Ball handling earning Young some minutes
It's been awhile since Creighton guard Antoine Young spent as much time on the court in a game as the sophomore did Sunday against Nebraska.
Young played a career-high 35 minutes, including all but one minute of the second half, in the Bluejays' 67-61 win.
“Back in my high school days, I don't remember coming out too much,'' Young said. “Today, I just got into a rhythm and that's how it went.''
Young, who was slowed by a knee injury early in the season, played 33 of the 45 minutes in Creighton's loss to Michigan at the Old Spice Classic. He had averaged 20 minutes in the Bluejays' first six games.
He finished Sunday's game with nine points, three rebounds, three assists and one turnover.
Freshman Andrew Bock, Young's backup at point guard, played three minutes against the Huskers, while senior Cavel Witter also saw a couple of his 21 minutes at the point.
“I liked the way Antoine was handling the ball,'' Creighton coach Dana Altman said. “Andrew's a freshman, and when Antoine got a roll going there, I didn't want to switch it down the stretch.
“Andrew is going to be fine. Cavel just didn't push the ball hard enough when we threw him into the point a couple of times. He massaged it and didn't get it down the floor hard enough. ‘A' was the guy that pushed the ball like we wanted and made some things happen.''
Double delight
Kenny Lawson finally got his double-double. The junior center had been close several times during the past two-plus seasons, including twice this season when he had grabbed nine rebounds to go along with double-figure scoring performances.
Against Nebraska, the 6-foot-9 Lawson scored 25 points and 10 rebounds in the best performance by a Bluejay big man since Anthony Tolliver had 26 points and 10 rebounds in a 2005 game.
“It's nice to get one,'' Lawson said. “One of the things Coach wants us to do is pound the ball inside to open up shots. More so, it's Wayne and me posting up hard and doing the things that Coach wants us to do. I don't think it's anything surprising to us. We need to continue playing inside-out.''
Backup center Wayne Runnels added four points and four rebounds. Together, the pair combined to make 9 of 16 shots from the field.
Runnels said Lawson's performance Sunday hardly came as a surprise.
“I have to go against him every day in practice, so I know what he's capable of,'' Runnels said. “If Kenny puts his mind to it and does what Coach wants him to do, he's definitely capable of playing like that.''
Scoring punch
Nebraska guard Ray Gallegos is becoming an offensive sparkplug off the bench.
The true freshman from Salt Lake City hit 4 of 5 shots and scored 10 points in 19 minutes. He also grabbed three rebounds.
Gallegos was coming off a career-high 13-point game against Texas-Pan American.
Praise for Millard
Altman admitted that he was uncertain what to expect from his team, which had not played since a 63-55 loss to Iona at the Old Spice Classic left the Bluejays 2-4 and saddled with a three-game losing skid.
“The competitiveness to come back was something I was looking for today,'' Altman said. “We had a lot of guys contribute to that.''
Altman praised senior forward Chad Millard, who played less than a minute against the Huskers, for his contributions this week in practice.
“He really worked hard this week in trying to get guys to buy in and do some things offensively and defensively that we wanted,'' Altman said. “The last two days, he probably talked to the guys more than I did in getting them ready to play.
“For a guy who didn't get a chance to play much and who's been out eight, nine weeks now with a broken foot, I thought his contribution was really important. That's the kind of leadership we need, guys getting guys ready to play. I thought we did a better job of that today.''
— Steven Pivovar and Lee Barfknecht
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