Wooga Poplar goes off, but Villanova falls just short in a nailbiter against Big East foe Creighton

After a midweek bye, Villanova headed into the second half of its Big East slate in dramatic fashion and narrowly fell to Creighton, 62-60, at the Wells Fargo Center.

Down by one with just 19 seconds left on the clock, senior guard Wooga Poplar came up big with a steal and a dunk, but it didn’t take long for the Bluejays (16-6, 10-2 Big East) to regain their lead.

Creighton’s Steven Ashworth banked in a wide-open three from the corner to give the Bluejays a two-point lead with just three seconds remaining. Villanova (12-10, 5-6) came up short on its final offensive possession and dropped its sixth conference game of the season.

Poplar posted a game-high 24 points for the Wildcats and went 10-of-17 from the field.

“I think obviously [Wooga] had to go on offensively,” Villanova senior guard Jordan Longino said. “But I think those defensive plays he made, especially that one at the end there that led to that dunk, obviously just what we’re looking for. Even at a high level, I think he proved that today for a full 40 minutes, it just [stinks] we didn’t get it done in the end.”

Villanova shot 39.7% from the field and just 17.6% from deep, while Creighton went 6-of-26 from behind the arc.

In the final possession of the first half, Longino missed a jumper to send the Wildcats into the locker room tied, 29-29.

A tie at halftime seemed fitting, given that neither team did much to deserve to be up at the half.

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Villanova got off to a slow start and shot just 25% from the field (16.1% from deep). It was an even worse first-half performance from the Bluejays, who shot a season-worst 1-for-14 from beyond the arc in the first half.

The Wildcats capitalized on Creighton’s sloppiness and went on a 12-2 run over 3 minutes, 6 seconds to climb back from a seven-point deficit.

Redshirt freshman Jordann Dumont capped the run with a three at the 3:13 mark to give Villanova its first lead of the game and finally electrify a seemingly quiet Wells Fargo Center.

Entering Saturday, Villanova desperately needed to clean up its turnovers. In fact, of its 90 turnovers in conference play this season, 43 have come in the last four games.

On Saturday, Creighton picked up where the Wildcats left off. Creighton turned the ball over four times in 3:24 and ended the half with nine turnovers compared to Villanova’s two. Creighton finished with 18 turnovers, while Villanova had just six.

“I thought our guys just played extremely hard,” coach Kyle Neptune said. “You know, they’re tricky defensively. It’s just their style, you know. But I give our guys a lot of credit. The energy we expended on the defensive end was encouraging.”

Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner again proved to be the difference. The 7-foot-1 center dropped a team-high 22 points and had eight rebounds. Earlier in the week, Kalkbrenner was named the Big East Player of the Week and the Associated Press National Player of the Week a day later.

Jamiya Neal also contributed to Kalkbrenner’s efforts with 13 points and nine boards, while Ashworth had 13 points, seven boards, and seven assists.

Dixon needed nine points to reach a career milestone, entering Saturday. For the nation’s leading scorer, nine points is light work.

With a three-pointer with 4:38 to go in the first half, Dixon scored his 2,000th career point, making him the ninth Wildcats player in the history of the men’s program and the 11th in school history to achieve it.

“I’m sure it’s one of those days I will look back on and be proud of,” Dixon said. “But right now, it’s not about that.”

» READ MORE: Eric Dixon, Villanova’s homegrown star, is college basketball’s leading scorer and could one day be a museum curator

He finished with 17 points and five boards.

Dixon has now scored in double figures in 37 games in a row, the nation’s third-longest active streak, and one behind Marquette’s Kam Jones for the longest in the Big East.

Villanova will travel to Chicago to take on DePaul (10-12, 1-10 Big East) on Wednesday (9 p.m., CBSSN) at Wintrust Arena. The Wildcats defeated the Blue Demons, 100-56, in their previous meeting on Jan. 4.