No. 23 UCONN at No. 11 CREIGHTON

When: Saturday, noon

Where: CHI Health Center, Omaha, Neb.

Records: UConn 7-2 (4-2 Big East), Creighton 10-4 (6-3 Big East)

FOX

UConn Sports Network (97.9 FM-ESPN Hartford, WAVZ 1300 AM, WICC 600 AM, WINE 940 AM, WGCH 1490 AM, WILI 1400 AM)

TV: Radio: KEEP AN EYE ON

Get loud!: UConn coach Dan Hurley has found it hard to reconcile that his team got “out-toughed” by St. John’s on Monday. He wants more vocal leadership from his players.

“We have too many quiet guys,” he said. “I took a step back the last couple of days in practice, demanded more energy from them. I feel like they lean too much on me to create the energy. We need more of a player-driven team than a coach-driven team.”

Lock him up: In UConn’s 76-74 overtime loss to Creighton on Dec. 20, junior point guard R.J. Cole did a good job keeping Big East preseason Player of the Year Marcus Zegarowski in check, holding him to a quiet 11 points on 4-for-14 shooting. In fact, for the most part, the Huskies have done a good job defending their opponent’s top scorer. St. John’s Julian Champagnie, the Big East’s leading scorer, scored a quiet 12 on Monday. DePaul’s Charlie Moore, who averages 13.2 per game, scored nine and eight in UConn’s two wins over the Blue Demons. Butler’s Jair Bolden (12.8 ppg) scored nine. In fact, Zegarowski isn’t even the Bluejays’ top scorer. That’s Denzel Mahoney, who averages 15.1 per game put scored just 10 in that first meeting.

“Some games we have, some games we haven’t (done a good job on the opposing best player),” Hurley reasoned. “You do a good job on their best player, you can’t let bench guys come in and do what the St. John’s bench guys did to us. Or else, it all means nothing.”

We meet again: Creighton coach Greg McDermott got the better of Dan Hurley in their Dec. 20 matchup at Gampel Pavilion, winning in overtime. That evened the record between the coaches at 1-1. In a 2017 NCAA tournament first round game out in Sacramento, Calif., Hurley guided Rhode Island to an 84-72 victory over McDermott’s Bluejays.