What Creighton’s Flanery thinks of Huskies

After a week-long holiday break and four canceled games due to the recent surge in COVID-19, UConn is scheduled to finally take the court Sunday afternoon at Gampel Pavilion against Creighton.

It’s been 18 days since the Huskies last played a game and Sunday likely will be their second straight game with just eight available players.

The team remains without Paige Bueckers (recovery from surgery to fix a tibial plateau fracture and torn meniscus), Nika Mühl (foot), Azzi Fudd (foot) and Aubrey Griffin (back). On Monday, UConn coach Geno Auriemma said Muhl was able to practice earlier this week but wasn’t quite ready for a game.

Creighton (9-3) is led by Jim Flanery, in his 20th season at the helm. The former Creighton men’s basketball player (1985-87) started his involvement with the women’s program as a graduate assistant in 1987. Later, as the team’s head coach, he led the Bluejays to the program’s first Big East regular season title in 2017.

The Bluejays were picked to finish sixth in the Big East this season in the preseason coaches poll after finishing 10-12 in 2021. While UConn hasn’t played a game since Dec. 19, Creighton will have played three, including an 81-72 win at Arkansas on Dec. 21.

Here’s what you need to know about Creighton, the Omaha-based school that is the most-western program in the Big East: This season: 9-3

Last season: 10-12, finished sixth in the Big East, lost in the Big East Tournament semifinals to Marquette (64-59), and later lost in the second round of the WNIT to Northern Iowa (64-63)

Creighton vs UConn: UConn leads the all-time series 3-0. The team’s first meeting (UConn won 96-60 in Nov. 2014) began the Huskies’ record 111-game winning streak.

Last game in Connecticut: 80-47 UConn win on Dec. 17, 2020. Three of Creighton’s starters left the game with injuries in the first three quarters, including Rachael Saunders with a meniscus injury in the opening 10 minutes.

Last game in Omaha: 81-49 UConn win on Feb. 25, 2021, the victory gave the Huskies the outright 2021 Big East regular-season title

Creighton’s 2021 awards: Senior guard Temi Carda was named to the All-Big East Second Team and forward Emma Ronsiek was selected to the Big East All-Freshman team

Flanery on UConn rejoining the Big East last year: “The biggest thing was that you’re excited because it raises the profile, and it gives you an opportunity to gauge yourself against the best because they’ve been the standard for just over 25 years. … As far as what they provide from a profile and competitive standpoint, it’s a good thing. They give your players a standard that after the game they can say, ‘Hey, here are areas where we need to be better.’ Yeah, they have really really good players, but they also play the game the way that you can’t help but admire. And we’re getting better coverage. You’re calling me because UConn is in our league and nobody from St. John’s called me when we got in the league. There’s a different vibe when UConn is in your league and the profile of the league is different because of them and it’s covered nationally on a different level because of UConn’s presence. It was still a good league before they got in, but it’s obviously a better league now that they’re in it.”

“Now that I’ve been around the league awhile, you kinda know what you’re gonna get from most of the teams, obviously UConn is a little new but they’re also so good that they’re kinda a different animal.

“UConn gives us a standard because at the end of the day, we want to continue to get better as a league. And I think when you have that in your league, you just have a little bit better glimpse of what it’s going to take to be, maybe not quite at that level, but to get to as close as that level as you can where UConn, South Carolina and Stanford and Baylor and those teams are. When you get to play that twice a year that should help you identify where you need to get better but also how you need to schedule in the nonconference.” Flanery on scouting UConn: “For us, their size is an issue. I know maybe for the South Carolinas of the world and Stanfords it’s not an issue, but for us, we have just as much, if not more problem guarding Olivia (Nelson-Ododa) and Aaliyah (Edwards). I mean, those players are hard for us to guard because we have 6-1 kids in the post and so it’s probably actually harder for us to defend them from a size standpoint as it is to guard their elite perimeter players.”