UConn heads to Omaha to take on the newly-ranked Bluejays.
UConn men’s basketball, fresh off a heartbreaking loss to St. John’s and falling out of the AP Poll for the first time in over 50 weeks, heads to Omaha Tuesday for arguably the toughest true road game of the team’s season. Creighton’s CHI Health Center is already a tough place to play, but the Bluejays are pulling out all the stops to welcome the Huskies, including $1 beers and a halftime performance from Red Panda on top of winning its last nine games.
The Huskies will have to overcome a tough Creighton squad and a well-lubricated sold-out crowd to have a puncher’s chance at a Big East regular season title. It’s an uphill battle, as UConn remains banged up and needs to do something it has never done in four previous tries — beat the Bluejays in Omaha.
TV: CBS Sports
Radio: UConn Sports Network
Odds: Creighton -3.5 , over/under 144.5
Location: CHI Health Center — Omaha, Nebraska
KenPom Predicted Score: Creighton 76, UConn 71 (33 percent win probability)
Series History
Creighton is 8-2 all time against the Huskies, and just recently defeated UConn at Gampel on Jan. 18 of this season. The Bluejays’ Jamiya Neal powered Creighton to the win, scoring a career-high 24 points. As mentioned earlier, the Huskies are 0-4 in Omaha all-time. Creighton beat UConn 85-66 at the CHI Health Center last season — the Huskies’ final loss of the season en route to the 2024 National Championship.
What to Watch For
Banged up backcourt
Hassan Diarra is still visibly injured, and is a game-time decision against Creighton. Dan Hurley told the media that Diarra will likely be hampered in some capacity all season. He also mentioned that Solo Ball is dealing with a wrist injury that has caused him to practice sparingly, but the sophomore should play against Creighton.
It wasn’t all bad news though — Hurley said that Ahmad Nowell should be available. And, for the the first time in a while, there was no mention of Liam McNeeley, meaning the freshman could return to the starting lineup for the first time since Jan. 1.
Ball security
The biggest effect of Diarra’s injury has been in the form of turnovers. In its last two games, UConn has 47 turnovers to just 27 turnovers. With Diarra hurt, his quickness has been hampered, and the senior guard is unable to penetrate opposing defenses. When he has come out of the game, things haven’t gone much better, as the Huskies had to heave up a series of bad shots with Diarra on the bench in the loss to St. John’s. It’s clear that this offense needs someone confident with the ball running the show, and it’s possible the answer is Nowell, who has missed the last three games with an ankle injury.
Nowell has not played more than 10 minutes in a game since Nov. 30, but has shown flashes of being an aggressive offensive player that can run the point and take his defender off the dribble when needed. He’s also probably the best ball-handler available amongst the trio of him, Ball and Aidan Mahaney. With Diarra fighting through injury, any minutes from Nowell should take some pressure off Diarra and allow him to be more active in the time he is on the floor.
Fortunately for UConn, Creighton is amongst the worst teams in Division I in terms of turnover rate, ranking 362nd nationally and considerably worse than Marquette (Sixth nationally) and St. John’s (14th). Even in what should be a hectic road environment, Nowell and Mahaney should be able to take the offensive load off Diarra without relentless pressure from the Bluejays’ guards.
Owning the paint
For a team that prides itself on shooting the ball from the perimeter, the Huskies have had success getting the job done in the paint. UConn is 10-1 this season when the Huskies score 38 or more points in the paint, with the lone loss coming when they played the Bluejays in January. Meanwhile, Creighton, anchored by Ryan Kalkbrenner, has only surrendered that many points down low four times.
For UConn, a lot of points in the paint mean some post ups for Tarris Reed Jr. and rolls and slips for dunks for Samson Johnson, but it mainly points to the Huskies holding their own on the offensive glass. It’s a tough ask with a human rebound eraser like Kalkbrenner to deal with, but the Huskies did haul in nine offensive boards last time the two teams faced off.
With Kalkbrenner presumably preoccupied dealing with Johnson or Reed, the offensive glass serves as an opportunity for Alex Karaban to put his mark on the game even if the junior continues to struggle shooting the ball. Heading into Tuesday night, Karaban is 4-30 (13.3 percent) from three in his last six games, but has 10 offensive boards in that span.
Containing Kalkbrenner and Ashworth
It’s a tough ask for any team, but keeping the duo of Steven Ashworth and Kalkbrenner in check offensively is key for the Huskies in order to have a shot at winning in Omaha. The duo combined from 28 points in the last matchup between the two schools, but Neal’s career day ended up making it all for naught.
UConn tried to keep Ashworth from firing away from three and while it largely worked, Ashworth still racked up nine assists. He’s still an elite passer and has turned up the scoring as of late, eclipsing 20 points in each of his last two games while shooting 50 percent from three. Ashworth is unafraid to pull up from just about anywhere, and while a healthy Diarra would usually relish an assignment like this, he may need some assistance from the rest of the backcourt to keep Ashworth from pulling up for deep but open looks on offense. Ashworth doesn’t necessarily look to get the line as often as he should as the nation’s best free throw shooter (97.6 percent), but should be considered automatic if he gets to the stripe.
Kalkbrenner feasts off of screen and rolls and offensive cutbacks, and the mix of Reed’s physicality with Johnson’s length and athleticism definitely bothered the fifth-year big man as he only made five of nine two-point shots. The Huskies’ front court will need to try and stay out of foul trouble after running into issues against the Johnnies, and it’s imperative to keep Kalkbrenner, an especially good free throw shooter for his size, off the line as much as possible. Even though Neal did the most damage against the Huskies last time out, Hurley and staff will live with him beating them again if they can keep one of the top two-man combos in the country at bay.