Dan Hurley and the Huskies suffered a rare upset at Gampel Pavilion on Wednesday night.
No. 5 UConn fell apart down the stretch, giving a Creighton team that was struggling in a down year in Omaha a very solid 91-84 upset win. It was the biggest win so far this season for the Blue Jays, who are just 14-13 and need some help heading into the NCAA Tournament.
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UConn’s loss was only the team’s third all season, but it both put their hopes of a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament at serious risk and opened the door for Rick Pitino and St. John’s to capture the Big East title.
After a tense first half, both teams headed into halftime, but Creighton eventually took the lead in the final minutes and UConn’s offense collapsed. Creighton went on a 14-5 run late in the second half, in which the Huskies made 10 of 11 shots to pull away. The Blue Jays extended their lead to 12 points at the top and held a seven-point lead ever since.
For the Blue Jays, the win also seemed to come out of the blue. They entered Wednesday night’s game having lost six of their past eight games. The only win during this period was by two points. Up until this point, their record against Quad I teams was just 1-8. But it’s worth noting that they still remain atop the Big East standings, sitting in fifth place with four games remaining in the regular season.
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Creighton, however, is unlikely to make an NCAA tournament bid unless it beats No. 17 St. John’s in Manhattan on Saturday and moves on to the Big East tournament.
UConn won 22 of 23 games to start the season and has now lost two of its last four after losing at St. John’s last week. However, the loss knocked the Huskies out of first place in the Big East standings, now a half-game behind the Red Storm. If they’re not perfect, or close to it, a top seed in the NCAA tournament may be out of reach the rest of the way.
Next week’s rematch between the two teams leading the Big East suddenly takes on more importance heading into the conference tournament.
This article will be updated soon with more information.