Wildcat Wrap
Final Score: Villanova 68, No. 12 Creighton 66 (overtime)
D Shined in the Opening Minutes: Villanova limited Creighton to 1-of-7 shooting over the first 4:28 of the contest, allowing it to build a 6-3 advantage at the first official timeout.
Eric Dixon scored four points on the interior in that span.
A 7-0 spurt after that break put the Bluejays on top, 10-6. They expanded that lead to 16-10 when Steven Ashworth dropped in his second 3-pointer of the night.
The Wildcats, meanwhile, were 0-of-7 from beyond the 3-point arc over the first 13:07, and searching for points. Creighton held a 22-17 lead at that point despite connecting on just 7-of-19 from the field.
More nifty work from Dixon on the interior helped VU narrow its margin to 24-21 but Creighton scored the next five points to expand to a 29-21 lead with 2:25 on the first half clock. At halftime, the Bluejays held a 34-24 advantage.
Dixon accounted for 15 of Villanova's 24 points. While the Wildcats did a good job defensively, they connected on just 9-of-32 from the field in the first 20 minutes (.281), including 1-of-10 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Ryan Kalkbrenner led the Bluejays with 10 points.
After Intermission: Mark Armstrong dropped in a 3-pointer on the Wildcats' first offensive possession of the second half to close the gap to 34-27. But Creighton scored seven straight points until Dixon sank a 3-pointer from the top of the key. The Bluejays held a 41-30 lead with 16:06 on the clock.
The Wildcats got their offense rolling midway through the period, connecting on 7-of-9 in one stretch to cut the Creighton lead to 52-46 at the 9:29 mark. When Armstrong hit on a drive the Bluejays' edge was just four, 52-48.
Hakim Hart added a bucket that closed the deficit to 52-50 before a pair of Trey Alexander free throws pushed the Creighton edge up to 54-50 as the clock ticked toward the eight-minute mark.
Top-shelf defense helped the 'Cats scrap their way back to a tie game at 56 after a
Jordan Longino drive for two points. There was 3:41 left on the second half clock.
A fadeaway Baylor Scheierman basket put Creighton back on top before Armstrong answered with a driving layup to tie the game at 58 as the clock headed towards two minutes left in regulation.
A Longino bid for a driving score rolled off the rim with 33 seconds on the clock and Creighton claimed the rebound. It appeared the Wildcats had gotten a defensive stop with 3.3 seconds on the clock but after an officials review, possession was awarded to the Bluejays. The Wildcats got another stop and the horn sounded, sending this one to overtime.
Extra Time: Trey Alexander opened the period with a short jumper for the Bluejays before Dixon answered with a 3-pointer for the Wildcats. Alexander scored again on a drive to lift Creighton back on top, 62-61.
When Alexander added his fifth and sixth points of extra time, Creighton held a 66-65 lead with 39.1 seconds on the clock. The Wildcats used nine seconds before calling time out. On the ensuing in-bounds play Longino found Dixon open on the right wing. The redshirt senior calmly drained a 3-pointer to give the 'Cats the lead, 68-66.
"That was the play," said Dixon after the game. "We have a lot of options off of that play. It came to me and saw an opening to take the shot."
Added VU head coach
Kyle Neptune: "We have a lot of reads out of that play. Eric made his decision and ended up making the shot."
Villanova got three more defensive stops over the final 24 seconds to claim the win.
Dixon Delivered: Dixon finished the night with 32 points on 12-of-21 shooting from the field to go with six rebounds, an assist, and a blocked shot over 37:13.
"We all know
Eric Dixon is a great scorer," said Neptune. "Obviously he gets 32 tonight. That's big-time. To go out there and be the anchor of our defense, play 37 minutes, was (huge). I thought he was unbelievable on ball screen defense, unbelievable in the post. He rebounded. He did a little bit of everything.
"As much as he scored, the other stuff he did was just as important."
Steal Standard: Villanova registered a season-high 10 steals that helped it own a 13-8 edge in points off of turnovers. Longino led the way with a career-best four steals while
Hakim Hart and
Tyler Burton each added a pair.
In all, the Wildcats limited an elite 3-point shooting team to 5-of-24 from beyond the arc (.208).
"That was a key," stated Neptune. "It was something we talked about coming in. They're great offensively. We just wanted to try to stay in front of them as much we could. I thought our guys did a great job."
What They Said: Neptune: "I thought that was a great team win for us. We had some good spurts in the first half, especially the first 16 or 17 minutes. I thought we were really good defensively. We went through some droughts where we couldn't make some shots in both halves. Our guys, to their credit, kept getting stops. I thought that was the key."
Working Overtime: This was Villanova's third overtime in 12 games (2-1). It's the first time VU has had as many as three overtime games in a season since 2018-19.
