#24 Creighton Men's Basketball Falls to Connecticut, 70-66

OMAHA, Neb. -- No. 24 Creighton Men's Basketball saw its nine-game win streak come to an end as the Bluejays dropped a 70-66 contest to Connecticut on Tuesday, Feb. 11.

The loss moved Creighton to 18-7 on the season and 11-3 in BIG EAST action, while the Huskies climbed to 17-7 overall and 9-4 in conference contests. It was UConn's first win in Omaha in five tries.

A back-and-forth contest through the opening 10 minutes saw Creighton take control with a 14-2 run. Leading 23-21, the Bluejays rattled off nine straight behind consecutive buckets from Jamiya Neal and Jasen Green, followed by five points from Jackson McAndrew. After a Connecticut bucket broke the streak, Neal delivered five more to give the Bluejays its largest lead at 37-23. Connecticut, however, closed the half with a 6-0 run to draw within 37-29 at the break.

The Huskies' charge continued with the first seven points of the second half, but Creighton held off Connecticut by getting to the free throw line. Connecticut seized its first lead of the contest with 11:56 remaining at 48-46 on a three-pointer from freshman Liam McNeeley. The Huskies went on to push their lead to as much as eight, but Creighton battled back draw even at 65-65 with 2:00 remaining.

Connecticut immediately got a floater to fall from Alex Karaban to regain the lead. The Bluejays saw a pair of three-pointers rattle in-and-out down the stretch that easily could have changed the outcome and UConn made 3-of-5 free throws in the final 20 seconds to hold off the hosts.

Steven Ashworth and Ryan Kalkbrenner led Creighton with 13 points, while Neal closed the contest with 12 in the loss.  Creighton shot 40.4 percent from the field and held an 11-4 lead in bench points, but were outscored 20-8 in the paint after the break.

Connecticut got a game-high 38 points from freshman McNeeley and 11 points from Solo Ball. The 38 points by McNeeley were the most by a Bluejay opponent since UConn's James Bouknight had 40 in 2020 and featured 23 in the second half. The Huskies won the board battle 39-36 and held a 13-0 advantage in second-chance points.

Creighton returns to the hardwood in Madison Square Garden as the Bluejays face No. 9 St. John's on Sunday, Feb. 16 at 2:00 p.m. on FS1.

NOTES: Creighton's program-record nine-game BIG EAST win streak was snapped ... Creighton is now 8-3 all-time against UConn ... Steven Ashworth had his 42-game streak of a made three-pointer snapped, as well as his streak of 31 straight free throws made that ranked tied for seventh-longest in program history. Ashworth is the only player in CU history to have multiple streaks of 30 straight free throws made, and now has done it three times ... Creighton fell to 10-1 all-time at home against teams with the nickname of Huskies ... Ryan Kalkbrenner moved into 37th in NCAA history with 373 career blocked shots ... Kalkbrenner also moved into fifth in league history with 609 career rebounds in BIG EAST play ... Ryan Kalkbrenner played the entire game.