Winners of four of their last five games, Creighton is opening up a realistic path back to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight season. Despite November and December struggles that left them on the outside looking in, Greg McDermott’s team is doing what his teams almost always do: showing steady improvement as the season progresses. They now appear on 40 of the 59 brackets tracked by BracketMatrix, mostly as an 11 seed, and trending up. They’re ranked #40 by KenPom, back to where they were before their 81-57 loss at Georgetown on December 18.
But that road loss to the Hoyas, plus road defeats at Alabama and Marquette, are huge negatives on their resume. It’s mid-January and their only road win is against a 10th-place Butler team — to get where they want to be, that has to change.
“You can’t beat yourselves on the road,” Coach Greg McDermott said on Thursday. “(UConn is) going to provide enough adversity with the way they play and how difficult of a place it is to play. So you can’t stub your toe and beat yourself. I thought we made too many mistakes against Marquette, whether it be some defensive breakdowns or turnovers or especially at Marquette, some of the shots we missed at the rim that really could have flipped that game.”
Particularly at Alabama and Marquette, long scoring droughts fueled by poor shooting, defensive lapses and sloppy ball handling doomed them. In Tuscaloosa, they had two long scoreless stretches in the first half. A three minute scoreless span saw Alabama go on a 9-0 run, turning CU’s only lead of the night into a 13-5 Crimson Tide advantage. Then a four minute scoreless span later saw Alabama use an 11-0 run to take a 27-10 lead with 8:47 to go. Meanwhile in Milwaukee, they led 35-27 with 2:55 left in the first half. Then Marquette ended the first half on a 12-0 run, started the second on a 14-3 run, and the 26-3 spurt put the Jays in a hole they couldn’t dig out of.
Avoiding something like that on Saturday is imperative to have any chance of victory.
“When you make mistakes, generally those mistakes end in a run out or a dunk or an easy basket, and that fuels the crowd,” McDermott said. “So you have to play as mistake-proof as you possibly can. Now, that’s easier said than done against (UConn’s) pressure, because they’re relentless, especially at home, on the defensive end of the floor with their pressure. We just have to take our time, be strong with the basketball and get it to where it needs to be, and hopefully get a good look at the basket, and when you get a good look, you’ve got to let it rip.”
The 2024-25 Huskies are not as good or as talented as their last two teams, both of which won the national title. But that’s no slight — those teams were loaded with NBA talent, and last year’s 37-3 team is arguably one of college basketball’s best teams of the last quarter-century. This year’s team is 13-4 and other than a two-point loss at Villanova last week, have not lost since cratering in Maui. That infamous 0-3 trip saw them lose to Memphis, Colorado and Dayton with Dan Hurley melting down. They’re 9-1 since, with wins over KenPom #11 Gonzaga, #21 Baylor and #35 Texas. And had Alex Karaban not missed two free throws at the end of the loss to Villanova, they might very well be 10-0.
On the offensive end, they’re every bit as potent as their title teams, with an adjusted offensive efficiency of 124.5, ranking 5th. Last year they were #1 at 127.5, and the year before they were #3 at 120.8. They have the second-highest assist rate in D1 (67.5%) and the ninth-best effective field goal percentage (58.1%).
To the extent that they’ve struggled — in a relative sense — it’s been on the defensive end. UConn ranks 109th in adjusted defensive efficiency (103.4) after being 4th a year ago (91.1) and 7th the year before (90.9). Losing Adama Sanogo and Donovan Clingan to the pros in successive years will do that to even the best programs.
“Clingan was one of the elite rim protectors in the country,” McDermott said. “Now having said all that, they’re still third in the country in blocked shots. Samson Johnson does a great job protecting the rim, as does Tarris Reed, but their wings will fly in there and block some shots as well. You have to be smart when you go in there, when you’re going to go to the rim, and when you’re going to set your feet and look to spray it out.”
As McDermott noted, the Huskies have reloaded inside. They’re actually blocking more shots this year than either title team did — UConn has blocked 18.3% of opponent’s shots, 3rd best in the country, after being at 14.3% and 12.7% the last two years.
A pair of 6’10” big men patrol the middle for UConn. Samson Johnson is a senior and was a contributor off the bench the last two years; finally moving into the starting lineup, he’s averaging 7.6 points and 2.8 rebounds while shooting 77.5% from the floor. And while Michigan transfer Tarris Reed technically backs him up, Reed plays plenty — and his production has eclipsed Johnson’s. Reed averages 10.1 points and a team-high 7.5 rebounds, has made 68% from the floor, and has five double-doubles.
The difference has come on the perimeter. While their two title teams were elite at defending the three, this team has struggled. Opponents have made 38.4% of their threes, 353rd in D1. In six Big East games, opponents have made 40.4% of their threes. They held opponents to 31.2% a year ago and 29.7% two years ago — meaning this year, opponents’ three-point shooting is almost 10 percentage points better. To their credit, they’ve been successful at running teams off the perimeter, with opponents only taking 31.3% of their total shots from three (7th best in D1). But that’s the achilles heel — and one the Jays can exploit.
Karaban, a consensus preseason All-American, is the only returning starter from last year’s team. He’s averaging 16.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.7 blocks while shooting 43% from three (and taking an average of seven attempts per game) — and ranks in the top 10 among Big East players in every one of those stats. Karaban scored 20 total points in two meetings against Creighton a year ago; he had 13 in Storrs thanks to 4-of-6 shooting inside the arc but scored just seven in Omaha.
Hassan Diarra, a 6’2” senior who played a key role off the bench for both title teams and was the Big East’s Sixth Man of the Year a year ago, is now the starting point guard. He’s averaging 8.9 points and 6.5 assists, and leads the league in assists in conference games (8.0). Diarra scored a career-high 19 points against Providence two weeks ago, thanks to making 10-of-11 from the line. He’s struggled from three-point range, though, making only 27.7% of his shots (13-of-47) — a precipitous drop for a player who made 35.7% a year ago.
Solo Ball, a 6’3” sophomore who played sparingly a year ago, has started all 17 games and averages 13.6 points per game. He’s been lethal from the perimeter, shooting 43.9% from three-point range (47-of-107).
Five-star freshman Liam McNeeley, a 6’7” wing, is averaging 13.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists while shooting 37.9% from beyond the arc. McNeeley has missed the previous three games with a high ankle sprain, and there’s no indication of whether he’ll return Saturday or not. Creighton is operating as though he will be back.
“He’s going to be a first-round draft pick,” McDermott said. “You take a guy like that out of your lineup, it’s going to have an impact. Outside of his scoring, he’s such a good decision maker for a young player. Danny (Hurley) puts it in his hands a lot, and lets him make decisions. Whether it’s coming off pin-downs or zooms, he’s made really good decisions with the basketball. Obviously, they’re not the same team without him, but they’re still really good without him. I fully anticipate that he’ll play.”
In his absence, Jaylin Stewart has moved into the starting lineup and assumed most of his minutes. The 6’7” sophomore is averaging 5.2 points and 2.5 rebounds on the season, but scored 14 last week against Villanova (4-of-4 inside the arc, 2-of-5 on threes).
Tip: 11:00am
Venue: Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Conn
TV: FOX
Announcers: Jason Benetti and Donny Marshall
In Omaha: Cox channel 10 (SD), 1010 (HD); CenturyLink Prism channel 42 (SD), 1042 (HD); DirecTV 42; Dish Network 42 or 5203
Outside Omaha: Your local FOX affiliate
Streaming Fox Sports app and website
Radio: 1620AM, 101.9FM
Announcer: John Bishop
Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
Simulcast on SiriusXM channel 384 as well as on the SiriusXM App
The Huskies have converted 67 dunks this season which is 24th in the country, per Torvik. Last year Connecticut was first in America with 178 total dunks, and the 2022-23 squad finished fifth with 136 jams. Samson Johnson’s 77 slams last season were fifth in the country, and this year he is 30th nationally and one of two players to record at least 25 jams without a miss
Connecticut finished a perfect 16-0 at home last season, going 8-0 at both Gampel and XL. The Huskies have six perfect home seasons since such records were kept: 2023-24, 2005-06, 1997-98, 1995-96, 1993-94 and 1953-54. This season, UConn is off to an 8-0 start at home. The Huskies are currently on a 28-game home winning streak, trailing the record of 31 set from 2004-07. With a 50-6 record at Gampel Pavilion and a 36-9 mark at the XL Center, Hurley is 86-15 (.851) at home as the head man in Connecticut.
UConn was thoroughly dominant in the calendar year of 2024, going 36-4 across the final 27 games of last season and the first 13 of this season. That makes 2024 the winningest calendar year in program history.
With a win on Saturday, Greg McDermott would pass Lou Carnesecca and tie Rick Pitino for seventh place on the list for most regular-season Big East wins in league history with 128. Pitino already has 128 heading into a Saturday night game at Seton Hall.
Steven Ashworth has made at least one three-pointer in 35 consecutive contests, CU’s second-longest streak in program history. Ashworth will try to keep pace with Doug McDermott (all 35 games in 2011-12) as Creighton’s only men in the last 25 seasons to score 10 or more points in each of their first 17 games of a season. It would also be Ashworth’s 21 straight game in double-figures dating to last season.
Ryan Kalkbrenner has had back-to-back games with six blocked shots and no fouls. He’s just the third player nationally since 2005-06 to do that in consecutive games, joining Southeastern Louisiana’s Jalyn Hinton (March 11 & 12, 2022) and Washington’s Robert Upshaw (Nov. 14 & 21, 2014). Kalkbrenner (on Jan. 11 and Jan. 14) now owns two games in the last week with six blocks and no fouls. All other Creighton players since 1991-92 combined for one such game (Gregory Echenique vs. Drake on March 8, 2013). Kalkbrenner had three fouls and no blocks in the loss at Marquette, but in the other five league games he owns 22 blocked shots and has not been whistled for a foul. The big man is also shooting 8-for-16 from three-point range in conference play this winter.
Creighton is 7-2 all-time against UConn, with the nine meetings taking place in four different cities since 2020. The nine games have been decided by a total of 64 points, with the first seven of those decided by single-digits.
Creighton is 2-2 in road games against UConn, going 1-2 at Gampel Pavilion and 1-0 at XL Center.
On January 18, 2020, Creighton defeated Providence 78-74 in one of the all-time classics in CHI Health Center Omaha history.
The Friars’ David Duke scored 36 points — 24 in a scorching second half where he made 9-of-11 overall and 4-of-5 from three-point range — and they led 74-69 with 1:41 to play. But from that point forward, Creighton found another gear.
The Jays hit one clutch shot after another, got big defensive stops when they needed to, and ended the game on a 9-0 run. Marcus Zegarowski’s three-pointer with 3.2 seconds to play proved to be the game-winner.
“If you’d have told me before the game,” Greg McDermott said in his postgame radio interview, “when Marcus Zegarowski was so sick he couldn’t even walk, that he was going to hit the game-winner? Crazy. Kelvin (Jones) gets hurt, Christian (Bishop) gets in foul trouble, Ty-Shon (Alexander) hurts his knee, we had a lot going against us today. It was a crazy finish.”
“It took all three of us (Zegarowski, Ballock, and himself) to rally the team and tell them, ‘This game isn’t over. There’s enough time left for us to win this game,'” Alexander said. “That’s exactly what we did. We won the game.”
Throbbing knee and all, Alexander immediately came down and hit an enormous three-pointer to cut the lead to 74-72.
They forced the ball out of Duke’s hands on the next trip down the floor, and when Diallo’s shot missed, Ballock cleared the board. Alexander drove into the circle, and calmly knocked down a jumper in traffic — off the glass, no less — to tie it. 36 seconds left, all tied at 74.
With the shot clock winding down on the next possession, Duke drove inside for a potential game-winner, but Mahoney — guarding him now instead of Alexander — stayed in front of him. He didn’t bite on any of Duke’s attempts to shake free, and when Duke slipped as he made his final cut, Mahoney tipped the ball out of his hands. Then he used his strength to secure the ball.
As loud as the arena was at that moment, it was about to get even louder. Zegarowski took the inbounds pass, drove the length of the floor, and with time ticking down, made his read — the red-hot Alexander, his number one option to take a game-winner, was covered in the corner. The defender in front of Zegarowski went under a ball screen, leaving him a window for a shot of his own.
He took it.
The Bottom Line:
UConn is favored by 6.5 in Vegas, and KenPom favors the Huskies by 7 with 73% odds of victory. If Creighton is to pull an upset, they’ll need to keep turnovers to a minimum and take advantage of UConn on the perimeter. They’ll have a better chance of those things in the rematch in Omaha; this one looks likely to be a win for the Huskies.
UConn 77, Creighton 73