OMAHA, Neb. — Jordan Hawkins caught the ball and pulled up for a straightaway 3-pointer that would’ve tied the game at 54 with 2.7 seconds left. The shot fell through and silenced the rowdy sellout of 18,286 expecting overtime at the CHI Health Center, but as the officials went to the monitor for a review, Creighton fans soon knew they won the game.
Hawkins’ right foot was on the line, changing the original call of a 3-pointer on the court.
Ryan Kalkbrenner was fouled in desperation and sent to the line where he made two free throws, sealing a 56-53 victory for the Bluejays.
UConn shot 32.3% from the field in the game and 7 for 27 from beyond the arc in the game. Before Hawkins’ shot, the Huskies’ last made field goal came with more than four minutes on the clock when Alex Karaban cut a six-point deficit in half with his first 3-pointer of the game.
While the rest of the Huskies struggled from beyond the arc to start the game, Adama Sanogo made a career-high 3 of 5, including one at the halftime buzzer that brought the score within two. Hassan Diarra was the only other Husky to make a 3-pointer in the first half, his seventh of the season. Aside from Sanogo and Diarra, UConn shot 0 for 7 from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes.
The shooting struggles included a five-minute scoring drought in the middle of the half that resulted in a 12-2 Creighton run. The Bluejays’ lead built to as many as nine around the eight-minute mark in the first half before Nahiem Alleyne was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three from the line to bring the Huskies within two. Creighton, running again, earned an eight-point cushion with a 3-pointer from point guard Ryan Nembhard that was answered by Diarra in the opposite corner. Sanogo’s third 3-pointer of the half — 16th of the season — fell through just before the halftime buzzer.
Sanogo was the only Husky to make multiple field goals in the first half.
Hawkins, 0 for 4 in the first half, got some extra shots up as halftime wound down. He made his first shot of the second half while being fouled from beyond the arc, a four-point play that gave the Huskies a 35-33 lead, their first since the score was 3-2 one minute into the game.
The second half featured long scoring droughts for each team, but five consecutive points from Trey Alexander gave the Bluejays a 45-40 lead with just over 12 minutes to go. He scored a team-high 17 points, but picked up his fourth foul shortly after a Sanogo hook shot tied the game at 46 five minutes later.
Creighton got into the bonus and went on a 6-0 run to take a 52-46 lead with 4:32 left, Karaban silenced the crowd and cut UConn’s deficit to three.
The Huskies (19-7, 8-7 Big East) were led by 17 points and 10 rebounds from Sanogo. Hawkins scored all 11 of his points in the second half while Andre Jackson was the next leading scorer with six points on 3-of-11 shooting.
UConn, now 2-5 on the road in Big East play, has a week off from games before welcoming Seton Hall to Gampel Pavilion on Feb. 18.
