Creighton Bluejays vs Connecticut Huskies Match Player Stats On Dec 20, 2020

Christian Bishop scored 19 points and Damian Jefferson forced overtime with a short jumper with 0.2 seconds left in regulation as No. 9 Creighton spoiled Connecticut's return to the Big East in a 76-74 road victory at Storrs, Conn. on Sunday.

James Bouknight single-handedly kept the Huskies in the game by obliterating his previous career high with 40 points on 13-of-24 shooting. He had 23 last year against Cincinnati.

The game was the first Big East contest for the Huskies (3-1, 1-0 Big East) since 2012-13 when they left for the American Athletic Conference. Their first three conference games and four overall games were postponed or canceled due to COVID-19.

Denzel Mahoney had 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Bluejays, who entered shooting 39.8 percent from the 3-point line but shot 25.9 percent (7 of 27) in this one, and missed their last 11 from deep.

After Jefferson's heroics, Mahoney scored the first three overtime points for the Bluejays (6-2, 2-1) to offset a bucket by Jalen Gaffney until Marcus Zegarowski drove the lane and tossed up an alley-oop to Bishop, who caught it and banked it in for a 71-68 lead with 48 seconds left.

Bouknight couldn't hit a jumper on the other end and Creighton closed out the win at the line despite a pair of treys by Bouknight.

R.J. Cole added 12 points for UConn but missed two free throws with 11 ticks left in regulation that would have provided a two-possession lead. The Huskies came up just short of beating a top-10 team for the first time since the 2014 NCAA Tournament.

The Huskies, who were playing their first game since a Dec. 3 win over Southern California due to the second pause in basketball activities since Nov. 5, overcame some early rust by slowing the pace and playing physically.

Bouknight scored 16 points in the first half, shooting 6 of 10 from the floor while the rest of his team was just 5 of 20, helping to close a 12-point deficit to just four at the half.

He then scored 13 more in the first six minutes of the second half to help UConn build a four-point lead then scored five straight to regain a 58-57 lead with five minutes left.

Creighton opened the game making 9 of 14 shots (64.3 percent) but just connected on 18 of 51 (35.3 percent) the rest of the way.

--Field Level Media