OMAHA, Neb. — UConn coach Dan Hurley said his team needs to stick to its defensive values and physical intensity to finish off the season.
For 20 minutes Wednesday night, the UConn men’s basketball did just that. Ultimately it wasn’t enough as the Huskies lost a tough one against Creighton, 64-62 at the Chi Health Center.
With 1:11 left in the game, Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner dunked the ball with authority, putting his team up 60-55. After a UConn timeout, Andre Jackson missed a 3. After a missed one-and-one free throw by Creighton’s Rati Andronikashvili, the Huskies got the rebound. With 20 seconds left, Tyler Polley hit a 3 to cut the Creighton lead to 60-58.
The Bluejays’ Trey Alexander made both free throws on the next possession, but then UConn’s R.J. Cole missed the 3. WIth 14 seconds left, Alex O’Connell missed both free throws. On the next possession, Cole hit a layup to cut the lead to 62-60 with seven seconds left. Creighton’s Ryan Hawkins hit both free throws with six seconds for a 64-60 lead.
Two BlueJays players, in particular, caused the UConn defense fits. Creighton’s Arthur Kaluma dominated the first half while his teammate Kalkbrenner dominated the second. Kalkbrenner finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
Kaluma had UConn’s number in the first half. The freshman was confident on the court and it showed as he shot 3-for-5 from beyond the arc while making some difficult shots. He finished with 15 points and five rebounds in the first half.
Cole led UConn with 20 points.
The No. 18 Huskies (21-8,12-6 Big East) missed out on a chance to clinch the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Big East tournament and are now in fourth place in the conference behind Providence, Villanova and Creighton. The Bluejays (20-9, 12-6) moved to third in the conference and clinched a top-five seed in the Big East tournament. They now also hold the season tiebreaker over UConn. The Huskies have one game remaining, against DePaul, before the conference tournament March 9-12 at Madison Square Garden.
