(PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS – JESSICA HILL)
UConn dropped their fifth game of the season, falling to Creighton 59-55 in Hartford at the XL Center on Tuesday evening.
Creighton controlled the pace from the opening tip, outrebounding and outhustling UConn on both ends. UConn, a team top in the Big East, couldn’t hold up against another strong interior team in the first half, where they fell to a ten-point hole at the break. Ryan Hawkins led Creighton’s strong offensive play, where he had a double-double with 23 points and 11 boards, while shooting four for five from beyond the arc, including a friendly bounce to end the first half to stifle any UConn momentum heading into the half.
🚨 BEATS THE HALFTIME BUZZER 🚨@ryanhawkins8 gets the friendly roll for @BlueJayMBB pic.twitter.com/LvahONpjcP
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) February 2, 2022
UConn’s abysmal first-half performance didn’t have many bright spots, but one was the performance of Isaiah Whaley. “The Wrench” lived up to his nickname, scoring UConn’s first 9 points, and ending with a career-high of 20 points, while adding on six rebounds and four blocks. Whaley, after being left with 15 feet of space from three, the whole game knocked down team-high four triples at a 50% clip.
Give @IsaiahWhaley room and he'll burn you 🥵 @UConnMBB ties the game! pic.twitter.com/QpPk0sUV1L
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) February 2, 2022
Outside of Whaley, there wasn’t much positive to look at on the offensive end from UConn. The rest of the team shot a miserable 22% from the field, hitting only one other three. Adama Sanogo had a strong day on the glass with nine rebounds but tallied only 8 points, half of what he typically scores this year. The bench also contributed very few meaningful minutes, with a combined 2 points, three rebounds, and two assists across Akok, Polley, Hawkins, and Gaffney. RJ Cole posted 13 points of his own but continues to be highly inefficient from the floor, shooting 31% tonight and only 40% on the season.
The game’s story was about the men in the white and black and their whistles. Typically, you hear fans from one side of the aisle or the other complaining about how they went that night. That was not the case for UConn against Creighton. There were very few fouls in the first half, and when the fouls started piling up in the second half, the game stayed extremely physical, and the calls truly went both ways. This wouldn’t usually be a point of conversation but coming off of the under-four media timeout in the second half, RJ Cole found himself at the stripe with UConn down 4.
Typically, Cole, a near 90% free throw shooter, would be good to make the front and back end of the one and one without much sweat. Every fan in the building talked about cutting the lead to 2 with 3:30 to play. Fans were thinking how even though UConn had been playing poorly the last 36 minutes, every issue could be redeemed with a solid final 4 minutes on both ends.
Cole uncharacteristically missed the front end of the one and one, taking the air out of the building where they witnessed one of the great free-throw shooters in the country miss a vital crunch-time free throw, a spot where he has converted time and time again for the Huskies. He was sent to the line again later and only converted 1 out of 2, leaving him an uncharacteristic three for five from the line for the game.
Cole was not the only one who had problems down the stretch, as Tyrese Martin had a chance with 37 seconds left to cut the Bluejays lead to 2. He converted one out of two, leaving the Huskies in a 3 point hole they couldn’t climb out of.
Despite the obvious opportunity to point the finger at these two stars, the blame needs to be placed on the entire UConn team, going without a field goal for over 7 minutes, from the 7:13 mark to the 0:05 seconds mark, sandwiched by three-pointers by Isaiah Whaley and Andre Jackson. That performance will not hold up against many teams in a possible seven-bid Big East Conference this year. Finding a way to get players other than RJ Cole shots will be key moving forward. In addition to finding a second guy to make his own shot, designed plays out of the timeout continue to be a problem. They lead to shot clock violations, turnovers, and poor shots way more often than not. UConn needs to take care of the ball and find quality shots when it truly matters most. If they can find a way to consistently score as a team and relieve the strain from RJ Cole’s back from carrying the load, this UConn team has the talent to make a deep run in March.
UConn ends the day falling to 15-5 overall and 6-3 in the Big East, while Creighton picks up a marquee win, boosting their record to 13-7 and 5-4 in the Big East. They will have another opportunity to prove their status in the Big East against 12 seeded Villanova at the Wells Fargo Center Saturday afternoon at 12 PM. This marks the beginning of a massive stretch for the Huskies, where they play five ranked teams in seven games, including two against the aforementioned Villanova and number 21 Xavier. You can watch the game live on FOX.
