Tempers Flare as Creighton Show Boats To End Big East Semifinal
The UConn Huskies trailed the Creighton Blue Jays by as much as 18 points in the first half of Friday Night's Big East Semifinal. As every Husky fan would expect, UConn showed no quit and fought to the final whistle.
UConn cut the Creighton lead down to as little as four points with less than four minutes to go, and the intensity of the game ticked up a notch. It finally boiled over as Creighton guard Jamiya Neal grabbed a long outlet pass with under 10 seconds to go threw down a windmill jam and finished with a mighty pull-up on the rim, a move that sparked quite a reaction.
Hassan Diarra took exception to the move and raced down the court right into Neal's face.
After Neal's dunk, UConn's Diarra pushes Neal and words are exchanged. pic.twitter.com/C7upaurX6q
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) March 15, 2025
After an initial shove, Diarra raised his fists like it was going to be a fight, but cooler heads prevailed.
On the sidelines, Blue Jays head coach Greg McDermott and Dan Hurley shook hands as it was clear an apology was relayed between the two head coaches. Then, tempers flared up again when UConn assistant coach Luke Murray got into it with McDermott and more yelling ensued.
A couple of technicals were assessed to members of each team, no punches were thrown and no blood was shed. Just a heated way to end an old-school Big East tournament game.
For UConn, their chance at repeating as Big East champion has disappeared. They now turn their attention to Selection Sunday to see where they will be placed in the NCAA Tournament.
According to ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi, they are projected to be a No. 8 seed in the east region. Their No. 1 seed is potentially the Duke Blue Devils.
An opening-round game against Baylor and a day two matchup between Duke and UConn in the Round of 32 would be must-see television. We'll know on Sunday if that is a reality.
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Anthony Moeglin is a northeast Ohio native, who most notably quarterbacked John Carroll University to the NCAA DIII National Semifinals in 2016 after beating the No. 1 team in the country twice in a 4-week stretch. He contributes written and video/podcast content across a variety of the sites in the On SI network, including regular video coverage of the Cleveland Browns, Ohio State Buckeyes, Cleveland Cavaliers.