Senior guard Nik Graves was right when he said to not count the Bluejays out in the postgame interview following their 80-69 loss to Villanova at CHI Health Center on Feb. 14.
“I think we still have a lot of basketball to play. We still have a goal, at the end of the day, to make the tournament and make a run, so at the end of the day we’ve got to stack days,” Graves said when asked about playing UConn and St. John’s on the road in the coming week.
It didn’t matter that the Bluejays made just eight total threes in 27 attempts over 40 minutes against the Wildcats, or even that they lost the offensive battle in the paint 48-34. After 13 losses, the rest of the country might have started to count the Bluejays out, but the players in the locker room were anything but finished.
Four days later, in Storrs, Conn., they proved why they shouldn’t be counted out.
On Feb. 18, the shooting woes of games past stopped in their tracks and defensive woes were minimized as the Creighton men’s basketball team outlasted No. 5 UConn on the road, 91-84, stunning the top-five squad and delivering arguably the biggest win of the season.
“I’ve been doing this a long time and I’m not sure I’ve been as proud of a team as I am tonight,” head coach Greg McDermott said. “We’ve had a lot of great wins in my 16 years at Creighton, but given what this team is going through these last few weeks, to come in here and defeat a team that we respect so much in UConn, on their floor, is pretty special.”
The game that unfolded between the baselines was knotted tight from the start.
UConn sharpshooter Solo Ball got the ball rolling with a triple on UConn’s opening possession, but the Bluejays responded with a jumper from Graves in the paint, a good sign for a Creighton team that has been slow to heat up from the field numerous times this season.
The Bluejays’ success from the field at the onset of the game could be pinned to many factors, but one was Creighton’s emphasis on getting into the paint. All of Creighton’s first six shots came from inside the arc, an abnormality for a three-point-heavy team.
While not all of these first six shots fell, this type of offensive approach allowed the Bluejays to get looks they could be confident in from the onset.
“We were able to attack the rim early in the game and we’ve talked since the Villanova game in practice the last few days about our pace and how it’s kind of fallen, and that was really our focus for two days of practice was to get the pace of the game, makes or misses, and I thought that set the tempo for the first half,” McDermott said.
Creighton and UConn continued to trade shots in the opening minutes, and it wasn’t until seven minutes passed that the Bluejays found a slight edge. Tied at 14-14, Creighton executed a quick 6-1 run over one minute to take a five-point lead, 20-15.
A quick response from the Huskies evened the score less than 30 seconds later, and this cadence continued, the lead changing seven times in 12 minutes.
The Bluejays quieted the 10,244 UConn fans in the stands when they reached their largest lead of the half, 40-34, with 3:10 left before the break.
That lead wasn’t sustained for long, as the Huskies ended the half on a good note, putting together a 12-5 run bolstered by six points from freshman threat Braylon Mullins.
Mullins’ solo scoring spree in the final minute of the half began with 37 seconds remaining and ended with a buzzer-beater three. Before the 37-second mark, though, Mullins had gone 1-of-6 to begin the half and, after scoring with 13:47 in the paint, hadn’t scored again until under a minute.
Despite the slow start, Mullins’ scoring in that final minute was well-timed, helping the Huskies even the score at 45 apiece heading into the break.
Graves led the Bluejay squad with 12 points in the half, while junior guard Fedor Zugic, making his first collegiate start, contributed nine points. As a collective, the Bluejays shot 51.6% from the field and held critical edges in rebounding (19-16), paint points (22-20) and transition points (8-6).
While Mullins opened the first half out of rhythm, he found his stride by the closing minutes and carried that momentum straight into the second.
UConn’s freshman guard came out of the break and went on a solo 5-0 run, helping the Huskies rack up a quick 50-45 lead.
Fueled by Mullins’ firepower and strengthened by the renewed energy of the crowd, the Huskies reached a 55-48 lead with 16:03 remaining in the game before the Bluejays came roaring back.
The two-minute, momentum-shifting sequence began when Graves reignited Creighton’s offense with a triple, pushing the score within four. Huskies center Tarris Reed Jr. responded with a dunk in the paint to give UConn a six-point lead, 57-51, before Green got fouled on the next possession and made both free throws to lessen the gap to four for the second time.
Graves once again came in clutch for the Bluejays, swishing another triple at 14:08 to put Creighton within one, 57-56. This time, though, UConn couldn’t find a response, putting the Bluejays in a critical position to take the lead.
It was none other than senior guard Josh Dix who capitalized, drilling a triple for a 59-57 score with 13:31 left and providing the Bluejays with their first lead of the half.
Mullins, though, couldn’t be contained, draining his fourth 3-pointer on the next play to reclaim the lead.
“Our guys were incredibly connected. We were able to take a lot of waves of shotmaking by UConn, Mullins in particular, and kept on fighting,” McDermott said.
That fight allowed the Bluejays to stitch together an 11-2 run as the half wore on, starting at a three-point deficit, 63-60, and ending with a 70-65 lead with 7:36 left to play.
Right in the middle of that surge — at the eight-minute mark — sophomore guard Blake Harper delivered the sequence that ultimately proved pivotal in closing out the top-five matchup.
Subbing in for the first time with 8:08 remaining, the Howard transfer converted big for the Bluejays, cashing in on his first of two triples with 5:45 remaining. Mullins countered again with his fifth triple of the night to keep the Bluejays in it, but Harper came back two minutes later with a paint jumper to give Creighton a 77-68 lead with 3:33 remaining.
Five points in the final eight minutes weren’t enough for Harper, though. With 1:30 remaining, the Bluejay guard drilled another three to put his team back up 10, 80-70, before stepping up to the charity stripe with 47 seconds left.
Unable to hide the smile on his face, Harper made both free throws, putting Creighton up 12 and icing the game.
When the horn sounded in a now-silent Gampel Pavilion, the Bluejays grabbed their first quad-one win of the season, defeating the No. 5 team in the nation 91-84.
“Coming in here and beating the top-five team in the world, that’s the ultimate confidence booster for your team,” Dix said. “I feel like we haven’t played as we could have the whole year and this shows what we’re capable of.”
Dix led the Bluejays in offensive production, reaching a season-high 21 points in 32 minutes on the floor. Graves was also essential to Creighton’s upset win, scoring 18 points to go along with a team-high five assists. In his first start, Zugic also made his mark, shooting 4-of-7 from the field and grabbing five rebounds to pair with 14 points.
A balanced offensive attack also headlined the Big East upset win. Creighton shot a collective 49.1% from the field and 47.6% from three. They made 27-of-32 free throws and recorded 30 paint points.
“We were able to get downhill, we were able to get in the paint, we were able to get to the free throw line [and] we made our free throws,” McDermott said. “We come in here and shoot 32 free throws and normally we live and die by the three — and we still made 10 of those — but it was a perfect offensive game for us against a very good team.”
Creighton held UConn’s Alex Karaban to two points and Solo Ball to eight points on 3-of-10 from the field. Mullins finished the game with 25 points and Reed Jr. with 15, but Creighton’s offensive production was enough to push them to a victory that was needed in more ways than one.
“That locker room is still healing and they needed a shot in the arm. We’ve struggled the last six or seven games and we’ve been through a lot as a group. There’s been a lot of tears and they needed something like this,” McDermott said. “It’s a great win for us and it’s a tough road trip coming here and then going to St. John’s on Saturday, but to come here and get this win … I’m not sure I’ve ever been prouder of a group.”
The Bluejays can’t spend too long celebrating a top-five win, as the next challenge comes tomorrow against No. 17 St. John’s at Madison Square Garden. Creighton is well-versed in the tough matchup on the horizon, but the victory in Storrs, Conn. served as a reminder of what this team is capable of.
“[The St. John’s matchup is] going to be another tough game but if we stay locked in these next couple of days, I think we’ll have a good chance. [If] we play like we did tonight — play fast and do the little things — we’ll be alright,” Dix said.