No. 9 CREIGHTON at UCONN
When: Sunday, noon
Where: Gampel Pavilion
Records: Creighton 5-2, UConn 3-0
TV: Fox Sports 1
Radio: UConn Sports Network (97.9 FM-ESPN Hartford, WAVZ 1300 AM, WICC 600 AM, WINE 940 AM, WGCH 1490 AM, WILI 1400 AM)
KEEP AN EYE ON
Senior leadership: With some of his freshmen already struggling before another recent COVID-19 pause, Dan Hurley is looking for his senior veterans to step up.
“We need our older guys right now. It’s gonna be challenging. It’s hard enough to get freshmen to play really, really well as freshmen. But with Adama (Sanogo) and (Andre Jackson) and Javonte (Brown) and the younger guys right now, the pauses and the lack of games has really stunted their development and their ability to really help us the way I think they would be able to help us under normal conditions.”
Josh Carlton, the 6-foot-11 senior, had a breakout game (nine points, 11 rebounds) in the Dec. 3 win over USC after playing a mere three minutes in the Huskies’ first two games.
“If we don’t get that version of Josh,” Hurley added, “we’re gonna have a very, very hard time being competitive in the league for the foreseeable future, until we’re able to practice and play games consistently and bring these young guys along.”
Small ball? Creighton plays a positionless style of basketball, usually with a smaller, four-guard lineup that could provide problems for the Huskies, who were hoping to play bigger this season — especially when 6-9 Akok Akok returned.
“But that’s a hard thing to do against Creighton,” Hurley noted. “That puts Isaiah (Whaley), potentially, on (Damien) Jefferson or (Denzel) Mahoney, which is a heck of a challenge for him to get out on the perimeter to guard those guys.”
The Big Zegarowski: Creighton point guard Marcus Zegarowski was voted Big East preseason Player of the Year by the league’s coaches, but he’s not the Bluejays’ only threat. Senior Mitch Ballock is shooting over 40 percent on 3-point attempts over his career, and Mahoney is currently the team’s leading scorer (16.2 ppg).