Friday night’s BIG EAST Tournament semifinal between Creighton and UConn had something for everyone. At least on paper.
The matchup featured the Bluejays, who came into the game as the second-ranked offensive machine in the conference while the Huskies countered by showing up with the league’s top defensive unit.
Creighton brought the top two three-point shooters in the conference in Mitch Ballock (69 three balls) and Marcus Zegarowski (66) while UConn boasted its ultra-talented sophomore guard James Bouknight, a player many view as a possible lottery pick in the NBA later this year.
It had the buildup of a classic heavyweight bout - No. 2 Creighton looking for its third trip to the title game with the hopes of earning its first ever tournament crown. And No. 3 UConn, hell bent on a return to the BIG EAST title game for the first time since 2011 after returning to the conference after a seven-year hiatus.
But while the expected offensive fireworks never materialized, it still had that heavyweight fight feel to it all the way to the final horn.
With UConn down three points with 20.4 seconds to play, Bouknight started the final frenzied seconds of the game by misfiring on a three-point attempt with 16 seconds to play. After UConn’s Tyler Polley grabbed the rebound, he fed Bouknight again, but this time he missed on a layup attempt with nine second to play. Still Creighton couldn’t snag a rebound which led to UConn getting one final shot at tying the game and forcing overtime. But Polley’s wide open three-point attempt from near the Huskies’ bench also missed the mark and when Denzel Mahoney finally corralled the victory-sealing rebound, the Bluejays were finally able to exhale as they held on for a thrilling 59-56 victory.
Creighton (20-7) will now face No. 8 seed Georgetown for the BIG EAST championship Saturday night at 6 p.m.
“It seemed like a couple of balls that they shot were up in the air forever,” a relieved Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said. “We thought they were going to try and get a quick two and Damien Jefferson did a great job of cutting off Bouknight’s initial penetration and made him take a tough three. But then they had a great tip out and then we were in scramble mode and fortunately they had a decent look there at the end and they missed it.”
The final play on Bouknight was just the capper on a great defensive night by the Bluejays. That’s right, defensive night. Yes, Creighton has long been considered an elite offensive unit that simply outscores its opponents. But this season the Bluejays have morphed into a very steady defensive team and it certainly paid off handsomely Friday night at the Garden.
The combination of Denzel Mahoney and Jefferson held Bouknight to a quiet 14 points on 4-of-14 shooting and 0-for-3 from three-point range. And McDermott had high praise for his team’s defensive effort in the victory, especially since Bouknight went off for 40 points against the Bluejays earlier this season.
“We just made sure we showed him a few more bodies tonight, that he was seeing numbers as he tried to turn the corner,” McDermott said. “And then when Denzel got in foul trouble, you got to tip your hat to Damien Jefferson. He hasn’t practiced one rep guarding him and we flipped him over there because we wanted that size and length and DJ did a great job, especially the last possession. I think they were trying to get a quick two and DJ cut off the driving lane and made him take a tough three and then we got fortunate that they missed a couple of threes.”
As if reaching the BIG EAST title game with a win wasn’t motivation enough for the Bluejays, outside influences also had an effect on the Creighton players as they heard the whispers and the social media banter that Friday night was going to be the Huskies’ night.
“We had a group chat with us and the coaches and they were just sending us tweets about what everyone was saying about who the favorite to win the BIG EAST conference championship was and everybody was saying it was going to be UConn,” said Jefferson, who logged a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. “That just added fuel to the fire and we came out there and we used it as fuel.”
The Bluejays will have little time to savor this victory as they now turn their attention to Georgetown in a battle for the championship hardware. Creighton hopes the third time’s the charm after the Bluejays lost in the conference title game in both 2014 and 2017.
“We got to play Georgetown just like how we approach every game,” Jefferson said. “Play the Creighton way, play the right way and get some stops. Going in we know we have to contain their bigs and contain their guards. They got nice guards in (Jahvon) Blair and the freshman (Dante) Harris. So we got to contain them and do what we can with (Qudus) Wahab because we know he’s a force in the paint. Once we do that we’re going to be good.”