Saturday, February 11
Omaha, Neb.
1:00 PM
Creighton University
17-8,11-3Big East
56
vs
53
Connecticut
19-7,8-7Big East
1
2
F
UConn
29
24
53
Creighton
31
25
56
Photo by: Creighton Athletics
Dogged Defense Lifts #23 Creighton Past #21 UConn, 56-53
2/11/2023 3:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball
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Creighton wins eighth straight game, moving into second place in BIG EAST standings
OMAHA, Neb. -- Led by a stifling defense and 17 points from sophomore Trey Alexander, the No. 23 Creighton men's basketball team defended its home court with a 56-53 win over No. 21 Connecticut on Saturday, February 11.
Creighton's eighth straight victory lifts the Bluejays to 17-8 on the season and 11-3 in BIG EAST play, while the Huskies fell to 19-7 overall and 8-7 in conference action.
Knotted at 40-40 with just under 13 minutes remaining, Alexander took over with a pivotal three-pointer from the right wing. On the defensive end, the Oklahoma native forced a steal and went to the rim to give the Bluejays a 45-40 edge (12:21).
Alexander's bucket, however, was Creighton's last field goal for nearly eight minutes. Despite the cold stretch, the Bluejay defense held firm and refused to give up the lead. The Huskies finally pulled even at 46-46 with 7:38 remaining.
Four Bluejay free throws put Creighton back in front, then a layup from junior Ryan Kalkbrenner with 4:32 remaining pushed the advantage out to 52-46.
Connecticut answered immediately with a trey from Alex Karaban, but Alexander delivered another driving layup to make it 54-49 with 1:53 left.
Leading 54-51 in the closing moments, Connecticut put a scare into the 18,266 Creighton faithful with a Jordan Hawkins shot originally ruled a three-pointer to tie the game with 2.7 seconds remaining. After an official review the shot was changed to a two-pointer, giving Creighton the ball and a one-point edge (54-53). Kalkbrenner put the game away with a pair of free throws with 2.3 left.
A back-and-forth opening half saw Creighton push a 6-5 lead out to 14-5 by holding Connecticut scoreless for just under five minutes (4:59). During the stretch the Bluejays got contributions from senior Baylor Scheierman, Kalkbrenner and four points by Alexander.
Foul trouble for Alexander and fellow sophomore Arthur Kaluma helped Connecticut crawl back into the game as Creighton held a 31-29 edge at the half.
Alexander led Creighton with 17 points in the game, while Kalkbrenner finished with 12 and Scheierman added 11. The Bluejays shot 39.6 percent from the field, 31.3 percent from deep and 76.5 percent at the line. CU outscored UConn 13-8 off turnovers, 24-18 in the paint and 9-0 in transition.
Connecticut got 17 points and 10 rebounds from Adama Sanogo in the loss, while Hawkins scored all 11 of his points in the second half. The Huskies shot a season-low 32.3 percent, but did make 100 percent at the line while tying a season-low with four free throw attempts. The Huskies won the rebound battle 40-34, turning 18 offensive rebounds into 13 second chance points.
The Bluejays return to action on Tuesday, February 14 in a road contest at No. 20 Providence, with tip-off set for 6 p.m. Central.
NOTES: Creighton improved to 150-49 all-time as a ranked team and 16-17 all-time in games involving two ranked teams ... Creighton has won six straight home games involving multiple top-25 teams ... Trey Alexander is now averaging 17.8 points in eight career games called by television analyst Jim Jackson, compared to an 8.7 per game average in 52 other contests ... Creighton's third straight sellout crowd of 18,286 was the program's 20th-largest home crowd in history ... Creighton has six wins over UConn since 2020-21, twice as many as any other school (Villanova, Providence, Xavier and Seton Hall each have 3) ... Baylor Scheierman made a three-pointer for his 35th game in a row. His 25 straight Creighton games with a triple is tied for the fifth-longest streak in school history ... Creighton is now 52-161 all-time against top-25 competition, including a 34-46 mark under Greg McDermott ... Creighton's five top-25 wins are tied for second-most nationally and trail only Iowa State's six ... Creighton is now 5-4 against top-25 teams this season. Those five wins are tied for second-most in a single-season in program history, one behind the 2019-20 club ... Creighton improved to 6-1 all-time against UConn, with those wins coming by an average of 3.7 points ... Creighton has made a three-pointer in 973 straight games ... Creighton trailed for just 39 seconds in the game ... Shereef Mitchell's 19 minutes tied a season-high (Holy Cross) and were his most in a BIG EAST game since clocking 20 minutes vs. Butler on March 6, 2021 ...Ryan Nembhard played all 40 minutes for the second straight game.
Creighton's eighth straight victory lifts the Bluejays to 17-8 on the season and 11-3 in BIG EAST play, while the Huskies fell to 19-7 overall and 8-7 in conference action.
Knotted at 40-40 with just under 13 minutes remaining, Alexander took over with a pivotal three-pointer from the right wing. On the defensive end, the Oklahoma native forced a steal and went to the rim to give the Bluejays a 45-40 edge (12:21).
Alexander's bucket, however, was Creighton's last field goal for nearly eight minutes. Despite the cold stretch, the Bluejay defense held firm and refused to give up the lead. The Huskies finally pulled even at 46-46 with 7:38 remaining.
Four Bluejay free throws put Creighton back in front, then a layup from junior Ryan Kalkbrenner with 4:32 remaining pushed the advantage out to 52-46.
Connecticut answered immediately with a trey from Alex Karaban, but Alexander delivered another driving layup to make it 54-49 with 1:53 left.
Leading 54-51 in the closing moments, Connecticut put a scare into the 18,266 Creighton faithful with a Jordan Hawkins shot originally ruled a three-pointer to tie the game with 2.7 seconds remaining. After an official review the shot was changed to a two-pointer, giving Creighton the ball and a one-point edge (54-53). Kalkbrenner put the game away with a pair of free throws with 2.3 left.
A back-and-forth opening half saw Creighton push a 6-5 lead out to 14-5 by holding Connecticut scoreless for just under five minutes (4:59). During the stretch the Bluejays got contributions from senior Baylor Scheierman, Kalkbrenner and four points by Alexander.
Foul trouble for Alexander and fellow sophomore Arthur Kaluma helped Connecticut crawl back into the game as Creighton held a 31-29 edge at the half.
Alexander led Creighton with 17 points in the game, while Kalkbrenner finished with 12 and Scheierman added 11. The Bluejays shot 39.6 percent from the field, 31.3 percent from deep and 76.5 percent at the line. CU outscored UConn 13-8 off turnovers, 24-18 in the paint and 9-0 in transition.
Connecticut got 17 points and 10 rebounds from Adama Sanogo in the loss, while Hawkins scored all 11 of his points in the second half. The Huskies shot a season-low 32.3 percent, but did make 100 percent at the line while tying a season-low with four free throw attempts. The Huskies won the rebound battle 40-34, turning 18 offensive rebounds into 13 second chance points.
The Bluejays return to action on Tuesday, February 14 in a road contest at No. 20 Providence, with tip-off set for 6 p.m. Central.
NOTES: Creighton improved to 150-49 all-time as a ranked team and 16-17 all-time in games involving two ranked teams ... Creighton has won six straight home games involving multiple top-25 teams ... Trey Alexander is now averaging 17.8 points in eight career games called by television analyst Jim Jackson, compared to an 8.7 per game average in 52 other contests ... Creighton's third straight sellout crowd of 18,286 was the program's 20th-largest home crowd in history ... Creighton has six wins over UConn since 2020-21, twice as many as any other school (Villanova, Providence, Xavier and Seton Hall each have 3) ... Baylor Scheierman made a three-pointer for his 35th game in a row. His 25 straight Creighton games with a triple is tied for the fifth-longest streak in school history ... Creighton is now 52-161 all-time against top-25 competition, including a 34-46 mark under Greg McDermott ... Creighton's five top-25 wins are tied for second-most nationally and trail only Iowa State's six ... Creighton is now 5-4 against top-25 teams this season. Those five wins are tied for second-most in a single-season in program history, one behind the 2019-20 club ... Creighton improved to 6-1 all-time against UConn, with those wins coming by an average of 3.7 points ... Creighton has made a three-pointer in 973 straight games ... Creighton trailed for just 39 seconds in the game ... Shereef Mitchell's 19 minutes tied a season-high (Holy Cross) and were his most in a BIG EAST game since clocking 20 minutes vs. Butler on March 6, 2021 ...Ryan Nembhard played all 40 minutes for the second straight game.
?? vs UCONN
Nothing small about this one!!
8. Straight.#GoJays pic.twitter.com/14sh33gF9d
— Creighton Men's Basketball (@BluejayMBB) February 13, 2023
Team Stats
UConn
CU
FG%
.323
.396
3FG%
.259
.313
FT%
1.000
.765
RB
40
34
TO
13
11
STL
5
9
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
3
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
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