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• Photo Showcase: CU men's basketball, Feb. 11
• Video: Postgame press conference with Greg McDermott, Grant Gibbs and Gregory Echenique

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What happened to that special season? It unraveled before our eyes on Saturday.

Before the largest home crowd in school history and a national cable audience, Creighton laid a giant bluejay egg. Wichita State 89, CU 68. See you later, Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title.

The Jays are reeling now, with their third straight loss. But this was the worst possible loss at the worst possible time.

There's no good way to lose, but maybe a shot at the buzzer in a tight game is easier to take than the slow meltdown that occurred at the CenturyLink Center on a frigid Saturday.

It was the game of the year, a major test, and the Jays flunked. And everyone was feeling the pressure.

The game started with an amazing atmosphere, a great crowd looking to keep the Jays in the Valley title race and in the NCAA Bracketology mix.

But in one week the Jays have become the gang that can't shoot straight. And the Shockers couldn't miss as they threw their physical game around.

The longer it went, the more air went out of the Jays and the building. And some folks started to come unglued.

CU coach Greg McDermott, who has had a smile on his face much of this season, was seen lighting into his son, Doug, the team's star, on the sidelines. Reportedly, the scene got a lot of run on ESPN Saturday night.

When Nebraska football coach Bo Pelini does it, he gets hammered in some corners of the media and his fan base. The same is fair for Mac. Now, the Creighton coach is more media savvy than Pelini. He handled it better afterward, explaining that he was trying to light a fire under his team by getting after the star player, who wasn't doing so hot, either, the coach said.

These things can get overblown. Coaches yell at players. And Doug explained afterward that he took it the right way.

It was uncharacteristic of Greg McDermott, and it looked like a coach in a big game with a team on a quick slide down the hill and no idea how to stop the snowball.

Meanwhile, a former Creighton basketball player seated three seats down from Missouri Valley Commissioner Doug Elgin began yelling at Elgin during the game to get the officials off of Doug McDermott and keep one of the Valley's stars in the game. It was ugly.

He should have been yelling at Wichita State's Ben Smith, who put the clamps on Mac. This loss wasn't about officials. Wichita State lost center Garrett Stutz to a third foul in the first minute of the second half. Didn't bother the Shox one bit.

The story was Wichita State, which pushed the Jays around and made it look easy. WSU ruined the party with 58.2 percent shooting from the field, a plus-14 advantage in rebounds and a physical defense that sent some fans scooting to the exits early.

Now it's up to Creighton not to let the Shockers ruin its season.

Barring a collapse by the Shockers the final three games, the Valley title is gone. Creighton has to forget that. And quick.

This nightmarish loss alone doesn't damage Creighton's NCAA chances. But put a 21-point loss at home at the end of losses to Northern Iowa and Evansville and suddenly the 21-5 Jays are getting on Joe Lunardi's bad side.

They absolutely cannot lose at Southern Illinois or Indiana State or to Evansville at home. They need to beat Long Beach State (maybe some of the fans yelling at Elgin should have been thanking him for a late-season game with some juice) next Saturday. A loss to the Beach isn't a bad loss. But at this point, the Jays' résumé needs some work.

The wins over Big Ten teams Iowa, Nebraska and Northwestern (not an NCAA team yet) aren't of the quality variety. The win at San Diego State is huge. So is the W at Wichita State on New Year's Eve.

But when you're a mid-major, there's always still work to do. Do the Jays have to win the thing in St. Louis? No. But get to Sunday's final if you can. And stop the bleeding, pronto.

There's no reason to worry about the NCAA tourney right now. The Jays team that played on Saturday wouldn't last long in the tourney anyway.

But what happened to that other team, the beautiful team, the poised team with unselfish passing and uncanny chemistry and the shots that seemed to fall forever? Where did that team go?

A basketball season can be a fragile thing. Just 11 days ago, the Jays pummeled Illinois State 102-74. It was their 11th straight win. This Creighton team seemed to have everything.

Now, it can't find anything.

"After the Northern Iowa game and the Evansville game, nothing changed at all," junior Grant Gibbs said. "There wasn't any urgency at practice. That's the most disappointing part."

For most of the season, the Jays have been a terrific offensive machine. Clicking on all cylinders. But did that offense hide the fact that the Jays have a defense with holes?

It looked that way the last week. And while Greg McDermott said he thought they played good defense at UNI and Evansville, that defense isn't good enough to carry the day. The Jays have to find some offense.

It's nowhere to be found now. Creighton is like many teams that feed off their offensive energy. When the shots are going in, it's all good. When they aren't, it's that much harder to play defense and rebound.

"I'm not a big believer in that," Gibbs said. "We're pressing a little bit on offense and we're self-destructing off that. We're not tough enough to suck it up and make something else happen."

If you can come from behind to win at San Diego State and Wichita State, you're not soft. But when push came to shove on the biggest stage of the season, the Jays got pushed and shoved by one of their chief rivals.

"It's an embarrassing loss," said Doug McDermott, who had 13 points. "We'll remember this feeling the rest of this season and into next season."

This season isn't over. But in one week, the Jays are no longer the darlings of Bracketology. Now they're just another team trying to find its way into the tournament, and out of the sudden darkness.

Contact the writer:

402-444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com

twitter.com/tomshatelOWH

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