Jays Knock Off UConn On The Road

STORRS, Conn. -- Josh Dix ((21),  Nik Graves (18) and Fedor Zugic (14) scored season-highs as Creighton men's basketball shocked fifth-ranked Connecticut on Wednesday night with an 91-84 victory inside Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. 

Creighton improved to 14-13 on the season and evened its BIG EAST record to 8-8 in league play while picking up a Top 10 victory for an 11th straight season. Connecticut fell to 23-3 overall and 14-2 in league play.

Both teams started fast, with Creighton building a 20-15 lead after just eight minutes after Austin Swartz came in and drained a three-pointer seconds later. The teams exchanged the lead seven times in the first 12 minutes with just one combined turnover as Nik Graves owned seven points and Jasen Green six rebounds in the early going. Graves' second three-point play of the half gave Creighton its largest lead at 40-34 with 3:10 to play in the first half. UConn drew even in the closing seconds of the first half to tie the game at 45-all going to the intermission.

Graves led CU with 12 points while Fedor Zugic owned nine points in the opening half as CU shot 51.6 percent from the field before the break. CU also led 19-16 on the glass, 22-20 in the paint and 8-6 in transition in the first half. Tarris Reed Jr. led UConn with 13 points and six rebounds but missed the final 4:18 of the first half after picking up his second personal foul. The Huskies were hounded by foul trouble throughout the first half, as Solo Ball had three fouls and Reed and Silas Demary Jr. each had a pair.

Braylon Mullins, who scored UConn's final six points before the half, went on a personal 5-0 run to start the second half as UConn took a 50-45 lead. The Husky margin grew as big as 55-48 before CU rallied to quiet the crowd, getting three-pointers by Graves and Josh Dix to take its first lead of the half at 59-57 with 13:25 remaining. UConn countered with Mullins' fourth triple for the game's 10th lead change.

Creighton used an 11-2 run to build a 70-65 lead and force UConn head coach Dan Hurley to use a timeout with 7:31 to play. Blake Harper drained a three-pointer with 5:48 left for his first points of the game to give CU a 73-65 lead, only to have Mullins answer with a his fifth triple of the contest. Harper gave CU a 77-68 lead with 3:33 to play with a spinning jumper to beat the shot clock heading into the final media timeout.

CU's defense held UConn without points for nearly five minutes to maintain its lead, then went up 10 (80-70) with 1:25 to play on a corner three-pointer from Blake Harper. Harper later made two free throws with 46.9 left to give CU an 85-73 lead and the Jays made their foul shots down the stretch to hang on.

Harper didn't check in until 8:08 remained but scored 12 points and grabbed two rebounds down the stretch to supplement the big scoring nights from Dix, Graves and Zugic. Creighton shot 49.1 percent for the game and made 47.6 percent of its 21 three-point tries. The Jays were also 27-for-32 at the free throw line, including 17-for-18 in the second half. Creighton also won the rebound battle 41-35, led by 11 from Jasen Green.

Mullins led UConn with 25 points, including six three-pointers. Reed had 15 points and 12 rebounds while Demary owned 17 points and nine assists. The Huskies shot 43.7 percent from the field and dished 21 assists against just five turnovers.

Creighton will stay on the road until Saturday's 11 a.m. game at No. 17 St. John's inside Madison Square Garden. That game will air on FOX, as well as 1620 The Zone and 101.9 The Keg.