The Wildcats represented the Big East well, giving the conference their first win in the Big 12-Big East Battle.
It was another day at the office for Eric Dixon, who helped lead the way in Villanova’s upset win over No. 14 Cincinnati in the Big 12-Big East battle on Tuesday night.
The Wildcats represented the conference well in the first game of the annual series, taking down the Bearcats, 68-60.
“I thought our guys came out and played hard throughout an intense 40 minutes,” Villanova coach Kyle Neptune said. “I think that was our best performance throughout 40 minutes. I think there were times where we played good in sports, but this was the first time we put together a full 40 minutes.”
A rib injury didn’t slow Dixon down, and neither did the Bearcats’ defense. Dixon had a game-high 31 points, with seven rebounds.
“Whatever the game dictates, I think Eric Dixon will be comfortable doing,” Neptune said.
Jhamir Brickus also played well, tallying 13 points and nine assists, with no turnovers. 11 of Brickus’ 13 points came in the first half alone. Wooga Poplar had a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double, while Enoch Boakye had four blocks in the winning effort.
The Wildcats gave the Bearcats all they could handle in the first half. Jhamir Brickus beat the halftime horn to give the Wildcats a 37-28 advantage going into the break.
Cincinnati is ranked as the best team in the country in limiting opposing effective field goal percentage. The Wildcats did not seem to mind, though, shooting over 50% from both inside and outside the arc to start the game. They went on to finish shooting 23-of-47 (48.9%) for the game, and 8-of-20 (40.0%) from deep. They also limited their turnovers to just nine for the entire game.
The shooting was not the only thing the Wildcats had going for them early on. The defense was vastly improved and it showed early.
Cincinnati scored the first basket of the game, and that brief moment was the only time the Bearcats led throughout the entire contest.
The Bearcats shot just 23-of-60 (38.3%) overall and 8-of-26 (30.8%) from deep.
“It’s motivating,” Dixon said of the Wildcats’ performance. “Try to come every day in practice and be this tough and be this fast is something we can do.”
Villanova broke the ice, scoring the first four points of the halftime break, and it led by as much as 13 points. The Wildcats led 41-28 with 19:01 left in the game, but Cincinnati answered in a big way, going on a 10-2 run to cut the lead to three.
From there Villanova would ratchet up their defensive intensity, holding the Bearcats to just one field goal over the next 7:54 of gametime.
Cincinnati would not go out quietly however, making a last push around the final media timeout. The Bearcats got the game to just six points with a hair under four minutes to go, before Eric Dixon did what Eric Dixon does.
He cashed in on back to back threes that extended the Wildcat lead to double figures and they never looked back.
“I shoot those shots every day in the gym by myself and my teammates trust me to knock those down,” Dixon said.
Jizzle James led Cincinnati with 19 points. Simas Lukosius added 13 points.
The Wildcats improve to 5-4 overall. Villanova returns to action for the Big 5 Classic tripleheader, where it will play Temple on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET.
“They’ve done a great job, we have some great leadership on this team (Jhamir Brickus and Eric Dixon) included,” Neptune said of how the Wildcats have handled the up-and-down start to the year. “We have some older guys who have been in some good spots and some tough spots previous to this year, so I don’t think our guys get too high or too low. Game-to-game. This game we got the result we wanted, but we’re still not satisfied. There’s still a long, long season to go. We know we have a lot to be better at and hopefully we can continue to do that.”