No. 4 UCONN force 13 Creighton turnovers and pull away for win in second half

Ryan Nembhard turnovers aren’t necessarily rare. As poised as Creighton’s sophomore guard tends to be, he can still find himself throwing away a couple passes a game.

Seldom is he pushed around, forced to lose his handle and appear less than composed. Then came Creighton’s 69-60 loss to UConn at Gampel Pavilion on Saturday.

Connecticut had CU’s guards in a living hell, unafraid to dig into them and live in their faces. They were swiped at, clawed at, pushed around. Ryan Nembhard caught the worst of it.

Huskies guard Tristen Newton clamped down on him, forcing the 6-foot guard to fumble the ball more than once. By the end of the night, Creighton’s 13 turnovers weren’t close to Connecticut’s 5.

The Jays hadn’t been nearly as aggressive with the Huskies.

Everything came crashing down for the Jays, who had took a second-half lead behind a 14-2 run, when UConn entered a full-court press with eight minutes to play.

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The Huskies entered their press with the confidence of a hyper AAU team. They licked their chops as the Jays, who’d coughed the ball up more than enough times for UConn to know its press could put the game out of reach if it worked.

Then came three straight turnovers for CU, flipping the game and forcing the entire gym to its feet.

A deflection here. A bad pass there. Creighton simply being roughed up to the point it tipped the ball out of bounds.

Saturday’s version of the Jays — which looked eerily similar to the team that stepped foot in Fiserv Forum last month — didn’t stand a chance.

Huskies guard Jordan Hawkins had playfully ran through screens all afternoon. After his group successfully pressed the Jays, he found himself with his most wide-open look of the day on a curl beyond the 3.

Adama Sanogo helped dictate the game behind a strong double-digit scoring first half. He seemingly only got tougher to defend once Creighton collapsed.

With three minutes to go, UConn was wiping its hands of Creighton. The Jays were far too rattled to put themselves back in the game.

The 2022-23 Creighton men’s basketball team

JASEN GREEN

Position: Forward

Hometown: Omaha, Neb.

LILY SMITH, THE WORLD-HERALD

BEN SHTOLZBERG

Position: Guard

Hometown: Northridge, Calif.

LILY SMITH, THE WORLD-HERALD

RYAN NEMBHARD

Position: Guard

Hometown: Aurora, Ontario, Canada

ANNA REED, THE WORLD-HERALD

SHEREEF MITCHELL

Position: Guard

Hometown: Omaha, Neb.

ANNA REED, THE WORLD-HERALD

FRANCISCO FARABELLO

Position: Guard

Hometown: Canada de Gomez, Argentina

LILY SMITH, THE WORLD-HERALD

ZANDER YATES

Position: Forward

Hometown: Germantown, Tenn.

LILY SMITH, THE WORLD-HERALD

RYAN KALKBRENNER 

Position: Center

Hometown: Florissant, Mo. 

LILY SMITH, THE WORLD-HERALD

MASON MILLER

Position: Forward

Hometown: Germantown, Tenn.

LILY SMITH, THE WORLD-HERALD

SAMI OSMANI

Position: Guard

Hometown: Oak Lawn, Ill. 

ANNA REED/THE WORLD-HERALD

JOHN CHRISTOFILIS

Position: Guard

Hometown: Seattle, Wash.

ANNA REED, THE WORLD-HERALD

EVAN YOUNG

Position: Guard

Hometown: Alpine, Utah

CHRIS MACHIAN, THE WORLD-HERALD

DEVIN DAVIS

Position: Guard

Hometown: Chicago, Ill. 

EILEEN T. MESLAR, THE WORLD-HERA

TREY ALEXANDER

Position: Guard

Hometown: Oklahoma City, Okla.

ANNA REED, THE WORLD-HERALD

ARTHUR KALUMA 

Position: Forward

Hometown: Glendale, Ariz.

ANNA REED, THE WORLD-HERALD

FREDRICK KING

Position: Center

Hometown: Mangrove Cay, Andros, Bahamas

CHRIS MACHIAN, THE WORLD-HERALD

BAYLOR SCHEIERMAN

Position: Guard

Hometown: Aurora, Neb.

LILY SMITH, THE WORLD-HERALD

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