Neal scores career-high 24 and Creighton snaps No. 14 UConn’s 28-game home winning streak, 68-63

STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Jamiya Neal had a career-high 24 points to help Creighton snap UConn’s 28-game home winning streak with a 68-63 victory on Saturday.

The 14th-ranked Huskies hadn’t lost at home since an 82-79 loss on Jan. 25, 2023, to then-No. 13 Xavier.

Ryan Kalkbrenner had 16 points and Steven Ashworth scored 12 for the Bluejays (12-6, 5-2 Big East).

Hassan Diarra and Solo Ball each had 15 points for UConn (13-5, 5-2).

Four consecutive points from Alex Karaban capped a 12-2 run early in the second half to put the Huskies up 43-41. Creighton answered with a pair of dunks in a 6-0 run to regain the lead.

After missing its first three 3-pointers, Creighton hit four in a row with Isaac Traudt giving the Bluejays their first lead midway through the first half. The Huskies regained the lead twice in the first, but Creighton scored 10 of the last 12 points of the half to take a 35-28 lead into the locker room.

Takeaways

Creighton: The Bluejays won the battle of the teams picked to finish first and second in the Big East preseason poll as players other than Kalkbrenner and Ashworth stepped up to make big plays.

UConn: The Huskies lost another winnable game while star freshman Liam McNeeley works his way back from a high-ankle sprain.

Key moment

UConn had just regained the lead on a pair of Samson Johnson free throws with about 3 1/2 minutes to go when Kalkbrenner scored the next three points and forced a miss in the lane by Diarra to give Creighton a lead it would not relinquish.

Key stat

Creighton outscored UConn 14-5 at the foul line, including four consecutive free throws to ice the game.

Up next

Creighton plays at DePaul on Tuesday. UConn hosts Butler on Tuesday at the XL Center.

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball