Creighton stands in No. 2 Villanova's Big East title path (Mar 11, 2017)
Second-ranked Villanova is on the verge of capturing its third Big East tournament championship.
The Wildcats (30-3) blitzed eighth-seeded St. John's 108-67 in the quarterfinals and then edged fifth-seeded Seton Hall 55-53 in the semifinal round on Friday. They'll meet sixth-seeded Creighton on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The Bluejays (25-8) rallied from a six-point deficit at halftime to defeat seventh-seeded Xavier 75-72. Creighton lost both regular-season matchups by a combined 26 points against Villanova.
The top-seeded Wildcats advanced to the Big East tournament title game for the third season in a row. They became only the fifth team in conference history to move to the championship game in three consecutive seasons. Louisville, Connecticut, Pittsburgh and Syracuse are the other four to accomplish the feat.
Villanova is 2-5 all time in the Big East tournament final with championships secured in 1995 and 2015.
If the Wildcats are able to hoist a third trophy, it will certainly be earned. Especially after they overcame an 11-point deficit in a hard-fought, physical matchup against the Pirates in the semifinals.
Preseason national player of the year candidate Josh Hart led the way with 19 points and 10 rebounds, including the winning three-point play with 9.6 seconds remaining.
"We got outplayed tonight but found a way to win at the end," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "Great players made plays. Their game plan was better. That's on me. It wasn't about great execution or a good game plan. This was purely about talented players."
Villanova struggled with its offensive rhythm, going 20 of 48 (41.7 percent).
"It's nice to know you can gut it out when you're not playing well," Wright said. "That's a good feeling."
The Wildcats trailed 27-20 at halftime, the lowest offensive output in any first half this season. Thanks to Hart's double-double and clutch plays down the stretch, they're still going to compete for a conference tournament title.
"Coach, he challenged us," Hart said. "We know we didn't play Villanova basketball for the first 20 minutes. ... Coach challenged us to play Villanova basketball for 20 minutes."
Creighton trailed 37-31 before a second-half surge lifted the program into the championship game. Marcus Foster scored 21 points and hit the game-winning 3-pointer with 6.6 seconds left.
Justin Patton also scored 21 points and Cole Huff had 11 and Khyri Thomas 10.
It was Foster, a junior guard, who knocked down one of the biggest shots of the season for the Bluejays.
"I believe in him," Creighton coach Greg McDermott told Fox Sports 1 of Foster. "We decided not to take a timeout and get the ball in our best players' hands."
When the ball reversed to Foster outside the arc, he never hesitated.
"It's something I practice all the time," Foster told FS1.
Creighton improved to 5-3 all time in the Big East tournament and 2-0 in the semifinal round.
The win over Xavier gave Creighton 25 victories in a season for just the sixth time in program history.
