Wednesday, March 2
Omaha, Neb.
7:30 PM
Creighton University
20-9,12-6Big East
64
vs
62
Connecticut
21-8,12-6Big East
1
2
F
UConn
24
38
62
Creighton
34
30
64
Photo by: Catherine Grosdidier
Kalkbrenner and Kaluma Guide Men's Basketball to 64-62 Win Over #18 Connecticut
3/2/2022 9:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Bluejays earn 20th win of the season
OMAHA, Neb. -- Sophomore Ryan Kalkbrenner delivered 20 of his career-high 22 points in the second half to propel the Creighton men's basketball team to a 64-62 win over No. 18 Connecticut on Wednesday, March 2
The win lifted the Bluejays to 20-9 on the season and 12-6 in BIG EAST action, while the Huskies fell to 21-8 overall and 12-6 in conference action. Creighton, which never trailed, is now 5-0 all-time against the Huskies with those wins coming by a combined 19 points.
The victory also secured a top-five seed at next week's BIG EAST Tournament, and Opening Round bye for the Bluejays, as well as a season sweep over the Huskies in the event of a tie for third place.
The Bluejays came out firing, opening the game on a 7-0 burst in the first 2:20. Senior Ryan Hawkins connected for the first bucket with a drive to the basket for his 2,500th career point, then freshman Arthur Kaluma began to heat up with a layup and a trey. Just before the first media timeout Hawkins cashed another three-pointer to give Creighton a 10-4 edge (15:15).
Leading 14-10 (12:43) Kaluma went on a personal 7-0 run with a pair of dunks surrounding a three-ball to extend Creighton's lead to 21-10 (11:19). The Bluejay advantage grew to as much as 16 at 34-18 (3:14), but Connecticut scored the final six points of the half to trail 34-24 at the break.
Kaluma closed the opening period with 15 points, helping the Bluejays take a 34-24 lead into the locker room.
Connecticut continued its charge early in the second half, trimming the Creighton lead to just one point at 37-36 with just over 15 minutes remaining. Reserve guard Rati Andronikashvili changed the momentum of the game on the defensive end, leading to a layup and a dunk from Kalkbrenner. From that point on Kalkbrenner took over. The St. Louis native went on to score 19 of Creighton's next 23 points, holding off each comeback attempt from the Huskies.
Connecticut tied the score at both 48-48 (9:16) and 50-50 (8:12), but missed on five shots that could have put the visitors ahead.
Knotted at 50-50, the Bluejays rode their center down the stretch. Creighton got three dunks, a lay-up and a short jumper from Kalkbrenner over the next seven minutes to reclaim control of the game at 60-55 (1:11). The Huskies got within 60-58 with 22.5 left after a Tyler Polley trey but CU freshman Trey Alexander sank two free throws with 19.6 left. After a pair of missed CU foul shots, Cole drove for a lay-up with 7.1 left to trim the margin to two, only to have Hawkins seal the win with two free throws with 6.1 left. A putback by Adama Sanogo as time expired closed the scoring.
Kalkbrenner equaled a career-high with 22 points to lead Creighton, also grabbing 10 rebounds for his fifth career double-double. Kaluma and Hawkins each also finished in double digits with 15 and 13 points respectively. Creighton shot 49.1 percent for the game and won the rebound battle 37-33. The Bluejays also outscored UConn 40-32 in the paint.
RJ Cole led the Huskies with 20 points, while Sanogo finished with 13 points, 16 rebounds and six blocked shots. The Huskies shot 40.9 percent from the floor and 27.3 percent from downtown.
The Bluejays close out the regular season at home on Saturday, March 5 against Seton Hall at 1:30 pm.
NOTES: Creighton improved to 4-5 this season against top-25 teams, tied for the eighth-most top-25 wins in the country this season .. .This is the fourth time Creighton has won four top-25 victories in a season, joining 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2019-20 ... The Bluejays are now 28-40 all-time vs. top-25 teams under Greg McDermott ... Creighton is now 11-5 in its last 16 games vs. BIG EAST teams who are nationally ranked ... Creighton now owns five Quad 1 victories ... Creighton is now 5-2 against the top five teams in the current BIG EAST standings ... Creighton joined Fordham, UMass, New Hampshire, New York University, Syracuse and Worcester Polytechnic as the only programs to ever win their first five meetings vs. UConn ... Creighton is the only team to play UConn five times or more without a loss ... Creighton is one of five teams with 20 or more wins each of the last seven seasons, joining Belmont, Gonzaga, Houston and Kansas. Oregon is three wins away from joining that group ... Creighton has won 20 or more games in 21 of the last 23 seasons ... Ryan Kalkbrenner's streak of 26 straight games with a blocked shot was snapped. It was CU's longest streak since Benoit Benjamin's streak of 28 in a row in 1984-85 ... A crowd of 17,126 fans turned out for Fan Appreciation Night, which featured $1 beverages for 90 minutes before the game ... Creighton is now 7-1 this season in games decided by five points or less and 10-2 since the start of last season ... Ryan Hawkins surpassed 2,500 career points in the victory ... Creighton had eight dunks in the victory and now owns 114 slams this season. Of Greg McDermott's 12 teams at CU, only the 2016-17 team (with 144) had more ... Creighton improved to 265-57 all-time at CHI Health Center Omaha with 86 games in which it has not trailed.
The win lifted the Bluejays to 20-9 on the season and 12-6 in BIG EAST action, while the Huskies fell to 21-8 overall and 12-6 in conference action. Creighton, which never trailed, is now 5-0 all-time against the Huskies with those wins coming by a combined 19 points.
The victory also secured a top-five seed at next week's BIG EAST Tournament, and Opening Round bye for the Bluejays, as well as a season sweep over the Huskies in the event of a tie for third place.
The Bluejays came out firing, opening the game on a 7-0 burst in the first 2:20. Senior Ryan Hawkins connected for the first bucket with a drive to the basket for his 2,500th career point, then freshman Arthur Kaluma began to heat up with a layup and a trey. Just before the first media timeout Hawkins cashed another three-pointer to give Creighton a 10-4 edge (15:15).
Leading 14-10 (12:43) Kaluma went on a personal 7-0 run with a pair of dunks surrounding a three-ball to extend Creighton's lead to 21-10 (11:19). The Bluejay advantage grew to as much as 16 at 34-18 (3:14), but Connecticut scored the final six points of the half to trail 34-24 at the break.
Kaluma closed the opening period with 15 points, helping the Bluejays take a 34-24 lead into the locker room.
Connecticut continued its charge early in the second half, trimming the Creighton lead to just one point at 37-36 with just over 15 minutes remaining. Reserve guard Rati Andronikashvili changed the momentum of the game on the defensive end, leading to a layup and a dunk from Kalkbrenner. From that point on Kalkbrenner took over. The St. Louis native went on to score 19 of Creighton's next 23 points, holding off each comeback attempt from the Huskies.
Connecticut tied the score at both 48-48 (9:16) and 50-50 (8:12), but missed on five shots that could have put the visitors ahead.
Knotted at 50-50, the Bluejays rode their center down the stretch. Creighton got three dunks, a lay-up and a short jumper from Kalkbrenner over the next seven minutes to reclaim control of the game at 60-55 (1:11). The Huskies got within 60-58 with 22.5 left after a Tyler Polley trey but CU freshman Trey Alexander sank two free throws with 19.6 left. After a pair of missed CU foul shots, Cole drove for a lay-up with 7.1 left to trim the margin to two, only to have Hawkins seal the win with two free throws with 6.1 left. A putback by Adama Sanogo as time expired closed the scoring.
Kalkbrenner equaled a career-high with 22 points to lead Creighton, also grabbing 10 rebounds for his fifth career double-double. Kaluma and Hawkins each also finished in double digits with 15 and 13 points respectively. Creighton shot 49.1 percent for the game and won the rebound battle 37-33. The Bluejays also outscored UConn 40-32 in the paint.
RJ Cole led the Huskies with 20 points, while Sanogo finished with 13 points, 16 rebounds and six blocked shots. The Huskies shot 40.9 percent from the floor and 27.3 percent from downtown.
The Bluejays close out the regular season at home on Saturday, March 5 against Seton Hall at 1:30 pm.
NOTES: Creighton improved to 4-5 this season against top-25 teams, tied for the eighth-most top-25 wins in the country this season .. .This is the fourth time Creighton has won four top-25 victories in a season, joining 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2019-20 ... The Bluejays are now 28-40 all-time vs. top-25 teams under Greg McDermott ... Creighton is now 11-5 in its last 16 games vs. BIG EAST teams who are nationally ranked ... Creighton now owns five Quad 1 victories ... Creighton is now 5-2 against the top five teams in the current BIG EAST standings ... Creighton joined Fordham, UMass, New Hampshire, New York University, Syracuse and Worcester Polytechnic as the only programs to ever win their first five meetings vs. UConn ... Creighton is the only team to play UConn five times or more without a loss ... Creighton is one of five teams with 20 or more wins each of the last seven seasons, joining Belmont, Gonzaga, Houston and Kansas. Oregon is three wins away from joining that group ... Creighton has won 20 or more games in 21 of the last 23 seasons ... Ryan Kalkbrenner's streak of 26 straight games with a blocked shot was snapped. It was CU's longest streak since Benoit Benjamin's streak of 28 in a row in 1984-85 ... A crowd of 17,126 fans turned out for Fan Appreciation Night, which featured $1 beverages for 90 minutes before the game ... Creighton is now 7-1 this season in games decided by five points or less and 10-2 since the start of last season ... Ryan Hawkins surpassed 2,500 career points in the victory ... Creighton had eight dunks in the victory and now owns 114 slams this season. Of Greg McDermott's 12 teams at CU, only the 2016-17 team (with 144) had more ... Creighton improved to 265-57 all-time at CHI Health Center Omaha with 86 games in which it has not trailed.
Team Stats
UConn
CU
FG%
.409
.491
3FG%
.273
.333
FT%
.400
.600
RB
33
37
TO
6
10
STL
3
4
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
22
FGM
10
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
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