Villanova men’s basketball (8-5, 1-1 Big East) landed in Omaha, NE on December 20th with the goal to pick up a six-game win streak, the longest since the 2021-22 season.
Instead, on Saturday, the Wildcats fell to Creighton (8-5, 1-1 Big East), 85-75, bringing their Big East record to 1-1. The loss to the Bluejays also sees the Wildcats road record drop to 0-4.
Graduate forward Eric Dixon led all scorers with 27 points, while Creighton senior forward Ryan Kalkbrenner led all Creighton scorers with 23.
Dixon, who averages a league-leading 25.8 points per game, initially struggled to establish himself in the game, but eventually got on the scoreboard and finished the first half with 12 points on five-for-eight shooting.
As for the Bluejays, they have had mixed results to start the season, coming off a 81-57 blowout loss to Georgetown on Wednesday, Dec. 18.
The ‘Cats scored eight early points that were quickly answered by several three-pointers from the Bluejays. Creighton went on to shoot 56% from three, making a season-high 14 of its 25 attempts.
Five of Creighton’s first 11 points were scored by Kalkbrenner, while graduate guard Jhamir Brickus scored five early for the ‘Cats.
After the media timeout, sophomore guard Tyler Perkins entered the game following his impressive 17-point debut against Seton Hall in the Big East.
The Bluejays had shot a perfect four-for-four on three-pointers up to the timeout while the Wildcats had made just one of five attempts.
Despite making his first basket, Perkins struggled to make any additional impact. His first jumper proved to be two of just four points for the Penn transfer.
Brickus, who got going early, continued his hot start to the game and had 10 of Villanova’s 22 points at the 10-minute mark. Brickus would go on to finish the game with 16 points and four assists.
At the half, the Bluejays lead the Wildcats, 40-38, having gone 14-for-23 on field goals and 9-for-13 from beyond the arc.
In the second half, Dixon opened the scoring with two quick threes, while Kalkbrenner continued to be a threat in the paint including an alley-oop followed by a putback dunk on the next possession.
The two dunks from Kalkbrenner kicked off a 7-0 run by the Bluejays and ignited the CHI Health Center Omaha. The run put Creighton up by 10 points over Villanova with 13:38 left in the game.
That 7-0 run proved to be the difference maker in the game as the Bluejays were able to extend this lead to thirteen with 9:19 left to play and did not look back.
The Wildcats struggled to stay in the game as Dixon, senior guard Wooga Poplar and redshirt freshman Kris Parker were the only Wildcats to score a field goal in the second half.
Poplar, who had just four points at halftime, scored 15 second-half points and finished the game with a double-double, scoring 19 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
Despite the efforts from the leaders of the team, the Wildcats were unable to tie the game. After being down by 13, the ‘Cats cut the lead to six but it was too late as there were just 3.3 seconds to play and Creighton ran out the clock.
Villanova was unable to answer Creighton’s dominant performance and trailed for the entire second half.
With the holidays approaching, the Wildcats will have 11 days before their next game, a matchup on the road at Butler (7-6, 0-2 Big East) on Wednesday, Jan. 1 (6:30 p.m., FS1).
