Not enough to be tough
Huskies play with tenacity, but fall short at Creighton
NO. 11 CREIGHTON 74 NO. 23 UCONN 66
The effort that Dan Hurley was looking for was there from the start. The tenacity on the boards was clearly evident.
There was no way UConn was going to get “out- toughed” two games in a row, and it didn’t.
All the Huskies were missing was, oh, about 40 points.
That’s how many points James Bouknight scored the last time UConn faced Creighton on Dec. 23 — a Husky overtime loss. And while UConn had several different players try to step up in Bouknight’s absence on Saturday afternoon, it wasn’t quite enough.
Denzel Mahoney scored 20 points and Marcus Zegarowski scored 10 of his 15 points over the final 12 minutes to lead No. 11 Creighton to a 74- 66 win over the Huskies at CHI Health Center in Omaha, Neb.
No. 23 UConn ( 7- 3, 4- 3 Big East) has now lost two straight, following Monday’s home loss to St. John’s in which Hurley questioned his teams overall toughness.
“I thought we were tougher and battled and gave a pretty good effort, for the most part,” Hurley said. “We played hard. It’s not the same storyline as the St. John’s game, where we just got outtoughed. We obviously couldn’t guard them in the second half inidividualy, off the dribble. They
kind of torched us. We were tougher, we were all over the backboard. We just can’t finish in the paint. We had a hard time scoring.”
“Tonight was definitely a better showing than St. John’s, that ( game) was disappointing,” added junior point gaurd R. J. Cole. “Tonight, we were able to display our toughness. The only thing that was missing was the shot- making.”
The Huskies shot 36.5 percent from the floor and were 7- for- 23 on 3- pointers.
Creighton ( 11- 4, 7- 3) led by 10 late in the first half but by just a point at halftime, largely thanks to UConn’s tenacious work on the offensive boards. It remained a close game until about 81⁄ minutes left,
2 when Zegarowski kicked off a 10- 0 Creighton run with a lane jumper.
UConn would get back to within six, but the Huskies scored just three field goals over the final 5 1⁄ minutes.
2
“We needed timely defensive stops at the end,” Cole said, “and we didn’t get those.”
Cole ( 14 points), freshman Adama Sanogo ( career- high 13 points), Tyrese Martin ( 11) and Isaiah Whaley ( 10) each had their moments trying to lead UConn’s offense. But Bouknight is just too much to replace.
“We had no chance of winning a game that got outside the 60’ s today,” Hurley said. “I don’t know how many games we’re gonna be able to win that go north of 60, based on what we’re putting out on the court right now. So, we’ve got to do a better job, obviously, on the defensive end, for a full 40 minutes.”
Hurley announced on Friday night that Bouknight, a 6- foot- 5 guard who is a potential NBA lottery pick, is expected to be out about 4- 6 weeks from the time of his left elbow surgery on Jan. 12. That would mean he could be back in about 2- 4 weeks.
Both teams struggled early, each missing their first five 3- point attempts. The Huskies were particularly cold, missing 20 of their first 25 shots overall and falling behind by 10
( 23- 13) when Hurley called a timeout with just under seven minutes left in the half.
But UConn closed out the half on a 15- 6 run, geared by eight points from Cole, including a shot clock- beating spinner in the lane with 38 seconds left that provided the halftime score: Creighton 29, UConn 28.
The Huskies shot just 29 percent from the floor and 18 percent ( 2- for- 11) from 3, but outrebounded the Bluejays 26- 12. UConn nearly had as many offensive boards ( 11) as Creighton had total rebounds.
For the game, UConn outrebounded Creighton 42- 27 — 18 of them on the offensive glass. Whaley and Brendan Adams each snared nine boards apiece.
Creighton shot just 6for- 20 from 3- point land and missed 12 of 32 free throws. But the Bluejays shot 67 percent ( 18- for- 27) on 2’ s.
“They’re a great offensive team, when they’re cooking,” said Hurley. “They’re one of the best offensive teams in the country. We just caved in.”
RIM RATTLINGS
1 Sophomore forward Akok Akok did not play on Saturday after suffering a shin injury during practice earlier in the week. Akok missed UConn’s first five games this season after undergoing Achilles tendon surgery in February and has only played sparingly since his return.
The shin injury doesn’t appear serious, but Hurley doesn’t believe Akok is ready to make a significant impact too soon.
“We’ve got to be thinking big picture with him, because I don’t think you’re really gonna see that guy being himself until much further down the road, into next season,” the coach said. “We’ll try to see if we can get him back where he can give us something this year, but that injury is a tough situation.”
1 Hurley was hit with a technical foul with 11: 43 left in the first half after the referees told him to have his bench sit down.
Asked what happened with the “T,” Hurley responded: “That’s none of your business. That’s between me and the ref.”