Creighton wing Jamiya Neal ruffled some feathers with a last-second, two-hand windmill dunk to put the finishing touches on No. 2 seed Creighton’s 71-62 victory over third-seeded UConn in the Big East Tournament semifinals Friday night. UConn point guard Hassan Diarra handed Neal a forearm shiver after the jam.
“He went up for a fancy dunk and didn’t want to dribble the ball out,” Diarra said. “I just felt it was disrespectful to the game of basketball.”
Diarra and Neal received technical fouls and UConn reserve forward Jayden Ross was ejected for coming off the bench.
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Neal might have taken the elevator for the thundering slam, but he also took the high road afterward. When asked about the incident in the postgame press conference, Neal walked back what he did.
“I would like to apologize for that,” Neal said. “I respect Coach (Dan) Hurley and the two-time defending national champs. I apologize and shouldn’t have did it.”
The backstory to what happened at the end stems from when UConn earned its first win in school history at Creighton earlier this season. As Hurley walked off the floor, he was booed heavily by Bluejays fans who stuck around to jeer him off the court last month. As he did, he pointed to his ring finger, shouting to one fan, “Two rings! Two rings, baldy!”
Neal’s fingerprints were all over the beginning, middle and end of the Bluejays’ impressive victory. He scored 19 points, including a back-breaking 3-pointer to extend Creighton’s lead and snuff out a massive UConn rally in the second half. Creighton totally turned UConn’s water off in the second half, holding the Huskies high-powered offense to just 1.00 points per possession.
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“Some people think the way we do it is soft,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “I got news for you. I got some tough dudes in my locker room. it takes tough dudes to execute defense the way we do.”
Creighton will take on top-seeded St. John’s in Saturday’s Big East Tournament championship game (6:30 p.m. ET, Fox). The Bluejays are 0-4 in the Big East title game, while St. John’s hasn’t made it this far since 2000, when it last won the event. The teams split the season series.
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