OMAHA, Neb. -- Creighton apparently has Villanova's number.

Doug McDermott matched his season high with 39 points and passed Larry Bird for 13th on the Division I career scoring chart, and the 18th-ranked Bluejays won 101-80 on Sunday to move into first place in the Big East, a half-game ahead of the No. 6 Wildcats.

Their 21-point victory came less than a month after they hammered Villanova by 28 in Philadelphia on the strength of a record 3-point shooting performance.

"I didn't think we could play much better than we did at Villanova," Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. "But I'm not sure we didn't play better today. We didn't have the crazy shooting night from the 3-point line, but the other parts of the game were really good."

Villanova coach Jay Wright said getting blown out again was frustrating because he and his staff came up with a much different defensive plan. The Wildcats didn't double-team McDermott as much, and they denied the ball to 3-point marksman Ethan Wragge.

McDermott did his thing, as usual, and Creighton's bench produced 39 points.

"They've got the best player in the country, and he makes everybody better around him," Wright said. "They're just a tough matchup for us. Our style of play and their style of play kind of leads to these kinds of games. We've got to find the answer if we face them again."

The Bluejays (21-4, 11-2) beat the same ranked opponent twice in the same season for the first time in program history. They also won their 16th straight at home, matching their longest streak since moving into the CenturyLink Center in 2003.

McDermott went over 30 points for the ninth time this season and 23rd time in his career. He took over the national scoring lead, at 25.9 points a game. He passed Bird, the Indiana State great of the late 1970s, on the NCAA's scoring list with his fourth 3-pointer with 13:23 left.

"It's pretty crazy. That's one of my idols," he said. "Imagine if (Bird) had the 3-point line and he stayed four years. He would be way ahead of me. It's really cool just to be in that category with some of those guys."

The senior forward left to an ovation with 1:43 left, embracing his coach and father before sitting down. He now has 2,863 career points.