Villanova (12-3) suffers its first loss in conference play, losing 76-72 to Creighton on Wednesday night. The Blue Jays scored 46 second-half points, scoring on nearly every possession. On the few possessions where an initial shot was missed, Creighton often got the offensive board. Austin Schwartz was on fire in the second half, scoring 20 points on 9/15 shooting. He kept getting to his spots in the midrange. Blake Harper and Josh Dix had numerous back-breaking makes near the end of the shot clock, taking advantage of their heights over their respective defenders. Each scored 17 points on the evening. After the game, Kevin Willard called the defense “abysmal.” It is hard to dispute that.
Offensively, Villanova struggled to get production from all but three players: Acaden Lewis, Duke Brennan and Tyler Perkins. The trio scored 54 of the Wildcats’ 72 points on the night. Lewis was particular integral, recording 20 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals with only 1 turnover. Brennan had 16 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists and a block. It was the first time Villanova has lost this season when Brennan notched a double-double.
It will be difficult to win many games against quality competition when Devin Askew, Matt Hodge and Bryce Lindsay combine for 13 points on 6/25 shooting (24%). There just isn’t enough depth past the first six in the rotation to withstand that. That said, Zion Stanford and Malachi Palmer both had a nice make in the contest, so hopefully they can get more comfortable as the season goes along.
Lindsay has been incredibly consistent this year, scoring in double digits in all but two games. Those two games were against Creighton and Michigan, where both Greg McDermott and Dusty May made him their priority. When you are one of the leading scorers in the Big East, you can expect more of the quality coaches to do the same. Lindsay will need to learn from these coverages and adjust.
The loss against Creighton was also the first loss below a Quad-1 this year, but this Blue Jays team is unlikely to make it worse than a Quad-2 by season’s end. It’s important that Villanova learns from this game, especially defensively, but moves on quickly to focus on Marquette. A loss in Milwaukee on Saturday afternoon would be truly damaging for the Wildcats’ resume.
Postgame Presser:
