The Huskies were unable to make the big play down the stretch.
No. 14 UConn men’s basketball went down to the wire against Creighton on Saturday afternoon at Gampel Pavilion, but the Huskies weren’t able to hit enough big shots down the stretch, as they missed three 3-pointers in the final 34 seconds, and lost to the Bluejays, 68-63.
Aside from the tension of a close game, there was extra drama in the final seconds. Creighton had three fouls to give before the single bonus and up three points, elected to use one on Hassan Diarra. The savvy senior attempted a 3-pointer at the top of the key, anticipating the impending contact, but it was ruled a non-shooting foul with 7.8 seconds remaining.
On the ensuing inbound play, the ball found Alex Karaban and ranging to his left, he was unable to convert on a triple, cementing defeat.
A trio of Huskies were in double figures, including Diarra (15 points), Solo Ball (15 points) and Jaylin Stewart (14 points). UConn was just 8-for-15 on layups on the afternoon.
The crowd was active early and so was the UConn offense. The Huskies’ ball movement was providing good looks early on, even when they weren’t going in. While 5-for-8 is hardly a blistering start, Ball knocked down a couple of triples early and the hosts got out to a 12-4 lead.
Defense helped, as three of Creighton’s first five shots were from beyond the arc and the Bluejays started 1-for-5 from the field, encouraging a raucous and well-lubricated crowd to get louder and louder, egged on by Dan Hurley. With just a few minutes gone, it seemed like UConn was going to run Creighton out of the gym.
Then Jamiya Neal woke up. He knocked down five straight field goals for his own 10-2 run over 3:01 in the middle stages of the first half, bringing Creighton to within one point. Overall, Neal was 7-for-8 from the field in the first 20 minutes, including 3-for-3 on 3-pointers, scoring 17 points. The rest of the Bluejays were 5-for-20, including 2-for-7 for Ryan Kalkbrenner.
However, led by Neal, Creighton was launching deep ball after deep ball and was a respectable 6-for-15 from beyond the arc, including a few from way downtown. That helped the visitors keep a lead through much of the half, starting with a Steven Ashworth 3-pointer at the 12:31 mark.
UConn was able to keep Bluejays’ largest lead to five and most of the time was just one possession until the dying seconds of the half. Jaylin Stewart was too aggressive on the closeout against Isaac Traudt on the left wing and fouled him. Traudt made all three free-throws and what became two-point deficit just over a minute earlier with a nice Hassan Diarra coast-to-coast layup, was seven at the break.
Neal opened the scoring in the second half and it seemed as though the Huskies were in trouble. However, Ball knocked down a triple to get the lid off the net for UConn. That kicked off a streak of four straight field goals made, which brought the Huskies back to within two.
Every time the crowd got loud, it seemed like Creighton had a solution to quiet Gampel Pavilion. Big 3-pointer? The Bluejays knocked down a shot of their own. Shot clock violation? Request a review for whether a late attempt hit the rim. Tie the game? Call timeout.
This helped the visitors hold on to a lead through most of the second half that reached as high as nine points with 7:00 remaining. From there, UConn’s defense clamped down. Ashworth was getting hassled from midcourt by Diarra, who was able to poke the ball away from him on multiple occasions and cause chaos. The Huskies also prevented the Bluejays from taking shots.
After Jasen Green’s layup put his team up nine with seven minutes left, Creighton took just six field goals. UConn was able to briefly retake the lead in that time, but held it for just 25 seconds as the final 4:47, save for the last 1.4 seconds, was spent in a one-possession game.
The offensive contributions for the final comeback were spread throughout the roster. In that protracted 11-1 run that gave the Huskies the lead, only Ball made more than one shot and no player had more than five points in the final seven minutes.
UConn (13-5, 5-2 Big East) continues its homestand on Tuesday against Butler. Tip-off from XL Center is at 7:00 p.m. on FS1.