With nine lead changes and 13 ties, the Creighton men’s basketball team had its chances on Feb. 28. But two final-possession three-point attempts couldn’t find their way home, sealing a 79-76 Senior Day loss to the Providence Friars. 

And as much as head coach Greg McDermott would have liked seniors Josh Dix and Nik Graves’ final chapter at CHI Health Center to end differently, the loss to Providence in many ways mirrored the narrow margins, heartbreaking losses and twists that have defined the 2025-26 campaign. 

That reality made it all the more difficult to process — not because of the standings, but because of what Dix and Graves have meant to the program in just one season wearing the Bluejay uniform.

“I just really feel bad for these two [Dix and Graves]. I wanted this game for them,” McDermott said, “It’s been well-documented what Josh has endured this season … I know what Nick has done as a support system for Josh, and you would hope that the basketball gods would reward that. But they didn’t today.”

Whatever the reason those two shots from Dix and Swartz didn’t fall, it didn’t change the fact that it was the last time that Iowa native Dix and North Carolina native Graves would hear the PA announce their names, fist bump the referees and huddle in the middle of the floor, shrouded in the blue hue of CHI Health Center.

            “This [has] all been a dream come true,” Graves said of playing for Creighton. “A lot of people, a lot of kids, where I’m from, don’t get the opportunity to represent a university like Creighton. … Just to be able to wear it [the jersey] one more time in front of Omaha and all the home fans, it sucks that it’s the last time, but it’s been one heck of a ride.”

That ride played out one final time at CHI Health Center Saturday evening.

From the opening tip, Creighton and Providence traded the advantage, neither squad able to find a sizable edge. It wasn’t until 6:16 left in the opening frame that Providence stretched the score to an eight-point margin, 28-20. That lead wasn’t sustained long, as shots from freshmen Karem Konan and Hudson Greer, followed by a make from Dix, quickly knotted the score once more.

The rest of the half played out much the same. By the end of the first 20 minutes, solid 42.4% shooting helped keep the Bluejays in striking distance, though 53% shooting from the Friars helped the visitors earn a slight 39-37 lead. Providence also ended the half with four made shots on its final four attempts.

Providence’s Jason Edwards led all scorers with 10 in the first 20 minutes, while Swartz kept the Bluejays on pace with nine points. The Bluejays also held sharpshooter Jaylin Sellers to seven points in the first half.

But it was Sellers — who ended the game with 20 second half points — who opened the second half with efficiency, drilling back-to-back triples on Providence’s first two trips down the floor to begin the half.

It took nearly 10 minutes in the second half for the Bluejays to retake the lead from Providence. The one-point lead was reached following a fastbreak dunk from Dix, which put the Bluejays ahead 56-55. 

Edwards helped take the lead back a minute later from the charity stripe before Creighton once again got the edge with 5:31 left on an alley-oop slam from Swartz, extending the Bluejays’ lead to 64-62.

Creighton’s final lead of the night showed 67-66 on the scoreboard following a 3-pointer from junior forward Jasen Green, but Sellers answered quickly with a three of his own to put out the fire.

Even as Providence tried to quell Creighton’s offense, it was in true Bluejay fashion that the home team fashioned a late comeback, putting itself in a familiar position with little time left and the chance to tie the game with a triple.

The sequence leading up to the three-point game began with a one-and-one from Dix, a Friar giveaway turned layup from Swartz and a foul shot. The free throw put Creighton within one, 77-76, with 40 seconds remaining.

Providence’s next trip up the floor, with 9.8 seconds separating the shot and game clocks, required the Bluejays to play lockdown defense. But Sellers, who ended the night with 27 points on 11-of-18 from the floor, fittingly put an end in Creighton’s plan.

On paper, the final Friar sequence looked to be well-guarded by Creighton — after all, Dix, the Bluejays’ best defender, was locked down on Sellers. But as Sellers drove to the hoop, McDermott said it was those pesky basketball gods that once again sprinkled a little misfortune into the mix on that play.

“Josh got him [Sellers] stopped in the post, and Jasen [Green] comes over to try and poke at it and steps on Josh’s foot, and then [Sellers] turns and shoots a layup because Jasen stepped on Josh’s foot. That’s kind of been our season in a nutshell,” McDermott said.

Yet 15 seconds still remained on the clock and the Bluejays had one more trip down the floor to pull off what they had so many times before — a last-second shot to tie the game. 

With a timeout to buffer Sellers’ shot and Creighton’s final possession, the Bluejays came out of the break and found Dix beyond the arc, guarded heavily by Providence. Dix’s shot didn’t connect, and even as Swartz tracked down the miss and took his own shot, the ball just wouldn’t fall. 

At the end of the day, 18-point performances from Dix and Swartz and a 10-point performance from Graves weren’t enough to give Creighton the win in its final home game of the season. 

Yet, the narrow defeat did not define what the two seniors have meant to the program.

“I’d hate to think where we’d be without [Dix and Graves]. I’ve said this before, [but] we’ve had transfers come in, guys for one year and some for two, but most of those guys were surrounded by guys that have been in our program. They didn’t have to come in and necessarily lead from the jump,” McDermott said. “These guys [Dix and Graves] were trying to figure out our offense, our defense, the names of their teammates, [and] you had all that going on, and they’ve done it with a smile on their face, they’ve embraced it. They’ve been absolutely a thrill to coach, and they’re guys that I’ll be in touch with the rest of my life.”

The three-point loss to Providence wasn’t the first heartbreaking loss of the season, nor will it be the last, but even in defeat, the expectation inside the locker room remains unchanged — a reflection of the leadership Dix and Graves have provided all year. 

“[We’re losing, but it’s] not because we’re not trying, [and] it’s not because we’re not connected. We do make a lot of mistakes [where] we shoot ourselves in the foot, and good teams can’t do that because we’ve talked about how a lot of our games have been decided by a possession or so,” McDermott said. “[I’m] disappointed for these two [Dix and Graves] because I really wanted to go out on a high note on this floor, but they’ve got absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. They’ve represented the name on the front of their jersey like many of the other seniors that have come before.”

While Saturday marked the end of Dix and Graves’ time inside CHI Health Center, it did not mark the end of Creighton’s season. The Bluejays close out the regular season tomorrow at Butler before turning their attention to the Big East Tournament, where postseason positioning — and opportunity — still awaits.

“Like I told the team, we’d love to not have to play in the play-in game in New York, and we probably need a little help — take care of Butler ourselves and then a little help somewhere to make that happen — but whenever we play and wherever we play, we’re going to show up. We’re going to be ready, and we’re going to give it everything we have,” McDermott said.

Tipoff for Creighton’s final regular-season game is set for 5 p.m.