UConn's Hassan Diarra makes his feelings known on last-second scuffle with Creighton

The 2024-2025 season for the defending national champion UConn Huskies has been a massive disappointment to this point. What was once projected as a certain No. 1 seed for March Madness at the start of the season has become more of a middle-of-the-pack seed with all the bumps they had on their road to a repeat.

Their 71-62 loss to the Creighton Bluejays in the Big East semifinal game on Friday is another bump on the road that they must overcome on their quest to repeat.

To add salt to their wounds, right as Creighton was putting the finishing touches on their win, the teams got into a scuffle after Creighton's Jamiya Neal threw down a dunk in the dying seconds. The Huskies' Hassan Diarra shoved Neal and looked to be squaring up for a fight before teammates and officials separated them before the situation escalated further.

After the game, Diarra was asked about the incident.

“They were already up with seven seconds to go," Diarra said. "He didn’t want to dribble the ball out. Went up for a fancy dunk. I just feel like it was disrespectful to the game of basketball.”

Neal finished with 19 points, five rebounds and three assists, and Jasen Green (19 points), Ryan Kalkbrenner (12) and Steven Ashworth (12) chipped in as well. Solo Ball and Liam McNeeley paced the Huskies with 13 points apiece with Diarra providing 11 points.

Connecticut projected to be around the eighth or ninth seed for March Madness

The Huskies (23-10) finished third in the Big East with a 14-6 record. After being projected to be a top seed in the preseason, a win would have likely kept them in the running for potentially a top four seed in March Madness, but this loss to the Bluejays all but eliminates them from the running for that, making their quest for a back-to-back title that much tougher.

Current projections have them around an eighth or ninth seed, which means they get a dangerous opponent in the first round. If they manage to clear that hurdle, the next round would be far less ideal, as they have to square up early with a top seed like Duke, Auburn or Houston.

The Huskies have the experience and pedigree to repeat as champions, but they need to get out of their own way and recapture the magic that made them the 2024 national champions.