Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said a trip to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament was no sure thing.

Jamiya Neal scored a career-high 29 points and had 12 rebounds, Steven Ashworth connected from well beyond the arc on the way to 22 points, and ninth-seeded Creighton beat No. 8 seed Louisville 89-75 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

At long last, downtrodden DePaul was finally about to produce its own indelible moment at the Big East Tournament.

Creighton has played eight No. 1 teams in its program’s history, and the first six of those games weren’t close.

Steven Ashworth and Ryan Kalkbrenner made 3-pointers in the second overtime and Creighton edged past its former coach — Oregon’s Dana Altman — to move into the Sweet 16 with an 86-73 win in the Midwest Region.

Steven Ashworth scored 16 of his 20 points in the first half as Creighton built a double-digit lead, and the No. 15 Bluejays knocked off UConn 85-66 for their first win over a No. 1-ranked team.

North Carolina is No. 1 in the preseason AP Top 25 men's basketball poll.

Arthur Kaluma scored 17 points and keyed an overwhelming blitz that sent Creighton into the Big East championship game with a stunning 85-58 blowout of No. 11 Providence in the semifinals.

(AP Photo/Michael Conroy)INDIANAPOLIS – Marcus Zegarowski scored 20 points to help Creighton beat Ohio 72-58 on Monday in the NCAA Tournament, securing the program's first trip to the round of 16 in 47 years. The last time Creighton made it to the regional semifinals, it was 1974 and the tournament field had 25 teams. He also came up with some key late plays to keep Creighton in control after Ohio clawed back within 65-56. AdBIG PICTUREOhio: This was the Bobcats' first NCAA Tournament trip since 2012, when they made a surprise run to the Sweet 16 before losing to No. Creighton: The Bluejays had never won back-to-back games in the same NCAA Tournament.

“It felt really good to step up to the line and hit those two big free throws,” Bishop said. He received a one-game suspension and returned for the Big East Tournament last week. AdThe Bluejays' season will continue Monday in the West Region against 13th-seeded Ohio thanks to some unlikely clutch foul shooting. Creighton grabbed the lead back with 3:08 remaining when Bishop finished a pick-and-roll with a reverse two-handed dunk to make it 59-58. BIG PICTUREUC Santa Barbara: The Gauchos started fast, making nine of their first 12 shots and taking a 23-15 lead.

17 Creighton held Connecticut without a field goal over the final six minutes to beat the Huskies 59-56 Friday night in the Big East Tournament semifinals. Bouknight scored 14 to lead the third-seeded Huskies, who were playing in their first Big East Tournament since 2012 after returning to the conference this season. Creighton will look for its first Big East Tournament championship a little more than a week after coach Greg McDermott was suspended by the school for making racially insensitive remarks to his team. Creighton has reached the Big East final twice previously since it joined the league for the 2013-14 season, but has yet to win the championship. Creighton: Zegarowski struggled to find his groove most of the game against UConn's tough perimeter defense.

McDermott created a firestorm for twice using the term “plantation” as part of an analogy urging team unity. McDermott will be with team for the Big East Tournament this week and the NCAA Tournament that begins next week. “Let me be clear: Coach McDermott's use of the ‘plantation’ analogy was egregious and has absolutely no place in our society. I can’t have anybody leave the plantation,” McDermott told the players, using a term evocative of slavery and the antebellum South. Rasmussen announced McDermott had been indefinitely suspended the next night, with McDermott tweeting that he merited the suspension.

Creighton coach Greg McDermott shouts during the first half of the team's NCAA college basketball game against Villanova, Wednesday, March 3, 2021, in Villanova, Pa. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)OMAHA, Neb. – Five Creighton basketball players explained in a short pregame video Saturday why they were hurt by coach Greg McDermott's remarks in his locker room talk following a loss last weekend. AdCreighton players hadn't commented publicly about McDermott's remarks until five Black players spoke in the pregame video at CHI Health Center. Let's start the conversation.”The video ended in silence with all the Creighton players locked arm in arm on the court. “A lot of guys in that locker room were hurting from it, and I was hurting from what he said," Zegarowski said.

Creighton coach Greg McDermott shouts during the first half of the team's NCAA college basketball game against Villanova, Wednesday, March 3, 2021, in Villanova, Pa. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)OMAHA, Neb. – Creighton University suspended basketball coach Greg McDermott on Thursday night for using racially insensitive language while addressing the team after a game last weekend. McDermott publicly apologized Tuesday and again Wednesday for urging his players to “stay on the plantation” after the 14th-ranked Bluejays' 77-69 loss at Xavier. Assistant coach Alan Huss will serve as interim head coach for the home game against Butler on Saturday. “Coach McDermott and our athletics program must use this incident as an opportunity for growth and learning, as clearly more work needs to be done.”McDermott, in an apology he posted on Twitter on Tuesday, acknowledged saying: “Guys, we got to stick together.

McDermott’s use of a phrase evoking slavery overshadowed what was expected to be fantastic showdown between the top two teams in the Big East. 10 Villanova capture the Big East title with a 72-60 win over 14th-ranked Creighton. “The pain I saw in their eyes was immense,” McDermott said after the game. The Big East title was a formality on the Main Line — Villanova is 114-26 with two national titles since the conference was reconfigured in 2013. BIG PICTURECreighton: McDermott isn’t off the hot seat yet.

FILE - In this Jan. 16, 2021, file photo, Creighton coach Greg McDermott watches the team during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Butler in Indianapolis. McDermott apologized publicly Tuesday, March 2, for using insensitive language in his postgame locker room talk with players and staff following a loss over the weekend. In a tweet, McDermott said he used a terribly inappropriate analogy in making a point about staying together as a team despite the loss. – Creighton coach Greg McDermott apologized Tuesday for urging his players to “stay on the plantation” in a postgame locker room talk following a loss over the weekend. Ad“I have never used that analogy and it is not indicative of who I am as a person or as a coach,” McDermott said in his post.