In the waning seconds of the Huskies’ 71-62 loss to Creighton in the Big East semifinals at Madison Square Garden, there was a scuffle between the two teams after Bluejays guard Jamiya Neal threw down an uncontested dunk with 1.5 seconds remaining.
Neal hung and swung on the rim for about two seconds. After he landed back down on the court, he was confronted by UConn’s Hassan Diarra, who shoved Neal and held up his fists as though he was ready to fight before getting in Neal’s face.
Neal, who finished the night with a game-high 19 points and three assists, apologized after the game.
“I got caught up in the moment of the game, just a lot of emotions going on,” he said in a postgame news conference. “I’d like to apologize for that. I respect (UConn) coach (Dan) Hurley and those guys over there. They’re a great program, obviously.”
With the victory, Creighton advanced to Saturday night’s Big East championship game against Rick Pitino and conference regular-season champion St. John’s, which is appearing in the league’s title game for the first time since 2000. UConn, meanwhile, fell to 23-10 and will await its seed and matchup for the NCAA Tournament, an event it has won each of the past two years.
Friday night wasn’t the first time this season the Bluejays and Huskies have shared a contentious moment, though this one didn’t directly involve Hurley, UConn’s combustible head coach.
Following a Feb. 11 win against Creighton in Omaha, Nebraska, Hurley taunted the disappointed home fans as he walked back to the tunnel at CHI Health Center, waving goodbye to the crowd and pointing to his finger while saying “Two rings,” a reference to the Huskies’ recent national championships.
After Neal and Diarra had been separated, Neal turned to the UConn bench and appeared to point to the ring finger on his right hand. Right after doing so, he was hit with a technical foul.