ORLANDO, Fla. — No one comes to Florida to play for seventh place.

That’s the prize that awaits Creighton and Iona in their final game of the Old Spice Classic at Disney’s Milk House. They each lost their first two games in the tournament, leaving them to play before many of their fans normally have had breakfast at 9 a.m.

“We need to get a win so that we can get our confidence back,’’ Creighton freshman Ethan Wragge said. “We have a big home game coming up against Nebraska, so we need to get some confidence back in ourselves.’’

The Huskers will be Creighton’s first assignment after the Bluejays return home, with that meeting set for a week from today. Today will determine whether the Bluejays will take a .500 record into that game or enter it coming off their first losing November since 1997.

“We shouldn’t be playing for seventh place but we’re here,’’ Creighton forward Wayne Runnels said. “We had Michigan, but we couldn’t finish that one. We can’t take it back now, so we just have to go out and play.

“We got some anger to let out, and I look for this to be a physical game.’’

Creighton opened tournament play Thursday by letting an upset of No. 15 Michigan slip away, blowing a five-point lead in the final four minutes and falling 83-76 in overtime. The loss moved the Bluejays into a second-round game against Xavier, which dominated play throughout in claiming an 80-67 victory on Friday.

The two losses leave Creighton 2-3 heading into today’s game. The Bluejays haven’t finished November with a losing record since 1997, when they defeated Missouri-Kansas City before road games at Oklahoma State and Oral Roberts.

“We’re disappointed but we have to try to make the best of it,’’ Creighton coach Dana Altman said. “Without a doubt, we need a win. We also have so many things to work on and this is another opportunity to play.

“It’s a real important game for us. We have to get some progress made.’’

Iona, too, would like to leave the land of Mickey Mouse on a positive note. The Gaels came into the tournament 3-0 but lost to Florida State 54-49 on Thursday before dropping a 72-62 overtime decision to Baylor on Friday.

Florida State will play Marquette for the championship today. Iona was tied with the Seminoles with 2:40 to play but was outscored 7-2 down the stretch. Against Baylor, Iona had a chance to win in regulation but Scott Machado missed what would have been the winning free-throw attempt.

The Big 12 Conference Bears then outscored Iona 14-4 in the extra period.

“It’s a good measuring stick knowing that when we play some of the bigger teams that we can hang in there,’’ Iona coach Kevin Willard said. “But it’s not really helping us for our confidence.’’

Creighton’s confidence also has taken some hits in its inability to finish games. In the season opener at Dayton, the Bluejays led by 10 points in the first half, were up by a point with 8½ minutes to play and were still within four points with two minutes to play. The Flyers ended up winning 90-80.

Against Michigan, Creighton took its first lead with 17 minutes to play, then rode an 11-2 spurt to a 61-57 lead when Kenny Lawson scored on a putback with 8:09 remaining.

The Bluejays still led 65-60 with 4:17 to play and had a chance to extend the lead before guard P’Allen Stinnett failed to catch an easy pass near midcourt for a turnover. Michigan missed its next shot and Runnels grabbed the rebound but traveled when he lost his footing.

A Stinnett foul led to two free throws that started a 9-2 Michigan run. Creighton eventually tied the game on Antoine Young’s basket with two-tenths of a second left in regulation but the Wolverines outscored the Bluejays 14-7 in the extra period to pull out the win.

“We need to start taking every possession more seriously,’’ Young said. “We actually played pretty good on defense against Michigan, but we had a couple of possessions where we let down.

“We played hard, and there’s no way that team is that much better than we are. We know we can play with teams like that if we continue to play hard. Still, it’s one we know we should have won.’’

At the end of the season, Creighton won’t be judged on the number of times it played good teams close. While a solid performance against the Gaels probably won’t make anyone sit up and say, ‘Wow!’, it could be a step in getting the Bluejays back on track.

“We’ve made some improvement but with the schedule that we’re facing, small steps are not good enough,’’ Altman said. “All of us need to improve. I have to do a better job of getting the guys to focus in on the fundamentals, and they have to do a better job of executing.’’

Contact the writer:

679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com