Creighton men’s basketball secured arguably its biggest win yet on Saturday, taking down No. 14 UConn in Gampel Pavillion, 68-63.
Creighton held the Huskies to their lowest point total of the season, the 10th straight time Creighton has held UConn under 70 in regulation since the Huskies rejoined the Big East. They hit 74 in an overtime loss in their first meeting in 2024 and have averaged just 62.9 points during that span — leading to an 8-2 series edge for the Bluejays.
“That’s an incredible win for us,” Coach Greg McDermott said. “Danny [Hurley] does such a good job having his team prepared on both ends of the floor. I thought our attention to detail defensively, especially as it relates to [Alex] Karaban, was about as on point as we’ve been all season … Tremendous respect for Danny and the job that he does, so any time you win against UConn you feel really good.”
Here are three takeaways from the victory.
Finishing the Job
Creighton had a chance to take down the Big East’s top dog in its own gym a couple weeks ago and couldn’t get it done, letting a lead slip away at Marquette then falling a bit short in its comeback bid for a 79-71 loss.
Against the Golden Eagles, Jamiya Neal put the team on his back, sparking a run to get Creighton back in the game while the team’s super senior stars, Ryan Kalkbrenner and Steven Ashworth, struggled mightily on offense, including down the stretch when the team needed buckets from them.
Saturday, Neal went off again while Ashworth and Kalkbrenner had sub-par scoring games by their standards, but this time the two veterans delivered in the clutch and carried Creighton to the finish line.
UConn took a one-point lead with three and a half to play before Ashworth and Kalkbrenner proceeded to close the game on a 10-4 run on their own. Kalkbrenner had a bucket, a block and two rebounds while going 4-for-4 from the foul line, and Ashworth went 4-for-4 at the stripe as well.
“Jamiya really got us off to a great start and I thought Steven and Kalk brought us home,” McDermott said. “Kalk got a big basket out of a timeout on the block, and then they stepped up and made their free throws, which if you’re going to win on the road, you’ve got to defend, you’ve got to limit turnovers, you’ve got to make your free throws. They only got five free throws against us, we were able to get there 15 times, and that ended up being the difference.”
Kalkbrenner finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal while Ashworth added 12 points, nine assists and six rebounds.
Creighton led for 28:56 and had an answer every time the Huskies made a run. There were a few different moments in which the Jays could have folded or let the game get out of hand (as we saw from them earlier in the season), but they didn’t let that happen. Whether it was a series of hustle plays or a big bucket when the team most needed it, Creighton continued to scrap until the final whistle.
“It’s everything to stay poised on the road and just be with your brothers and be out there ready for whatever,” Neal said. “Obviously, basketball is a game of runs. We knew they were going to make their run, but we knew we had to come make our run right after, so that’s just what we did.”
The Jays snapped a 28-game home winning streak for the Huskies. Before Saturday, their last home loss came to Xavier on Jan. 25, 2023.
“Zero now,” Neal quipped during his post-game radio interview after learning about the streak his team ended.
Creighton improved to 12-6 overall and 5-2 in league play. The Jays are a game back of St. John’s and half a game back of Marquette, tied for third place in the conference standings with the Huskies. Saturday was also Creighton’s third quadrant one win, as St. John’s has climbed high enough in the NET to qualify alongside Kansas. The Jays have won five of their last six games.
“We’re improving, there’s no question,” McDermott said. “We had to retool everything when we lost Pop [Isaacs]. Jamiya’s role changed, Steven’s role changed, Mason [Miller], Jasen [Green], Fedor [Žugić], Jackson [McAndrew], Isaac [Traudt], everybody’s role changes when something like that happens and it takes a little bit of time for you to settle in and understand what we need from you and what your role is going to be with this new-look Bluejay team. We’re getting there, but to come and get a win like this with the respect we have for this program is huge for us. It keeps us in the conference race, which we want to be in.”
True Blue(jay)
Things looked ominous early as UConn raced out to a 10-2 lead in the first three and a half minutes. Creighton missed four of its first five shots and committed a turnover.
Then the Jays found Jamiya Neal on a cut for a layup, and it was on. He proceeded to score 12 points during a 15-4 Creighton run to put the Jays in front. Neal followed his layup with a catch-and-shoot 3, a dunk, a step-back 3 and a mid-range pull-up to take the lid off the rim for his team.
“They started off kind of fast, and I knew, obviously as a senior and a leader on this team, that I had to try to do something to get us going,” Neal said. “And tonight, that happened to be offense. I liked my matchup; I liked how they were guarding.”
Neal’s heater continued the rest of the half as he totaled 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting including 3-of-3 from deep, the highest-scoring half of his season. He made three of his first four shots (including two more dunks) in the second half before cooling off, finishing with a career-high 24 points on 10-of-16 from the field (3-of-5 from 3) and 1-of-2 from the free-throw line in 40 minutes.
He finished with just one assist, ending his streak of games with three or more to start his Bluejay career at 17, but he made up for it with extra buckets.
“Early they were trying to stretch us out, trying to pressure, and he was just able to get downhill and make some plays at the rim,” McDermott said. “He took really good shots, and I couldn’t be more proud of Jamiya’s development.”
“First year guys in our program, transfers, they haven’t exactly become themselves necessarily in the first year,” McDermott continued. “It usually takes late into that first year and into the second before they really grow into what we’d like them to be. Jamiya has had to switch gears, not only coming to a new place from Arizona State, but then after seven or eight games, nine games, his role changed when Pop goes down. So he has to play different, he has the ball in his hands more, he becomes more of a decision maker, and he’s adjusted to what we’ve asked him to do and I’m really proud of that.
“Some transfers want you to become them, and Jamiya has bought in and he’s become one of us, and the way we play and what we value, and today it was on full display.”
Filling Roles
Neal, Kalkbrenner and Ashworth were Creighton’s leading scorers as they usually are, but the Jays don’t win without significant contributions from the supporting cast.
First, Isaac Traudt followed up his four-minute heater against Providence with another double-digit scoring game. He finished with 11 points in 22 minutes, shooting 2-of-5 from 3 while drawing a foul on another deep attempt at the end of the first half, hitting all three free throws. Traudt turned it back to his high school days with a fadeaway off one foot to beat the shot clock buzzer in the second half. He also ripped down an offensive rebound that led to a second-chance 3 from Ashworth.
McDermott chose to ride with Traudt for the final 14:14 of the game and reaped the benefits. Creighton outscored UConn by 13 points with Traudt on the court, the best plus/minus in the game.
“With him and Jackson, they’re kind of playing 50-50 right now a little bit, and it’s kind of who’s got it going that night,” McDermott said. “We decided to ride with the group that was playing well defensively, and Isaac was part of that.”
The other contributions didn’t show up in the box score, unless you know where to look.
Karaban, UConn’s leading scorer, finished with eight points (half his average) on 3-of-12 shooting, including 0-of-3 from deep, and just two free throws. With future lottery pick Liam McNeeley stilled sidelined by an ankle injury, keeping Karaban in check was the key to the game, and that’s what the Jays did.
Green drew the assignment to start the game, while Miller took over when Green sat down. Karaban didn’t score in the first half at all, and Green blocked his first attempt from deep.
“Jasen and Mason’s job was to stay attached to him and not worry about switching, not worry about helping, just make his looks difficult,” McDermott said. “I thought they both did a terrific job. Mason had his fingerprints all over this win, and he didn’t take a shot. He just made some great plays for us on the defensive end of the floor.”
Miller played 26 minutes, recording one offense rebound, one assist, one foul and nothing else. However, Creighton won his minutes by nine, pushing his plus/minus over the last five games to plus-55 in 83 minutes on the court.
Even Shane Thomas, who only logged three seconds of playing time, did his job, executing a foul to give that wiped away a halfcourt shot for UConn and maintained Creighton’s seven-point lead heading into halftime.
“It definitely feels good to get this one under our belt,” Neal said. “It was one we really needed and I’m happy we did it as a team. I’m happy we get to walk out of here with a win.”