Philadelphia — — Eric Dixon scored 18 of his career-high 31 points in the first half, Cam Whitmore added 17 and Villanova beat No. 19 Creighton 79-67 on Saturday.
Dixon also hit a career-high six three-pointers for Villanova (15-14, 9-9 Big East), who won five of six.
“My teammates kept finding me in the places where I was most comfortable,” Dixon said.
Arthur Kaluma scored 19 points and Ryan Kalkbrenner had 18 points for Creighton (18-11, 12-6). The Bluejays lost three of four after an eight-game winning streak.
“We had an uproar today,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “Villanova was able to turn our defense on its head with Dixon’s ability to stretch the ground.”
The Wildcats have been the Big East record holders since a conference realignment in 2013, but they’ve had some blocks for much of this season without Hall of Fame coach Jay Wright, who retired after last season. Now, first-year head coach Kyle Neptune has the Wildcats playing the kind of basketball that’s led them to seven of the last nine conference regular season titles, five Big East titles over that span and national championships in 2016 and 2018.
Villanova is once again looking like a team no one wants to play with in March.
“We just had to grow as a team,” said Neptune. “Thank God our guys keep getting better and better. Our goal is always to be the best team we can be at the end. Hopefully we can reach that goal.”
The Wildcats are playing better since Justin Moore’s return from injury. The senior guard had eight points and eight assists in the ninth game on his back after he tore his Achilles tendon.
“You can see it coming and you’ve seen it in the movie since Justin’s Back,” said McDermott. “You can see growth in every game. Honestly, I was afraid of this. Unfortunately, I was right.”
Two Dixon free throws gave Villanova a 46-29 lead 2:57 into the second period to match the Wildcats’ biggest lead of the game. Creighton made it 52-45 with 12:37 left on both Kalkbrenner’s free throws.
But then Dixon heated up again, first hitting 3 from the left baseline and then converting the traditional 3-point play on the drive and free throw to push the lead to 58-45 with 11:18 to play.
Creighton could not recover. Whitmore put together an exclamation point for the victory with a one-handed, jam drive with 2:47 remaining.
Moore factor
Villanova improved to 5-4 since Moore returned to the lineup on January 29 against Providence. The 6-foot-4 big guard was projected to be a late first-round or early second-round pick in the NBA draft this past spring before he tore his right Achilles tendon in the Wildcats’ NCAA Tournament win in the pre-season. Houston final.
Like his team, Moore’s game has picked up lately. He’s coming off his best performance, scoring 25 points while helping the Wildcats rally from a 13-point deficit in the second half to win 64-63 over No. 16 Xavier on Tuesday.
Sweet home (other) home
Villanova finished the season 3-1 at the Wells Fargo Center, home court for the Philadelphia 76ers and secondary floor for the Wildcats. They won all three games here last season and were 62-37 all time.
The Big Picture
Creighton: With games still to play against DePaul and Georgetown, bottom two in the league, the Bluejays look like a lock for a big bid in the NCAA Tournament. First, they would set their sights on the school’s first Big East Tournament title. Creighton has reached the tournament championship four times since joining the Big East in 2013 but has lost all four games, including in 2022 and 2017 to Villanova.
Villanova: The Wildcats will likely need a deep run in the Big East Tournament to have any chance at the NCAA Tournament overall. Villanova is a mid-pack conference team this season but it’s only getting hotter at the right time.
the next
Creighton: Hosts Georgetown on Wednesday.
Villanova: at Seton Hall on Tuesday.
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AP College Basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball, https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll, and https://twitter.com/ AP- Top 25
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