UConn's rise to the top of the college basketball world has finally come to an end.
No. 15 Creighton completely surprised the top-ranked Huskies on Tuesday night at CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska. The Blue Jays achieved a big win in the Big East with an 85-66 come-from-behind victory over UW.
Naturally, the win was the first in program history against the No. 1 team, so there was a huge celebration on the court.
“This is a historic game for our program,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said via The Associated Press. “I told the team in the locker room, it's been a long, hard work by a lot of people to give these guys the opportunity to wear this uniform and play in front of a crowd.” do.
“We played a really good game and beat a great team, a team that has a legitimate chance to win the national championship. But we were pretty good too.”
The win was the latest for UConn, which continued its dominance for months and quickly pulled away from other teams as the nation's strongest team. The Huskies opened Tuesday night with a 24-2 record, fresh off a 28-point blowout win over the then No. 1 team. 4 Marquette. They haven't lost since losing by 15 points to Seton Hall in the opening game of conference play on Dec. 20. The first time the two schools met in Storrs, they easily defeated Creighton and were on a 14-game winning streak, the longest in the nation.
But Tuesday night was completely different. Creighton couldn't afford to miss out early on.
Creighton stormed back at the end of the first half and took a commanding 14-point lead into the locker room. The Blue Jays ended the period on a 22-6 run that spanned over eight minutes, while holding Yukon to just 1-of-7 from behind the arc. Stephen Ashworth scored 16 points on four 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes.
Creighton then opened the second half with an 8-2 outburst, quickly expanding its lead to 20 points. UW briefly came back late, but the Huskies cut the lead to 10 points with an 18-5 burst just before the 4-and-under timeout, but it was too late. Creighton held on in the final minutes and won by 19 points.
“It felt like we ran into a rotating saw there,” UW coach Dan Hurley said.
Tristen Newton led the University with 27 points and 12 rebounds. Donovan Clingan, who was in foul trouble early on, had 12 points and seven rebounds. They were the only two UConn players to reach double-digit hits. As a team, the Huskies were only 3-of-16 from behind the basket.
Ashworth slowed down in the second half but led the Blue Jays with 20 points. Ryan Kalkbrenner had 15 points and six rebounds, and Trey Alexander had 16 points. Creighton shot nearly 55 percent from the field as a team, going 14-of-28 from the 3-point line.
Creighton currently has a 20-7 record with four games left in the regular season. While this win was a big help, it may be too late for the Blue Jays to overtake UConn and claim the Big East's top seed before the tournament even begins.
Although Tuesday's loss is shocking, UW is still in a good position to earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies have four games remaining in the Big East Tournament and can bounce back with another big win against Marquette on March 6th. But Creighton's win reminded the nation that it's inevitable the Huskies will cut the nets again in April.
