Close but no cigar.

With the season on the line, Villanova came up short against Creighton Saturday afternoon, falling 69-67 on a last-second Bluejays basket that will most likely sent the Wildcats to the NIT for a second consecutive season.

In a season-defining game, Villanova produced one of the worst starts you’ll ever see. The Wildcats allowed Creighton to start 4-4 from the field and 2-2 from three, and before you could blink were down 12-0. A Jordan Longino three finally broke the run, only to see Creighton put together a SECOND 12-0 run in the first seven minutes of the game. An Eric Dixon jumper stopped that run, but Creighton would score eight of the next 11 points as well to push the advantage to 24 with just under 10 minutes to play.

“We got off, fortunately for us, we got off to a ridiculous start on both ends of the floor,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “We were fortunate we did because we needed every last one of those.”

Overall, Creighton started 8-11 and was dominating every facet of the game (rebounds, points in the paint, fast break points, turnovers). Despite Creighton entering the game as the worst team in the country at forcing opponent turnovers, Villanova committed three in the first five minutes of the game. The cherry on top was Villanova shooting just 19%. When you’re shooting that poorly, you have to be committed to transition defense, and Villanova was not. Creighton had a 15-0 advantage in fast break points. The final indignity was atrocious defense on Creighton sharpshoot Baylor Scheierman, who got off to a 4-4 start (3-3 from three) as Villanova continually left him open.

“Congrats to Creighton, they came out and really set the tone for that game,” Kyle Neptune said. “They made a lot of shots to start that game, they really executed, they got us on our heels our little bit. But I was proud of the way our guys fought back over that last 25 minutes or so. Obviously, Alexander made a tough, tough shot at the end.”

“I don’t think it was offense to start,” Neptune added. “When you give up like 30 points the first six, seven minutes, that’s tough. You’re going against a set defense every time, couldn’t get out in transition, so I think it was more our inability to get stops.”

“I thought that they just got us on our heels a little bit,” Neptune continued. “The way they shot the ball. I thought we warmed up great, our guys were energetic. I feel like we were ready to go. Sometimes guys make some tough shots and they made some tough ones. 8-11 is tough.”

Villanova did eventually find its footing. An 11-0 run, that was part of a larger 16-2 run, allowed the ‘Cats to cut the lead to 10 with 3:24 to play in the half. They would get within eight before Creighton scored the last three points of the half to take an 11-point edge into the break.

The valiant effort continued in the second half.

Villanova tried to hang around, but Creighton got the better of things through the first 14 minutes of the period, slowly building the lead back to 14. But ‘Nova responded with a 12-0 run to pull within two with 2:34 to play. The ‘Cats got within one with 1:33 to play on a Justin Moore three, and three free throws from Dixon tied the game with 23.6 seconds left.

And then Trey Alexander delivered a dagger that all but ended Villanova’s NCAA Tournament hopes. The Creighton guard drilled a jumper with just 0.2 seconds left to give Creighton the lead. The Wildcats got a surprisingly good look at a game-tying shot, as TJ Bamba delivered an incredible 92-foot pass to Dixon on the opposite baseline, but the big man’s rushed attempt wouldn’t fall.

“We just knew we had to play much better,” Neptune said about the turnaround in the game’s final 25 minutes or so. “We knew we had to come out and play with a sense of pride and urgency and I think our guys did that. I thought they did that over the last 25, 30 minutes of the game I thought we played with a much higher level sense of urgency and I was proud of the way our guys battled to the very end.”

‘Nova actually ended up shooting better than Creighton for the game (47% to 45% overall and 45% to 35% from three), but were still outscored by 12 from three, by seven in second chance points and by 13 in fast break points. The transition defense was poor, something you simply can’t have when you’re struggling to put the ball in the basket.

Ultimately, though, Villanova was done in by the slow start. It’s inexcusable to come out that way pretty much ever, but especially in a game that carried the consequences that this one did. It’s a scene we’ve watched play out multiple times this season, and it ultimately will be the reason Villanova once again misses the NCAA Tournament, barring a miracle run at the Big Eat Tournament. You simply cannot only play for portions of game and you absolutely can not come out in a season-defining game and allow your opponent to get whatever it wants right out of the gate, consistently losing their best shooter, and spotting them leads of 12, 21 and 24.

“It’s definitely challenging, exerts a lot of energy for sure,” Moore said of trying to overcome a huge deficit. “Trying to finish out a game is even harder because you had to fight back so hard, but I’m still proud of the way we competed overall.”

We noted in an earlier article that this season was unfolding in an eerily similar to fashion as last season, and now the end result will likely be the same.

The Wildcats will look to steal an NCAA bid by winning the Big East Tournament (or at least making the final) on Wednesday.