On Wednesday, Jan. 7, Villanova men’s basketball was handed its first home loss of the season, 72-76, by Creighton University at the Finneran Pavilion.
Villanova (12-3, 3-1 Big East) could not find defensive stops in the second half, allowing Creighton (10-6, 4-1) to shoot 18-for-27 (67%). The loss ended Villanova’s undefeated conference record.
Villanova shot 29-for-66 (45%) from the field and 6-for-24 (25%) on three-pointers.
Senior forward Duke Brennan collected his sixth double-double of the season, scoring 16 points and totaling 12 rebounds. Brennan is now one of the top five rebounders in the country, averaging 10.6 rebounds per game. Entering the game, Villanova was 5-0 when Brennan scored a double-double.
“Being a senior, I need to adjust my fall screen coverages on different teams as we play, and I don’t think I did a great job of this tonight,” Brennan said. “Any day these teams can come beat you on your home court, so we gotta be ready and play to our best ability.”
Freshman guard Acaden Lewis totaled a team-high 20 points along with seven assists and three steals.
Thirteen seconds into play, Brennan put up the first points of the night with a layup that started a 10-4 Villanova scoring run. However, his scoring capabilities were limited by Creighton sophomore guard Austin Swartz, who ended with 20 points.
“I thought [Creighton] did a really good job of using their size to their advantage,” head coach Kevin Willard said. We had our opportunities at the rim. It was nothing to do with offense, it was totally just abysmal defense.”
Junior guard Tyler Perkins collected 18 points. Redshirt freshman forward Matt Hodge was held to five points against the Bluejays, going 1-for-4 from beyond the arc.
“We just gotta get better,” Perkins said. We gotta learn from what we did wrong, too many offensive rebounds and working on our defense. We gave up too many easy points.”
Villanova held its lead for the first 20 minutes of play, entering halftime with a 34-30 lead.
Creighton gained momentum to open the second half, shutting down Villanova’s three-point shot. Villanova ended up shooting 2-for-12 from beyond the arc in the second half.
Creighton went on an 11-3 scoring run lasting over four minutes, ending with several free throws by Brennan after a flagrant foul on Nik Graves. Both teams traded the lead over six minutes, but Villanova struggled defensively in the last ten minutes of play.
“I thought we took some bad shots in the first half when we had a good run going, and I thought we were playing good defensively early,” Willard said “That kind of just let them get back into it,but defensively, you just you can’t give up 13 offensive rebounds to a great determinant team. You have no chance [at winning].”
Wade Chiddick (knee) and Chris Jeffrey (knee) were out as they continue to recover from surgery.
Villanova was the first team outside of the AP Top 25 poll this past Monday, receiving 127 votes. The loss to Creighton puts Villanova’s chances of being ranked in next week’s poll in jeopardy.
The Villanova Wildcats are set to return to action on Saturday, Jan. 7 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Villanova will take on Marquette University (6-10, 1-4 Big East) at 2:30 p.m. (TNT).
