News and Notes: A Personal Rivalry is Forming in the Big East, Winning at Dramatically Different Tempos UConn and St. John's, Putting Noah Locke's Big Day in Perspective, and More
“I know this guy was coming to try to take over against me, so I was not having it,” he said. “Beating them tonight meant a lot, I’m looking forward to beating them again in a couple of weeks.”
1. Creighton and UConn have had something brewing for a few seasons now, and fences aren’t going to be mended any time soon, apparently.
The Jays entered Saturday’s game with a 5-0 mark against Connecticut since the Huskies’ returned to the Big East, including two road victories and a thriller in the 2021 Big East Tournament.
UConn snapped its five-game skid against Creighton on Saturday with a 69-60 victory in Storrs. Preseason Big East Player of the Year Adama Sanogo was the star, scoring 26 points to go along with nine boards, while the Bluejays made just two of their 16 three point attempts.
After the game, both head coach Dan Hurley and Sanogo didn’t hold back in sharing what they felt were disrespectful comments from Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner in the preseason.
Sanogo didn’t hold back when speaking with the Big East’s John Fanta after the win. “I know this guy was coming to try to take over against me, so I was not having it,” he said. “Beating them tonight meant a lot, I’m looking forward to beating them again in a couple of weeks.”
Kalkbrenner wasn’t shy in voicing his thoughts on the fact that he believed he should have been the preseason POY at Big East Media Day, but his comments on a Field of 68 Podcast were what the Huskies jumped on this week.
“They’ve got Sanogo, who they picked as Player of the Year, and I’ve got to bite my tongue a little bit about my thoughts about that selection. (I’m) definitely looking forward to that game and seeing what people think about Player of the Year after that,” Kalkbrenner said to The Field of 68 at the time.
When answering a question about how UConn players shared that they had the Creighton game circled on their calendar, Kalkbrenner continued, “I mean, if I had never beaten a team and lost to them every single time I played them I’d circle that game too. It’s just fun to go up against bigs that other people say are good. Me? I don’t know about that. Last year I obviously did really, really good against them and I’m just looking to repeat that performance because I think that would go a long way in proving people wrong for making that selection.”
2. Even Creighton’s athletic department seemed to get in on the fun, with this game interestingly worded note: “Connecticut has suffered back-to-back double-digit losses after a 14-0 start, putting the Huskies in the unique predicament of being ranked fourth nationally but in fifth place of its own conference.”
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Big East Film Room to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.