Creighton head coach Jim Flanery loves two things when it comes to hoops: coaching and playing.
It’s no secret that one month shy of turning 59, he still laces up his kicks every week. Since the pandemic he has traded noon ball for 6:15am morning ball. Last Wednesday, his team lost seven of the eight pick-up games. Then he suffered the most lopsided loss of his coaching career when UConn thumped the Jays 94-50 in front of a sold-out crowd at D.J. Sokol Arena.
This morning, his team lost six of the seven games and he swore to his playing partners that he’d hang it up if the game that actually counts went sideways on his home floor again. It did, but this time it was the opponent getting run out of the gym as Creighton steamrolled a much-improved Butler team under second-year head coach Austin Parkinson, 89-53. It was both the most points allowed by the Bulldogs this season and their largest margin of defeat.
In addition to that, Butler also attempted a season-high 43 shots from 2-point range and a season-low 14 shots from beyond the arc after entering the day ranked fourth in the country in percentage of points scored from 3-point territory.
“Other than the blip that led me to call the timeout after we gave up the back-to-back open threes in transition, I…
