Villanova Win Streak snapped at Five Games
VILLANOVA, PA. 1/7/2026 –
It was the first home game of the new year for the Wildcats who held the for nearly thirty minutes of the game. But the Creighton Bluejays got their offense rolling in the last ten minutes and take a 76 – 72 win over the Villanova Wildcats at the Finneran Pavilion. It would be the first conference loss for the Wildcats. . Creighton has defeated Villanova in 6 of their last 8 games.
Villanova held a 34 – 30 lead at halftime and led for that entire twenty minutes. But Creighton was hanging around. Nova could not break away. In the second half the Bluejays made 18 of 27 shots (66.7%) and took a 55 – 53 lead at the 10:06 mark on a jumper by Blake Harper. From there the Wildcats never regained the advantage.
“I thought we took some bad shots in the first half that let them get back into it,” Villanova Coach Kevin Willard said.
The Critical Run
A basket by Wildcats guard Tyler Perkins pushed his team ahead 53 – 50. That was the last basket for Nova until forward Matt Hodge made one five minutes later. In the meantime Creighton went on a 14 – 4 run. The only Villanova points came via free throws by Duke Brennan. Villanova missed 8 consecutive shots in that stretch. Meanwhile the Bluejays made 6 of their next 7 shots, 5 consecutive at one point to lead 64 – 57 before Hodge broke the run. From there the teams matched basket for basket.
Villanova could not score and could not get stops, a lethal combination.
“I thought they did a really good job of using their size to their advantage,” said Willard. “I thought Dix and Harper made some really big plays. Every we tried to get a stop you got to give those two credit.”
What the Numbers Say
Creighton had four players score in double figures with Austin Swartz leading the with 20 points on 9 of 15 shooting, 2 of 7 from distance. Josh Dix made half of his 14 shots to score 17 points, along with Owen Freeman who went 6 of 9 from the floor and 4 for 4 from the free throw line. Jasen Green contributed 10 points.
The Bluejays made 29 of 58 from the field and outrebounded the Wildcats 39 – 30, 13 – 12 off the offensive glass.
“Defensively you can’t give up 13 offensive rebounds, you’ve got no chance,” Willard said.
Acaden Lewis lead the Wildcats with 20 points, one shy of his career-high. He added 7 assists and 3 steals. Lewis went 8 of 16 from the floor, 2 of 6 from beyond the arc, and 2 of 3 free throws. Brennan had his 6th double-double of the season scoring 16 points and pulling down a game-best 12 rebounds. Tyler Perkins added 18 points making 7 of 13 and 2 of 8 from distance. Villanova shot 29 of 66 (43.9%) and 6 of 24 from three-point land (25%).
Up Next
Villanova falls to 12 – 3 overall and 3 – 1 in the Big East. They visit Marquette on Saturday.
“We’ve just got to get better,” said Perkins. “We got to learn from it. See what we did wrong. Too many offensive rebounds, work on our defense and just get better.”
Creighton improves to 10 – 6 and now sit alone in second place in conference with a 4 – 1 record. UConn leads the league at 5 – 0. Creighton hosts St. John’s on Saturday.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@phillycollegesports.com
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