UConn Cruises Past Creighton in Annual Cancer Pink Out Game
Creighton Bluejays (12-10, 6-5 Big East) got outplayed by the red-hot UConn Huskies (21-1, 11-0 Big East), 85-58 on Saturday night at the CHI Health Center Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska.
Huskies and Bluejays made it competitive in the first 15 minutes of the game. Afterwards, it was total dominance by the Huskies; they are the first team in the Big East to reach 11-0 since 1999, when Jim Calhoun was the coach. Everything was going right for the Huskies. Four players finished in double figures.
Alex Karaban scored six points in the first half. He finished the game with 15. Silas Demary Jr added 15 points and six rebounds. Solo Ball finished with 11. The star for the Huskies was guard Braylon Mullins. He led the Huskies with 16 points in 30 minutes.
UConn shot 54 percent from the field, won the rebound battle 37 to 24, and had 23 second-chance points. Creighton head coach Greg McDermott gave a lot of credit to UConn during his postgame press conference.
“UConn is terrific, especially when they shoot the basketball like that,” McDermott said. “With Mullins back, he just provides so much spacing to their team. He’s got incredible range, gets it off really quickly. It’s just one of those nights where they were all making shots.”
Nik Graves and Blake Harper made their return to the starting lineup. The team misses them on the court. Graves led the team with 17 points. Harper added 11 pounds and 5 rebounds. Graves and Harper were the only Bluejays in double figures. It wasn’t enough for Creighton to win.
The Bluejays struggled heavily from the three-point line. After starting the second half going 0-for-11 from downtown, the Bluejays couldn’t bounce back after that.
It felt like a different UConn-Creighton head-to-head matchup because it was the first time the Bluejays didn’t have Ryan Kalkbrenner on their side. Kalkbrenner finished his college career last spring.
Although losing is never a good feeling, on this night, there was something more important. When it’s a topic about cancer, it’s a huge deal. It impacts everyone.
The Annual Cancer Pick Out game is a special occasion. A sold-out arena raises money for a good cause. It’s essential to bring awareness. Everyone in every seat was wearing a pink shirt. The impact that it can have on players and coaches is emotional and inspiring. The event makes a big difference in the community.
“Cancer impacts everybody,” McDermott said. “We all know someone who’s gone on that journey. Some have beaten it. Some have lost the battle. Some are going through it right now. We started the link out 21 years ago. There was a group of people that formed a committee that made this the gold standard of this type of event in the country.”
Creighton will play Georgetown on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Central time.
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