to play harder and focus in on the details.’’

That seemed to be a point of emphasis during Creighton’s three-hour practice Tuesday, its first since Carter was injured. Altman repeatedly stopped the workout to point out breakdowns on both ends of the court. His assistant coaches took an active role in trying to improve execution and effort.

“We need to have attention to detail,’’ Lawson said. “We can’t just go through the motions.’’

Cleaning up a variety of shortcomings, Altman said, is vital in the next two days of practice.

“There is no one thing that we really feel comfortable with,’’ he said. “Offensively, I think we’re starting to know where we’re supposed to be but we have a lot to do in terms of the timing and the execution.

“Defensively, we’re not communicating very well. We need work in all phases of the game. That’s to be expected — we’re just three weeks into this — but we would have hoped that our vets would have brought us a little further along.’’

CU NOTES: Carter spent most of the practice riding a stationary bike. He said his knee felt better Tuesday, but was still walking with a noticeable limp. ... Athletic Director Bruce Rasmussen said he’s already talked to Dayton officials about extending the series. The schools played a home-and-home series in 2005-06 and 2006-07, took a year off and started another home-and-home series last season in Omaha.

Contact the writer:

679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com

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