PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – A career-high 31 point performance from Eric Dixon helped lift Villanova past No. 19 Creighton 79-67 before a crowd of 17,114 Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center. Dixon's early offense helped Nova construct a 17-point first half lead and the 'Cats were in control the rest of the way to level their BIG EAST record at 9-9 (15-14 overall).
 
Arthur Kaluma led Creighton with 19 points. Freshmen Cam Whitmore (17 points) and Mark Armstrong (11 points) joined Dixon in double figures while senior guard Justin Moore contributed a season-high eight assists.
 
"I was just really proud of the way our guys competed from the very beginning," stated Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune. "I thought our focus was there. We made some shots early. I thought that was really fueled by our defense. Our guys mindset was exactly where we wanted it to be. They went out and executed at a high level."
 
Villanova limited the Bluejays (18-11 overall, 12-6 BIG EAST) to .390 shooting on the day, including just 5-of-26 from beyond the 3-point arc (.192).
 
"I thought our guys just played hard," noted Neptune. "It's no secret. They're a really good team. They have a lot of different weapons that can hurt you. I thought our guys just came out and played extremely hard from the very beginning. They had a little run at the start of the first half. Defensively, I thought our guys were unbelievable."
 
A pair of 3-pointers by Dixon helped get the Wildcats into an offensive groove early but Creighton matched that effort, dropping in 4-of-6 in the opening 4:59 to forge a 10-10 deadlock at the day's first official timeout. A Mark Armstrong 3-pointer off an offensive rebound by Caleb Daniels, allowed VU to forge a 15-12 lead. Two Daniels free throws made it a 17-12 Nova lead at the 11:24 mark of the first half.
 
A Justin Moore 3-pointer made it an 8-0 run for the Wildcats.
 
Villanova kept its offense flowing with Dixon in the middle of it. By the time he had drained his fourth 3-pointer, the Wildcats had built themselves a 37-20 lead with 3:50 to play in the first half. The offense cooled a bit in the final two minutes of the period – VU misfired on its last five attempts from the field – but excellent defense allowed it to take a 38-24 lead into the locker room after 20 minutes.
 
The Wildcats limited Creighton to 10-of-28 shooting (.357) from the floor in the first half while connecting on 7-of-13 of their attempts from beyond the 3-point arc. In addition to Dixon's 18 points, Whitmore contributed seven points and Mark Armstrong five in the period.
 
Creighton got 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions from Trey Alexander and Arthur Kaluma to close the gap to 48-37 after 4:59 of the second half. A traditional 3-point play from Ryan Kalkbrenner made it a 9-1 surge for the Bluejays, and cut the margin to 49-40.
 
The lead was down to 52-45 when Dixon scored five consecutive points – on his sixth triple of the day and a driving bucket – to push the margin up to 57-45 with 11:18 to play in the second  half.
 
Offense from Whitmore and Armstrong helped the 'Cats keep the Jays at arms length for the balance of the afternoon. The final count was 79-67.
 
Dixon wasn't sure when he last tallied 30 points in a game. But he is the first Wildcats' player to do so in 2022-23 and it's the highest single game point total by a VU performer since Collin Gillespie dropped in 33 points to lead the 'Cats past Providence on Feb. 15, 2022.
 
"It was probably in high school," said the former Gatorade Pennsylvania Player of the Year at Abington High School. "I haven't thought about it too much. My teammates kept finding me."
 
"I think E got those same shots at Creighton," added Neptune of VU's 66-61 loss on Feb. 4 in Omaha. "He just made them today."
 
At the end of it all, Neptune pointed back to the defense.
 
"To me, the fact that they had 23 points at halftime, that's really what did it for us," he stated. "If they got out like they can, they can easily get 79 points. I thought we really did a good job defensively of being locked in."
 
The Wildcats have two games remaining in the 2022-23 regular season. The first of those comes Tuesday night in Newark, N.J. against the Seton Hall Pirates. Tipoff is listed at 8:30 p.m. at the Prudential Center (FS1 the Villanova Sports Network). Villanova will then close out the regular season campaign at Wells Fargo Center, hosting Connecticut on Saturday, March 4 (7:30 p.m.)