No. 5 UConn men’s basketball upset in 91-84 loss to Creighton as shaky defense shows up again
· Yahoo Sports
STORRS – There was a big-game atmosphere in Gampel Pavilion on Wednesday night, but the UConn men’s basketball team had fans streaming out of the building with time still on the game clock as its regressing defense had it facing a double-figure deficit against Creighton, a team it beat by 27 points on the road less than three weeks ago.
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The fifth-ranked Huskies extended the game, but not long enough to overcome the shot-making of the Bluejays as they pulled away for a 91-84 win.
UConn, losing on campus for the second time this season, dropped to 24-3 overall and 14-2 in the Big East. With Creighton coming in at No. 83 in the NET rankings, it was the first Quad 3 loss for the Huskies this year.
Creighton, which shot 49% from the field and 48% from beyond the arc, improved to 14-13 on the year and 8-8 in the league.
The Bluejays were led by a 21-point effort from forward Josh Dix, who lost his mother to cancer just days after the Huskies went to Omaha for the annual Pink Out game. UConn honored his mom, Kelly, with a moment of silence before the game.
The game featured 12 ties and 11 lead changes, but UConn went just 13-for-37 (35%) from the field in the second half and gave up its highest point total of the season in regulation.
The offense ran through Silas Demary Jr. (17 points, nine assists) to start as he scored or assisted on 15 of 20 UConn points through the first nine minutes of the game.
Then Malachi Smith, maybe sparked by Hurley’s plea for more bench production, took the controls and sparked a 5-0 run with a corner 3-pointer to get the “White Out” crowd going. But the Huskies continued to struggle on the perimeter defensively and allowed back-to-back drives into the paint for layups after the Creighton timeout.
The Bluejays shot 51.6% from the field in the first half, getting bounces regardless of how hard the Huskies fouled (nine times in the first half). Guard Nik Graves (18 points) took a Demary hand to the face and was sitting on the hardwood as he watched his midrange attempt hang on the rim and fall in to give Creighton its largest lead, 40-34, with just over three minutes left in the half.
Jayden Ross started the response from the Huskies as he forced a steal and sprinted up the court for a fastbreak layup before Alex Karaban fed Eric Reibe under the basket. Braylon Mullins, who struggled at both ends of the court for most of the first half, converted a three-point play and knocked down a 3-pointer to tie the game at 45 just before the halftime ceremony retiring Emeka Okafor’s No. 50.
The 2004 national champion joined Ray Allen (No. 34) and Rip Hamilton (No. 32) as the only UConn men’s basketball players to have their number retired.
The prized freshman, Mullins, came out of the locker room the way he went into it, nailing a 3-pointer 14 seconds into the second half. He scored five points out of the gate before Demary took over with his active hands on defense, forcing turnovers and sprinting the court for five-straight points as UConn opened the half on a 10-3 run.
Creighton, making its mark from the 3-point line with a 4-for-6 start to the second half, answered with an 8-0 spurt to jump back ahead.
Huskies’ fans had a quick scare after Mullins landed awkwardly and wore a brace on his left knee for a short stint on the bench before he came back into the game and immediately went flying for an alley-oop pass. He missed the finish, but reassured the crowd he was okay with back-to-back 3-pointers, his third and fourth of the game.
Mullins finished with a game-high 25 points and six rebounds. Tarris Reed Jr. added 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Huskies.
But the offense fell flat, making just one of 10 attempts from the field over the next six minutes as Creighton went on a 14-2 run. Mullins took the lid off the rim with his fifth 3-pointer of the night, but the Bluejays kept getting shots to fall and built a nine-point lead, the largest of the night for either team.