New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
UConn comes up short at No. 23 Creighton
OMAHA, Neb. — At first, Dan Hurley thought Jordan Hawkins had hit the UConn men’s basketball team’s biggest 3-pointer of the season.
When Hawkins’ shot fell through the net with 2.7 seconds left to play on Saturday, it appeared the Huskies had tied up their latest battle with Creighton.
Then, Hurley turned to associate head coach Kimani Young and asked him if Hawkins’ shot was, indeed, a 3-pointer. Nope, Young responded. Hawkins’ foot was on the 3-point line.
“So, that lowered my expectations, quickly,” Hurley noted. “He’s always honest with me. Some assistants lie to you to make you feel better.”
Unfortunately for UConn, a replay review proved Young was telling the truth. UConn still trailed by a point. Ryan Kalkbrenner hit a pair of free throws, the Huskies were unable to get off a last-second shot, and No. 23 Creighton emerged with a 56-53 victory before 18,286 — the 20th-largest crowd in CHI Health Center history.
No. 21 UConn (19-7, 8-7 Big East) literally missed its chance to grab that elusive road win over a ranked team by a matter of inches.
“Proud of the boys,” Hurley said. “They just showed a lot of fight and toughness. Creighton’s an excellent defensive team. I thought you saw two excellent defensive teams out there. There weren’t a lot of easy opportunities for either team.”
“If you want to capture Big East basketball in 40 minutes,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott added, “that was it.”
Indeed, this was a classic, physical Big East battle. The Huskies won the rebounding battle, including 18 on the offensive end. However, they only got
to the foul line four times — all on fouls on 3-point attempts — and just once in the second half. Creighton, which leads the country in fewest fouls per game, committed just 10 fouls to UConn’s 14. The Blue Jays were 13-for-17 from the line.
“Creighton does a great job of not fouling,” Hurley noted. “Minus-9 at the free throw line hurts. I thought maybe we could have gotten to the line a couple more from some of those scrums under the basket when we were being really physical at the rim.”
Still, this one was there for the taking.
A Trey Alexander 3pointer with 12:22 left gave Creighton a 45-40 bulge. The Bluejays went scoreless for the next 4:16, managed just one point over the next six minutes and no field goals over a near 8-minute span.
Yet UConn couldn’t get over the hump, tying the game on an Adama Sanogo inside hoop with 7:38 left but then giving it up on a pair of Kalkbrenner free throws.
A Hawkins putback with 1:32 left got the Huskies back to within three (54-51). After Ryan Nembhard missed a runner, Hawkins drove the lane but missed at the rim.
“We missed a lot of shots that we usually don’t miss,” Sanogo noted.
Alexander missed the front end of a one-andone, and on UConn’s ensuing possession, Sanogo missed a 3-pointer but Hawkins collected the long rebound and launched a somewhat desperation shot that, initially, appeared to tie the game.
But it didn’t. UConn missed 12 of its first 15 shots and trailed by nine at one point in the first half. The Huskies shot just 35.5 percent over the first 20 minutes, but trailed by just two (31-29) at the break, thanks mainly to Sanogo.
Sanogo had 13 points at halftime including a career-best three 3-pointers, the biggest being a buzzer-beater just before the break.
Hawkins went scoreless in the first half and sat out the final 6 1/2 minutes after picking up his second foul. But when Hawkins completed a four-point play, his first field goal of the game, less than 90 seconds into the latter half, UConn had its first lead (35-33).
The Huskies never led again, though they tied it up two more times.
“We were there,” Sanogo said. “We definitely didn’t play well enough to win the game. I think we played good, we just didn’t win the game. I think (Creighton) is a top-10, top-15 team in the country, for sure. We lose by three points, away. I think we did a good job.”
Sanogo finished with a team-high 17 points and “won” what is becoming a heated grudge battle with the 7-foot Kalkbrenner, who finished with 12.
“There’s a little extra spice going into this game that gets generated through the media,” Hurley conceded.
Hawkins added 11 on just 4-for-13 shooting. Andre Jackson Jr., goaded to shoot all game by Creighton’s defense (and even the crowd) finished 3for-11 from the floor and missed all four of his 3pointers, including a few key shots down the stretch.
Hurley wished the 6foot-6 junior would have shot a few more.
“I thought there were a couple of ones in rhythm,” the coach said. “He has more success high-wing to key, and I think he passed on a couple of those that maybe were in rhythm. When you’re struggling with your confidence, I think corner 3’s are more challenging, visually.”
Point guard Tristen Newton, a key cog in the Huskies’ now-defunct three-game winning streak, finished with just two points on 1-for-4 shooting and three turnovers.
UConn has now lost 18 straight road games to ranked teams, dating back to a January, 2014 win at Memphis.
Creighton (17-8, 11-3 Big East) has now won eight straight.
“We knew we were getting their best shot and maybe their best crowd,” Hurley summed up. “We were walking into a serious situation today, and we had chances to win the game down the stretch, while missing out on some great opportunities. That’s a team that has a chance to go to a Final Four and has a good chance to win the Big East tournament.”
“We take this approach our last five games,” he added, “we’ll be able to create the momentum that we want going into the Big East tournament — and beyond.”