Creighton hoping to pull off another second-round upset when it faces UCLA

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Creighton coach Jim Flanery and his six seniors know the highs of pulling off a second-round women’s NCAA Tournament upset on an opposing floor.

The Bluejays are also familiar with the disappointment of making an early exit.

Flanery is hoping that both experiences over the past two years come in handy as the seventh-seeded Bluejays take on No. 2 seed UCLA in a second-round game on Monday night at Pauley Pavilion.

“I think we live in the best of all possible worlds. You have the confidence from two years ago, and you also have the motivation from knowing that we kind of just fell flat last year,” Flanery said.

Creighton (26-5) was the No. 10 seed in 2022 when it upset second-seeded Iowa 64-62 in the second round. The Bluejays eventually reached the Elite Eight before losing to eventual national champion South Carolina.

Last year, it was a sixth-seed and got bounced by Mississippi State in the first round.

Senior forward Mallory Brake says the biggest advantage from the win over Iowa is that there isn’t an intimidation factor of playing on someone’s home court in the tournament.

“Nobody expected us to win at Iowa and we did. So we’re not scared of the matchup tomorrow. We’re excited, and we’re grateful to be in this situation,” she said.

UCLA (26-6), which is coming off a 84-55 victory over California Baptist, is looking to reach the Sweet 16 for the second straight year, but is still looking for its first Women’s Final Four appearance.

The winner of Monday’s game will face third-seeded and defending national champion LSU in an Albany 2 Regional semifinal on Saturday.

“It’s going to take our complete focus to earn another opportunity. Our focus right now is trying to be the most prepared team, the most together team, the toughest team going into tomorrow’s matchup, which will not be easy because Creighton is a very formidable opponent,” UCLA coach Cori Close said.

The Bluejays sank 15 3-pointers in Saturday night’s 87-73 victory over UNLV. They are 13th in the nation with 8.8 made 3s per game and have won all 11 games where they sank at least 10.

Even though UNLV was able to do a good job of working the ball inside and getting points in the paint, it was unable to match the Bluejays long-range shooting.

“If you’re going to get stops, you’d better take them off the three-point line. I don’t know if we’re going to get into trading threes and twos. We definitely don’t want to do that,” Close said.

Lauren Jensen leads Creighton in scoring, averaging 17.4 points per game, and 3-pointers with 71. She scored 25 against UNLV with five of her eight field goals coming beyond the arc.

Both teams present unique challenges. Creighton hasn’t faced a team with the size UCLA possesses. Even with 6-foot-7 center Lauren Betts sidelined due to a foot injury in the first round, the Bruins got a big effort from Gabriela Jaquez, who put up 17 points.

Close said she is hopeful that Betts could return to the lineup Monday night. Even if Betts can’t play, the Bruins have four players 6-2 or taller while Creighton’s tallest player is 6-1.

“I think like physicality-wise and size-wise, we haven’t matched up with anyone as big as them this year. But, yeah, what Mal said about coming in here, we’re not scared,” forward Morgan Maly said.

The Bluejays also have an advantage playing a five-out motion offense that is less patterned compared to other teams.

“It’s a unique scout. It’s their combination of off-ball cuts, flare screens, staggers. They just occupy so much of your help. They have very few people you can play off of at all,” Close said. “And the other thing is a lot of teams that play five out are a little bit more scripted. You know when certain players touch the ball on certain places on the floor, that these things are going to happen. I think with them they’re much more versatile and more random.”

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