City of Basketball Love

By Sean McBryan
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VILLANOVA — There was a buzz in the air at Finneran Pavilion before Villanova and Creighton tipped off Wednesday night.

The Wildcats were riding a five-game winning streak, nearing a Top 25 ranking, and off to their best start in five seasons.

Waiting in line for concessions before the game, Villanova junior Jack Buckingham said the atmosphere around the program felt noticeably different under first-year head coach Kevin Willard.

“It just feels different,” Buckingham said. “There’s a real belief with Coach Willard. He’s brought in guys people didn’t really know at first, and now they’re playing great together. It feels like this program is heading back to the NCAA Tournament.”

Villanova controlled much of the first half behind interior work from 6-foot-10 senior post Duke Brennan, a Grand Canyon transfer, and steady guard play from freshman Acaden Lewis and junior Tyler Perkins, one of only three holdovers from last season’s roster. 

Lewis buried a 3 late in the half before finishing a driving layup in the final minute to send the Wildcats into halftime with a four-point lead and continue the buzz into the break.

At halftime, longtime supporter Michelle, a 61-year-old from Montgomery County who said she attends “nearly every” home game, pointed to a renewed energy inside the Finn. After three years of spending March watching an NCAA Tournament that didn’t feature their Wildcats, the ‘Nova faithful suddenly have a team that looks capable of making some noise in the postseason.

“There’s more energy,” she said. “I had high hopes coming into the season, and this feels right on par.”

While his 12-year-old son admired a Jalen Brunson memorial — one of his favorite former Wildcats alongside Cam Whitmore — John Zech, a 42-year-old fan from Exton attending his first home game of the season, said the difference this year was palpable.

“There’s direction again,” Zech said. “For the last few years it felt like we were treading water. Now there’s confidence.”

Leave it to Creighton to spoil the party, at least for a night.

In the second half, the Bluejays slowly zapped the buzz out of the Nova Nation crowd and used their guard’s size to take control and defeat the Wildcats 76-72, marking Creighton’s fourth straight win in the series.

“I thought they did a good job of using their size to their advantage,” Willard said. “I thought [Josh] Dix and [Blake] Harper made some really big plays and just used their size against us every time we tried to get a stop. You gotta give those two credit, they played really well.”

It was Villanova’s first loss in a month, ending a run of five straight wins, including their first three in league play. 

Willard, the former Seton Hall and Maryland coach, has been getting stellar play from his top six, including offseason transfer portal additions in Brennan (12.3 ppg, 11.4 rpg), Devin Askew (8.3 ppg) and Bryce Lindsay (16.0 ppg), a stellar freshman in Lewis (12.5 ppg, 5.0 apg), in addition to Perkins (11.4 ppg, 5.0 rpg) and redshirt freshman Matt Hodge (10.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg). 

That group has helped Villanova fans quickly move on from the three-year tenure of Kyle Neptune, a former Jay Wright assistant who was never able in three years to build up the kind of momentum Willard’s developed in the span of three months. 

Wednesday’s loss was a setback, to be sure, but Villanova’s still the No. 25 team in the KenPom rankings, its highest ranking since finishing the 2021-22 season No. 10 and in the Final Four. 

The Bluejays (10-6 overall, 4-1 Big East) took their first lead of the game midway through the second half and began asserting themselves inside, repeatedly finishing through contact, making jumpshots over defenders, and controlling the glass. 

Austin Swartz, a 6-4 junior guard, led the charge with 20 points, while Dix, a 6-6 senior guard, and Harper, a 6-7 sophomore guard, each scored 17. 

“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.  “I thought we took some bad shots in the first half that kind of just let them get back into it. Defensively, you can’t give up 13 offensive rebounds to a great team. You got no chance.”

The Wildcats, who built a 10-point lead in the first half, struggled to find consistency on the defensive end and finished just 6-of-24 from 3-point range, well below their season average.

“We had our opportunities at the rim,” Willard said. “This wasn’t about offense. It was abysmal defense.”

Creighton shot 35.5 percent from the field and 26.7 from 3-point range in the first half and 66.7 percent and 37.5 percent, respectively, in the second half. Villanova shot 48.3 percent from the field in the first half and 40.5 percent in the second; it went 4-for-12 in the first and 2-for-12 in the second from 3-point range.

Creighton won the rebounding battle 39-30.

The Wildcats (12-3, 3-1) stayed within striking distance behind Lewis’ 11 second-half points, Brennan’s 10, and Perkins’ nine, but could never reclaim the lead, only cutting it to a one-possession game once the rest of the way. 

Brennan continued his solid play to begin the year with a 16-point, 12-rebound double-double. Lewis finished with 20 points, seven assists, and four rebounds. Perkins finished with 18 points. Lindsay, the team’s leading scorer, had a rare quiet night with four points on 2-10 shooting.

Villanova, now third in the Big East, gets its next two on the road at Marquette (Jan. 10) and Providence (Jan. 13) before hosting Rick Pitino and St. John’s in a marquee matchup at the Xfinity Mobile Arena on Sat., Jan. 17 at 8 PM.