Angling for Big East tourney bye, Creighton closes season at Butler

Creighton is far removed from playing its best basketball of 2025-26, but the team has plenty of incentive to get it in gear heading into its regular-season finale against Butler on Wednesday in Indianapolis.

Despite losing three in a row and eight of their last 10 games, the Bluejays can clinch a first-round bye in the upcoming Big East tournament if they defeat the Bulldogs and get outside help.

Creighton (14-16, 8-11) currently resides in sixth place in the 11-team Big East, a half-game behind DePaul and a half-game in front of Providence. The top five teams receive a bye into the second round.

"We're not done," Bluejays head coach Greg McDermott said. "We're going to go to Butler and give it our best shot. Like I told the team, we would love to not have to play in the play-in game in New York. ... But whenever we play, whoever we play, we're going to show up, we're going to be ready and we're going to give it everything we have."

Josh Dix and Austin Swartz each scored 18 points in Creighton's 79-76 setback to Providence on Saturday. Dix averages a team-best 12.4 points per game, while Swartz contributes 10.9.

Jasen Green scored 23 points and Swartz added 22 when Creighton recorded an 89-85 victory over Butler on Dec. 30 in Omaha, Neb. The win was the Bluejays' seventh in the last eight meetings with the Bulldogs.

Yohan Traore finished with 20 points off the bench in that game and Michael Ajayi added 16 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out for Butler (15-14, 6-12).

Ajayi, who leads the Big East with 16 double-doubles, averages 16.0 points and 11.1 rebounds per game for the Bulldogs. Butler is tied with Xavier for eighth place, although the Musketeers host Seton Hall on Tuesday.

Ajayi scored 17 points and Traore added 15 last Wednesday, but the Bulldogs saw their modest two-game winning streak come to a halt with an 82-73 loss to Villanova.

"These guys come in (and) they practice. We've got to find ways to get these guys better and better," Bulldogs head coach Thad Matta said.

--Field Level Media