Creighton Men's Basketball Hands Villanova First Home Loss
VILLANOVA, Pa. -- The Creighton men's basketball team handed Villanova its first home loss of the season, overcoming an early 10-point hole to pick up a 76-72 victory over the Wildcats inside Finneran Pavilion.
Creighton improved to 10-6 with the win and is 4-1 in BIG EAST play, while Nova suffered its initial BIG EAST loss to drop to 12-3 overall and 3-1 in league play.
Villanova led at the onset and moved the margin into double-figures at 25-15 after a pair of free throws by Acaden Lewis following the under-eight media timeout. The Bluejays clawed back with an 13-4 run in the next six minutes to make it a one-score game, getting as close as 29-28. Back-to-back baskets by Lewis pushed VU's lead to 34-28 before a lay-up in the closing seconds of the half by Austin Swartz narrowed the Nova margin to 34-30 at halftime.
Josh Dix had eight points and Blake Harper added seven in the first half for CU. The Jays owned a 19-15 rebounding edge in the first half and its bench outscored Nova 13-5 in the first half. Lewis led VU with nine points, five assists and two steals in the first half for a Villanova side that shot 48.3 percent in the first half.
After a Tyler Perkins three-pointer to open the half gave VIllanova a 37-30 lead, CU's Swartz made three straight mid-range jumpers to bring CU within one. The Jays forged the first tie of the game at 41-all on a Dix three-pointer with 16:33 remaining. CU also knotted the game at 43-43 and 45-45 before a 6-1 run by Nova put the Wildcats up 51-46 with 12:57 to play. A basket inside by Blake Harper with 10:06 left gave Creighton its first lead of the game at 55-53. That was part of a 9-0 Bluejay run that moved the CU lead to 59-53 and forced a pair of Villanova timeouts.
A foul on Nik Graves, upgraded to a Flagrant 1 foul after video review, gave Nova a four-point possession to bring Villanova within two and the crowd to its feet before a Swartz silencer from deep returned CU's lead to five. Another floater from Harper gave CU its largest lead at 64-57.
The Jays led 74-68 and got a pair of offensive rebounds to prolong an extended possession and take the clock under a minute. A lay-up by Bryce Lindsay trimmed VU's deficit to four and after a Bluejay turnover, but Ty Davis hit two clutch free throws to make it a six-point game and Swartz
Swartz had 20 points to lead four Bluejays in double-figures, just ahead of Harper (17), Dix (17) and Green (10). Creighton won the rebound battle 39-30 and owned a 27-9 advantage in bench points.
Lewis had 20 points and Perkins had 18 points to lead Villanova. Duke Brennan had 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Creighton is back in action on Saturday at 1 p.m. when it hosts preseason BIG EAST favorite St. John's (10-5, 3-1 BIG EAST).
NOTES: Josh Dix made a three-pointer in his 28th straight game. It was Creighton's 1,072nd straight game with a triple ... Josh Dix had his 50th career game with 10 or more points ... Creighton has made five or more three-pointers in 137 games in a row ... The win was Creighton's first this season when overcoming a double-digit deficit, and 31st under Greg McDermott ... Creighton has won in the final six seconds each of the previous two meetings against Villanova in Pennsylvania ... This is the first time that Creighton has beaten Villanova four times in a row ... Since the realigned BIG EAST was formed in 2013, Creighton's 12 overall wins against Villanova and five road wins against Villanova lead all teams ... Creighton won for the first time in seven tries inside Finneran Pavilion ... Creighton is 4-1 (or better) after five BIG EAST games for the fifth time in 13 BIG EAST seasons, but first time since 2020-21 ... Since 2019-20, Creighton owns more BIG EAST wins (86) than any other league foe, just ahead of Villanova (74) and UConn (74 before tonight) ... Creighton improved to 1-5 this season when trailing at half.