NEW YORK — A scuffle broke out at the end of Creighton’s 71-62 victory over UConn in a Big East tournament semifinal Friday night after Jamiya Neal threw down a needless dunk for the Bluejays in the final seconds.
Huskies guard Hassan Diarra shoved Neal in the chest and appeared to square up with his fists for a split second as the two were face-to-face. Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner separated them by pushing Neal away as whistles blew and players came streaming off the benches at Madison Square Garden.
“I mean, they were already up with seven seconds left,” Diarra said. “He didn’t want to dribble the ball out. Went in for a fancy dunk. I just felt it was disrespectful to the game of basketball.”
With the second-seeded Bluejays leading 69-62, they rebounded a UConn miss with under 10 seconds left and Huskies coach Dan Hurley signaled for his team to let the clock run out without fouling.
Neal, however, took off streaking down the left sideline for a slam with 1.5 seconds remaining and hung onto the rim for a pullup. After his skirmish with Diarra, Neal waved his arms to fire up Creighton fans in the sellout crowd.
Officials restored order pretty quickly. Diarra and Neal received double technicals, and UConn reserve forward Jayden Ross was ejected for coming off the bench.
“I got caught up in the emotions of the game,” Neal said. “Just a lot of emotions going on. So I would like to apologize for that. I respect Coach Hurley and those guys over there. They have a great, great program. … Yeah, I apologize. Just got caught up in the moment, and I shouldn’t have did it.”
Hurley and Bluejays coach Greg McDermott were already approaching each other along the sideline to shake hands when Neal took off for his dunk. McDermott appeared to apologize to Hurley immediately afterward and again when the game ended.
Connecticut assistant Luke Murray did appear to exchange a few unpleasant words with McDermott, however. Murray’s father is actor Bill Murray, who sat in the stands behind the UConn bench.
Creighton advanced to face sixth-ranked and top-seeded St. John’s in the title game Saturday night. The Bluejays are 0-4 in Big East championship games since joining the league for the 2013-14 season.
Third-seeded UConn, the two-time defending NCAA champion, won the Big East tournament last year.
