The Wildcats never looked back after a massive first-half run and shooting barrage.
No last place this year.
After dropping their fourth straight Big 5 matchup at the hands of the St. Joseph’s Hawks last week, the Villanova Wildcats have finally corrected the ship and secured their first Big 5 win since December 15th, 2022.
The big news of the day for the Wildcats came hours before tip-off, when the school announced Oregon’s deputy Athletic Director, Eric Roedl, as Villanova’s newest Athletic Director. Roedl is filling the vacancy that Mark Jackson left after he left for Northwestern earlier this fall.
The Wildcats were playing like Roedl was in attendance tonight as they made quick work of the Quakers, defeating Penn, 93-49.
Penn’s Johnnie Walter tickled the twine with a stepback three with 8:55 to go in the first half Tuesday’s game to tie the game at 26. From there, the Wildcats would use a 17-0 run to end the first half and take a massive momentum swing into the halftime locker room.
The Quakers next points would not come until the 17:40 mark of the second half by way of free throws from Johnny Walter, their first points in 10:33 of game time. Villanova cruised to a much needed and comfortable victory, avoiding back-to-back appearances in the Big 5 last place game.
Villanova announced minutes before tip-off that Wooga Poplar would not start due to tardiness in a meeting earlier this week. In his place, Tyler Perkins got the start and made the most of his opportunity. Perkins played well and finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and three steals. More than the numbers, Perkins played with a purpose, showing his inner fire and intensity early and often Tuesday night. This one was personal.
In addition to Perkins’ solid outing, Villanova was led by their unrivaled leader in Eric Dixon. Dixon finished with 23 points and six rebounds on 4-5 shooting from deep, including an emphatic slam off of a steal to add to his highlight reel. Dixon has been the best power forward in the country in the early going, and Villanova’s cornerstone so far this year.
Wooga Poplar and Jhamir Brickus also contributed to Villanova’s 93-point outing tonight finishing with 19 points and 16 points respectively.
As for Penn, the Quakers had a balanced scoring attack with five players finishing with six or more points. Michael Zanoni led the way with nine points as the Wildcats did not allow a single double digit scorer all night.
This was a much needed and welcome sight for Villanova. The Wildcats have not gotten the season kicked off the way they had hoped, dropping 53 spots in KenPom’s rankings. A game versus a team who has dropped 76 (!!) spots in the same rankings is exactly what the doctor ordered to hopefully get this train back on the track.
It is certainly not what we should expect the standard to be moving forward, but hopefully a harbinger of brighter days ahead and we will see just how real this outing was for Villanova extremely fast.
Villanova will ship up to Newark, NJ and a date with the Derik Queen and the Maryland Terrapins this Sunday and 1 p.m. at the Empire Classic.