Villanova seals its NCAA fate with a loss to Creighton in the Big East tournament

NEW YORK — All year, after wins or losses, Villanova’s mantra has remained the same — to be the best team it can be by the end of the season.

The Wildcats didn’t expect that end to come seconds before midnight on a Thursday in early March.

In the Big East tournament quarterfinals, sixth-seeded Villanova fell, 87-74, to third-seeded Creighton behind a barrage of threes and a dominant Bluejays defense. While Villanova still could accept an NIT bid if one is offered, the Wildcats will miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012.

“I wouldn’t say that was our best game, but in terms of the thought process and coming out and trying to execute, I thought our guys were there,” Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune said. “Creighton just played better than us today.”

The Bluejays (21-11) finished with 12 three-pointers in the game, hitting consecutive threes to stretch an early three-point lead to nine and run away from there.

Trey Alexander hit the first three triples he attempted and finished with 13 points, while Baylor Scheierman’s consecutive treys early in the second half created separation. It wasn’t just Scheierman and Alexander, either — the Bluejays finished with all five starters in double figures, led by Ryan Kalkbrenner’s 21.

Defensively, the Bluejays did what they wanted. Eric Dixon had torched the Bluejays in both regular-season meetings by stretching the floor and hitting threes, but Creighton focused on him and held him in check in the first half. Dixon heated up in the second and finished with 20 points, 18 of which came in the second half as the Wildcats (17-16) attempted to mount a late rally, but the damage was done.

“Villanova forces you to kind of flip your defense upside down and pulls it away from the basket, so it takes us away from what we do best,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “[Kalkbrenner] was much better at guarding Eric tonight, as were the rest of the guys with their activity and helping.”

With the Wildcats’ postseason status still unknown, Thursday could have been the final games for graduate students Caleb Daniels and Brandon Slater.

The duo, who talked about playing for younger players instead of focusing on their final games, scored 17 points each. Slater made all four attempts from three and briefly threatened to get Villanova back into the game, but picked up his fourth foul with 11 minutes left.

“The way we evaluate our guys is all about mindset, and these two guys specifically have just brought it all year,” Neptune said. “From the very beginning, even from the summer, they’ve brought it. They’ve given us everything we possibly could ask from them.”

If this is the end of the road, it was a disappointing one for Big East Freshman of the Year Cam Whitmore. Whitmore, widely expected to be an NBA lottery pick, finished with four points and didn’t play in the final six minutes.

Midway through the second half, Villanova made its move. Dixon finally got open behind the arc and hit two threes, and the Wildcats put together an 11-0 run over a span of 97 seconds to cut a 20-point lead to single digits. After a couple of Creighton scores, a three-point play from Dixon cut the lead again, but Villanova couldn’t get closer than nine.

McDermott described defending the run as “[holding] on for dear life,” but the lead was never fully threatened.

“I’m glad we had enough cushion where it didn’t really get totally in danger,” McDermott said.

The Wildcats haven’t decided if they would accept an NIT bid, and receiving one isn’t guaranteed. Villanova will learn its destination, if any, on Sunday.

The Wildcats made progress and were at their best at the end of the year, but when the clock struck midnight, that best wasn’t nearly good enough.