OMAHA, Neb. — Creighton enters the game against UW having lost all six previous games against No. 1 ranked teams and never getting closer than 10 points.
The No. 15 Blue Jays finally broke through on their seventh try, building a double-digit lead at the half and defeating the Huskies 85-66 on Tuesday night.
“We played a really good game and beat a great team, a team that had a legitimate chance to win the national championship,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “But we’re also pretty good.”
Creighton (20-7, 10-6 Big East) led by 23 points with 10 minutes left, but cut that lead to 10 points before holding the defending national champions scoreless on five straight possessions. I replaced the cushions and asked the students to leave their seats. As soon as the buzzer rang, I prepared to storm the courtroom.
UW (24-3, 14-2) saw its 14-game winning streak come to an end three days after defeating then-No. 4 Marquette by 28 points, the most impressive win of the season. The next day, he was unanimously voted No. 1 in an Associated Press poll for the first time this season.
“It felt like we ran into a rotating saw there,” UW coach Danny Hurley said.
Stephen Ashworth scored 16 of his 20 points in the first half, Trey Alexander added 16 points and Ryan Kalkbrenner added 15 points.
The Blue Jays made 14 of 28 3-pointers on a night that was their second-best shooting from beyond the arc this season. Creighton was just 6-of-26 from 3-point range in a 62-48 loss at UW last month.
“I have to admit that when I watched the Marquette-Yukon game, I wasn’t feeling too warm and fuzzy about our chances,” McDermott said.
Conditions appeared to be ripe for the Blue Jays. The team entered the game on a 22-point winning streak and was on a three-game winning streak, and Coach McDermott said the team’s offensive flow was the best it had been all season, with a packed and raucous crowd by its side.
The Huskies were playing their third game in seven days, and Hurley said his players’ body language in the team huddle after the Blue Jays took a lead and built it was not good.
“We’ve been doing great, but today I felt like we ran into them playing great and us not playing as well as we need to here in Omaha,” Hurley said. said. “We were definitely surprised. We knew this was a dangerous game. One of the best teams in the country. But we didn’t expect this to happen. did.”
UW’s Tristen Newton scored 17 of his 27 points in the second half, including 10 points during an 18-5 spurt to pull the Huskies within 74-64.
The Huskies made a season-low three threes on 16 attempts in their most lopsided loss since Houston beat them 84-45 on March 15, 2019 in the American Athletic Conference tournament. They entered the game with a Big East record three games in a row. Win by at least 25 points.
The Blue Jays made just two of their first nine shots and fell behind by eight points early, leading scorer Baylor Scheierman to the bench for eight minutes in the first half after picking up two fouls. Scheierman finished with 12 points.
The Huskies had their own problems. Donovan Clingan, a 7-foot-2, 280-pound center, was called for two quick fouls and played just 11 minutes in the first half, but while Creighton was finding a rhythm, University had just 10. Recorded 2 hits.
Reserves Francisco Farabello and Jacen Green made several big shots, leading to an 18-2 run. Fabello made two consecutive 3-pointers and Green made one from the corner to erase the Huskies’ lead.
Ashworth then made a shot from more than 30 feet to start a 13-point streak for the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays made 14 of their final 19 shots of the first half and returned to the locker room with a 43-29 lead.
“When you’re in your home gym, you’re more confident, and the fans were a big part of that,” Ashworth said. “It was definitely home court advantage and we got a little carried away in the first half.”
