The Big East has a rich history of incredible conference battles. From the infamous ‘sweater game’ in 1985 between Georgetown and St. John’s, to the six overtime battle between Syracuse and UConn in 2009, this conference is never lacking in entertainment value.
That proved true yet again on Saturday when Creighton went to Seton Hall and escaped with a 97-94 victory in triple-overtime thanks to a monster performance from center Ryan Kalkbrenner, who had 28 points, nine rebounds, and seven blocked shots.
The game was close more or less from the opening tip, and when Blue Jays guard Steven Ashworth forced overtime with a lay-in to end regulation, it was clear this was a game folks would be discussing for a long time.
Creighton moves to 5-3 in the Big East and helped erase the sting of losing to UConn on the road earlier in the week. Meanwhile the Pirates see their six game winning streak snap and fall to 6-2 in league play. They had previously picked up wins over UConn, Marquette, Providence, and St. John’s, and had plenty of chances to collect another win over a ranked team.
However, Kadary Richmond, who posted a triple-double in regulation and finished with 21 points, missed quite a few shots in overtime and Seton Hall struggled to slow down Kalkbrenner on the block, resulting in the heartbreaking loss.
The Pirates will get a chance to restart their winning streak on Wednesday when they host Providence, while Creighton will host Xavier on Tuesday.
If we are lucky, more regulation games will rival this one in a Big East that is loaded with talent and physicality this year.