OMAHA – (Staff Report from Official News Release) -Nik Graves’ late 3-pointer paced Creighton in comeback win; Villanova gets season-best 26 from Acaden Lewis in win at Georgetown; Jason Edwards returns to lead Providence with 25 points in win over DePaul; Marquette’s balanced offensive attack proves to be the difference in home win versus Butler.
Villanova 80, Georgetown 73 – Box Score
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Freshman Acaden Lewis poured in a season-high 26 points to help propel Villanova to a road win at Georgetown. Lewis made 11-of-15 shots (3-5 3FG) to go with six assists and three steals.
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Lewis – from Washington, D.C. – scored 17 of his 26 over the final 10-plus minutes of the game.
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The Hoyas led for much of the first half; Villanova did hold a pair of one-point leads.
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The Wildcats took a 27-26 lead with 7:54 left before an 11-4 push by the Hoyas gave them their largest lead of the half (37-31). The Hoyas led 40-37 at the break.
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There were six ties and three lead changes in the second half as both teams traded runs early in the period.
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Nova opened the final 20 minutes with six quick points on back-to-back 3-pointers before a 10-1 Georgetown push put it back up six (50-44).
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Malachi Palmer and Tyler Perkins made three shots from beyond the arc over an extended 17-4 push that gave Villanova a 61-54 lead with 10:21 to play.
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The Hoyas’ Malik Mack scored eight of the next 12 points before a Vince Iwuchukwu dunk tied it at 66-66 with 5:41.
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From there, it was all Villanova, as an 11-3 push gave the ‘Cats the lead for good. Lewis scored 10 of those 11 points, including a pair of 3-pointers that pushed the lead to eight (77-69) with 1:46 to play.
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For Villanova, Duke Brennan logged his 10th double-double of the season with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Tyler Perkins had 15 points and eight rebounds, while Malachi Palmer tallied 10 points off the bench.
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Georgetown was led by 21 points from Mack. Iwuchukwu had 15 points and 12 boards, while KJ Lewis added 13 points.
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The loss snapped a four-game win streak for the Hoyas.
Of Note:
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With the win, Villanova improved to 5-1 in BIG EAST road games on the season
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The Wildcats made at least 10 3-pointers for the 14th time this season; Nova is 10-4 in those games
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Georgetown’s Vince Iwuchukwu recorded back-to-back double-doubles for the first time in his career. He is the first Hoya to do so since a season ago, when Thomas Sorber did so against Villanova (1/20/25) and Providence (1/25/25).
Marquette 70, Butler 55 – Box Score
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Four Golden Eagles reached double-digits, led by Chase Ross’ 19 points and a season-high 18 from freshman Adrian Stevens
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Marquette led throughout the first 13-plus minutes, opening up as much as an eight-point advantage (14-6).
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A trio of 3-pointers from Butler’s Finley Bizjack would push the Bulldogs ahead by four (28-24) with 2:14 left in the opening period.
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Eight straight points from Marquette to close the first half gave it a 32-28 lead at the break.
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The Golden Eagles began the second half with a pair of 3-pointers as part of an extended 19-9 run. A trifecta from Stevens with 13:58 to go gave Marquette its largest lead of the game – 17 points (54-37).
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Marquette made 56.0% of its shot attempts over the final 20 minutes (14-25), including 9-of-14 shots from the outside.
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Butler’s Finley Bizjack finished with 23 points, making 8-of-12 shots from the floor including 5-of-7 from the perimeter.
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Michael Ajayi tallied 19 rebounds (5 off; 14 def) – his second-highest total of the season
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For Marquette, Nigel James Jr. finished with 16 points, four assists, and four steals, while Royce Parham added 12 points. Ben Gold grabbed a team-best 10 rebounds.
Of Note:
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Former Marquette head coach Tom Crean was honored with a banner in the rafters at halftime of the game, celebrating his accomplishments during his tenure with Golden Eagles.
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The Golden Eagles tied their season-high with 14 3-pointers.
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Butler was missing a pair of starters (Jamie Kaiser Jr. and Stink Robinson); Evan Haywood earned his first start of the season
Providence 90, DePaul 72 – Box Score
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Jason Edwards returned to the Providence lineup after missing the previous seven games and led all scorers with 25 points
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With the game tied at 7-7 early on after a 3-pointer by DePaul’s CJ Gunn, the Friars broke the game open with a 15-4 run. Providence would not trail the rest of the way.
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An Edwards 3-pointer late in the opening half extended the Friar lead to 19; PC would lead 43-26 at the break.
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Providence built on its lead in the second half. Back-to-back fastbreak dunks from freshmen Stefan Vaaks and Jamier Jones put the home team ahead by 20.
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The fifth 3-pointer of the day from Edwards built the largest lead of the day – 27 points – with 2:18 to go.
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The Friars connected on a season-best 58.9% from the floor (33-56), making 9-of-21 attempts from the perimeter.
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Brandon Maclin led DePaul with 17 points off the bench, making 8-of-13 shots from the floor. Kaleb Banks added 11 points, also in reserve play for the Blue Demons.
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For Providence, Jaylin Sellers added an efficient 21 points on eight total field goal attempts, while Ryan Mela added 16 points and eight boards. Oswin Erhunmwunse tallied a double-double with 10 points and 13 boards.
Of Note:
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Providence’s Jaylin Sellers tallied 57 points over two games this week – the most over a two-game span by a Friar since Josh Oduro in Feb. 2024
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Stefan Vaaks finished with eight points for the Friars – marking the first time in 24 games that he did not reach double figures
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In conference play, DePaul’s Brandon Maclin leads the BIG EAST in scoring by a reserve (zero starts), averaging 10.8 points per game. Over his last 10 games, the 6-3 guard is averaging 12.3 ppg.
Creighton 69, Seton Hall 68 – Box Score
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A Nik Graves 3-pointer with three seconds left capped an 11-1 run to close the game for Creighton
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Trailing by 10 (63-53) with 3:30 to play – and by nine (67-58) with 1:35 to go – the Bluejays’ Fedor Zugic hit a pair of 3-pointers and Jasen Green a putback layup – to cut the margin to one – 67-66 – with 22 ticks to play.
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Seton Hall’s Trey Parker made 1-of-2 free throws with 17 seconds to play, putting the Pirates up 68-66 before the eventual game winning possession for the Jays.
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In the first half, Creighton was paced by 15 points from Isaac Traudt who made four 3-pointers in the opening eight minutes of play.
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A layup by Owen Freeman gave the Bluejays a seven-point lead (22-15) with 11:22 left in the period. Seven unanswered by the Pirates tied it up at 22-22 less than two minutes later.
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There were four lead changes and three ties over the final 9:33, with Seton Hall holding a 34-32 lead at the break.
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In the second half, Creighton took a 41-38 lead after a Josh Dix 3-pointer with 16:33 left made it 41-38.
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Seton Hall would score 10 straight to start an extended 19-6 run. Two free throws from Tajuan Simpkins gave the Pirates a 57-47 lead with nine and half minutes to play.
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SHU would lead 63-53, after a layup by Elijah Fisher with 3:30 left, before the Creighton run to close the game.
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For Seton Hall, Budd Clark led the way with 20 points, making 8-of-16 shots (3-4 3FG). AJ Staton-McCray had 11 points and Elijah Fisher 10. Stephon Payne grabbed 11 rebounds.
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Traudt’s 18 points led Creighton, while Dix added 16 points and Zugic 13. Green had 11 points and seven boards.
Of Note:
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The victory marked the 33rd double-digit comeback win for Creighton under head coach Greg McDermott
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Creighton has won 10 or more home games in 11 straight seasons and 29 of the past 30 years
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Seton Hall’s Budd Clark has scored 18 or more in four consecutive games; his three 3-pointers tied a career-best