Villanova fends off No. 9 UConn in epic win

Through the ups and downs of Villanova’s season, head coach Kyle Neptune urged the need to keep getting better and shift focus to each day in a process-driven approach.

Maybe it was coachspeak, but roughly two months after painful losses to Columbia and Saint Joseph’s, there is certainly some merit to Neptune’s words.

The Wildcats earned their second win over a ranked opponent, this time fending off two-time national champion UConn, 68-66, in a dramatic win at Finneran Pavilion on Wednesday night.

The win marks the Wildcats’ eighth win out of the last nine games.

“I was proud of the way our guys came out defensively in the first half, then we took a lot of hits from them in the second half and down the stretch there,” Neptune said. “I thought it was fitting that we got stops down the stretch, I thought that propelled us to the win.”

Villanova led by as many as 12 points early in the second half, but the Huskies were relentless in their efforts to grab the lead.

They were able to get ahead briefly when Solo Ball drilled a three in transition to give UConn a 57-55 lead with 8:38 left.

However, Eric Dixon and Jordan Longino responded with back-to-back buckets to regain the lead for the ‘Cats.

UConn remained in hot pursuit and had several opportunities in the final minutes of the game. Villanova went the final 2:21 without making a single shot, but it held firm defensively.

“I thought our guys rose to the challenge and just tried to push them as much as we could,” Neptune said. “Our guys played hard, physical, and they came back. There was nothing difficult, you’re not going to cheat (UConn), you have to go out and play hard, and I thought they did that.”

Jaylin Stewart followed up with a layup after an Alex Karaban three to make it a 67-66 game with 1:20 left.

Villanova got a stop and came close to getting a couple more, but it was unable to cleanly reel in UConn misses and the ball would bounce off a Wildcat to give the Huskies additional possessions.

Jordan Longino appeared to have a crucial block on UConn’s Karaban, but a foul was called on Longino, much to the dismay of the Villanova bench and fans in attendance.

With three seconds left in the game, Karaban had an opportunity to tie or give UConn the lead when he made two free throws in a one-point contest.

Karaban, an 81.4% free throw shooter, missed both.

“He’s the winningest player in college basketball. The biggest winner in college basketball,” Hurley said of Karaban afterward. “When you’ve got the adventure, back-to-back national champion, coming back for a third is it’s a life like – sometimes you have to eat food. Sometimes you will have bad moments. His first two years in college have been an adventure. My advice to him is that I love the way he attacked the game. I love the way he wasn’t passive. He wanted to have the ball at the end of the game, play and be that guy for us.”

Wooga Poplar went 1-for-2 from the free throw line to give Villanova some extra breathing room and seal the game.

Despite UConn shooting 27-of-50 (54.0%) and 10-of-27 (37.0%) from deep, don’t let the numbers fool you – it was a tough defensive effort by Villanova throughout . The ‘Cats’ also forced 13 turnovers, which turned into 15 points the other way.

The Wildcats had stretches where they clamped down on UConn, especially toward the end, but also in the first half as they continued to build a 32-25 halftime lead.

Another impressive detail was that it was not Dixon’s strongest performance and although he has carried the ‘cats’ in the past, the rest of the team was able to step up during Dixon’s slow start.

“There’s a lot of talented guys here and they showed it today,” Dixon said. “They picked me up.”

Dixon started the game shooting 1-of-8 and had five points in the first half, yet the ‘Cats still led at halftime. Dixon finished with 23 points as he got into a groove offensively after the break. Wooga Poplar added 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Jordan Longino had 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting.

“Credit ‘Nova for finding a way to win it,” Hurley said. “Obviously, you shoot 54.0% from the field, you make 10 threes, 23 assists — turnovers hurt us because we were pretty efficient not turning the ball over. We knew it would be a tough game. … I was proud of the effort. I don’t think many teams are going to win (at Finneran Pavilion) or beat this team at home this year, I think it’s a really good team.”

For UConn, Solo Ball had 16 points, four boards and four assists. Jaylin Stewart finished with 14 points. Hassan Diarra added 11 points, four rebounds and nine assists. Alex Karaban chipped in 10 points.

Villanova improves to 11-5 overall and 4-1 in Big East play. The Wildcats return to action on Saturday at Madison Square Garden when they take on the St. John’s. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 pm ET.

Even after a big win, the message and goal remain the same.

“We just have to keep getting better,” Neptune said. “The season isn’t even halfway over yet, so we just have to lock in and have a growth mentality. I told our guys we have 15 hours to enjoy this, then we’ll come back, watch film and get better no matter what practice we have.”