NEW YORK — Ryan Kalkbrenner has spent this week anticipating another chance to play for a Big East championship.
The four-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year is one step closer to achieving his goal, but standing in second-seeded Creighton’s way is a semifinal matchup with third-seeded UConn, which appears to be peaking again.
The winner will oppose St. John’s, the top seed, or fifth-seeded Marquette on Saturday.
Creighton (23-9) has won three straight and the 7-foot-1 Kalkbrenner has scored 79 points in those games. The Bluejays needed 32 from the senior center when they outlasted DePaul for an 85-81 double-overtime win on Thursday in the Big East quarterfinals.
The Bluejays scored the final 11 points of regulation after struggling offensively throughout, and Kalkbrenner hit the go-ahead basket in double overtime after Creighton lost an eight-point lead in the first overtime.
“Like I’ve been saying ever since I decided to come back for another year, I haven’t gotten the Big East Championship yet,” Kalkbrenner said after making 14-of-21 shots in 47 minutes Thursday. “So to come back for another day and get another shot at staying another day and getting a shot at the championship is huge.
“I really, really, really want this championship, and I’m going to play my butt off to get it. Yeah, it means a lot to be able to come back another day.”
The Huskies (23-9) are on a five-game winning streak and seeking their second straight title after beating Marquette for their first Big East crown since 2011 on the way to a dominating second straight national championship.
UConn’s past five wins are by an average of 16 points. The Huskies earned their fourth double-digit victory of this streak when they pulled away down the stretch for a 73-56 victory over sixth-seeded Villanova in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
“It’s March,” UConn forward Alex Karaban said. “We’re desperate for championships here so we want to play our best basketball right now. There’s no better time.”
Karaban fueled the latest win when he scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half. Karaban sank two of his four 3s when the Huskies ended the game on a 22-5 run over the final 7:58.
Karaban also is shooting 13-of-26 from 3-point range during the winning streak, above his 36.3 average on the season.
The teams split a pair of single-digit games during the regular season, and Kalkbrenner was held to 18 points in those games combined as others had career performances for both teams.
The Bluejays earned a 68-63 win at UConn on Jan. 18 when Jamiya Neal scored a career-high 24 points. The Huskies notched a 70-66 victory at Creighton on Feb. 11 when freshman Liam McNeeley scored 38 points.
“Obviously every game is different,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley said about facing Creighton and Kalkbrenner. “Yeah, that defensive scheme is really challenging. There’s opportunities in the paint. They may not be all the way at the rim. There’s opportunities for us to drop, the deep drop that he plays to get to the logo, which are tougher shots but their scheme and what he is as a defensive player is obviously going to be a challenge.”
–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media
