Fishing for the Big East tournament, Creighton closes the season at Butler.

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

Despite losing three straight games and eight of their last 10, the Bluejays can defeat the Bulldogs and clinch a first-round berth in the upcoming Big East tournament with some outside help.

Creighton (14-16, 8-11) currently sits in sixth place in the 11-team Big East, a half-game behind DePaul and a half-game ahead of Providence. The top five teams will advance to the second round.

“It’s not over yet,” Blue Jays manager Greg McDermott said. “We’re going to go to Butler and do our best. Like I told the team, hopefully we don’t have to play in a 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’ve got.”

Josh Dix and Austin Swartz each had 18 points in Creighton’s 79-76 loss to Providence on Saturday. Dix scores a team-high 12.4 points per game and Swartz scores 10.9 points.

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

Johan Traore scored 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, is averaging 16.0 points and 11.1 rebounds per game for the Bulldogs. Butler is tied for eighth place with Xavier, although the Musketeers host Seton Hall on Tuesday.

Ajayi scored 17 points and Traore added 15 last Wednesday, but the Bulldogs’ two-game winning streak was halted with an 82-73 loss to Villanova.

“These guys come in and practice. We’ve got to find ways to get these guys better and better,” Bulldogs coach Thad Matta said.

–Field level media