Following the conclusion of the 2023-2024 season, sophomore guard Tyler Perkins left Penn with the hopes of taking his game to the next level. Eight months later, his new team demolished his former team, 93-49.
The 44-point win comes after a start to the 2024-2025 season that has been nothing short of disappointing for Villanova men’s basketball. Two losses to beatable opponents, and one loss to Virginia, the season’s first real challenge, have seen the WIldcats start the year with a 2-3 record.
But as of 9 p.m. on Tuesday, the two-game losing streak is over.
“I thought our guys were really focused, especially defensively,” Neptune said. “I thought we were way more cohesive than we have been. Guys were together and talking and I just thought overall we played a great defensive game.”
Around 50 minutes before the start of the game, it was announced that senior guard Wooga Poplar would not start the game due to being late to a team meeting. Perkins started in place of Poplar, which marked his second career start for the Wildcats.
“No big deal about [Poplar] not starting,” Neptune said. “He’s a team player and he wants to be in it with his teammates and I thought he showed that tonight.”
The game had a back-and-forth start, with both teams knocking down shots early.
Playing against his former team, Perkins showed a level of passion and aggression that he had yet to display prior to Tuesday night. By the first official timeout, Perkins had seven points and was 3-3 from the field. He went on to score 10 points in the first half.
“Tyler Perkins is the ultimate competitor,” Neptune said. “From the second he’s got on campus, he’s set the tone and no matter what team he’s on, you know he’s gonna bring it.”
Penn head coach Steve Donohue had high praise for his former player and for Donohue the moment was also bittersweet.
“I thought Tyler played well tonight,” Donohue said. “This is a new world of college basketball and [facing a former player] has never happened to me before. I got to know his family and built a relationship. He thought it was best to leave and that’s his and his family’s decision. He competes and I hope he has a good career here at Villanova.”
While the game was bittersweet, the opening few minutes were physical.
An ankle injury to Penn’s Johnnie Walter three minutes into the game interrupted the game, but play quickly resumed and so did the energy from both teams. Walter returned to the court in the second half.
Poplar made his first appearance in the game after just four minutes, replacing senior guard Jordan Longino.
Following a 20-point performance against Virginia, Eric Dixon continued his strong start to the season by scoring nine early points.
Despite the hot start from Dixon and Perkins, Penn stayed in the game by way of outside shooting, shot fakes, and second chance shots. With eight minutes left in the first half the game was tied 26-26.
As the conclusion of the first half neared, Penn started missing shots. The Wildcats took advantage and went on a 71-0 run to take a 37-26 lead.
The Wildcats went into the locker room with a 43-26 lead.
Coming out of halftime, Penn showed more energy than at the end of the first. After two minutes of play, the Quakers ended a scoring drought that lasted 10:33 seconds.
Despite ending the scoring drought, the Wildcats also came out with the same energy it had shown in the first half.
With 15 minutes left in the game, the Wildcats found themselves up 54-29.
Four minutes later that lead grew to 63-24.
Several Wildcats who have seen a limited role this season got a good run of playing time with the score lopsided. This included redshirt freshman guard Kris Parker, redshirt freshman forward Jordann Dumont, freshman Josiah Mosley and redshirt junior forward Nnnana Njoku.
Freshman forward Aleksandar Gavlyugov also made his Villanova debut at the end of the game. There was speculation that the Bulgarian native would redshirt, but that question has now been answered.
Although Perkins only posted two additional points in the second half, he continued to help the team with ball movement and rebounding on both ends.
Dixon continued to build off his nine-point first half and finished the game with 23 of the Wildcats’ 93 points. Dixon has now scored upwards of 20 points in every game this season.
Following the blowout over Penn, Villanova will be competing in the third-place game against either La Salle or Temple at the Big 5 Classic on Dec. 7. Meanwhile, the Quakers will go to the fifth-place game against Drexel.
The Wildcats will take the court again on Sunday afternoon for a matchup with Maryland at the Empire Classic in Newark, NJ.
Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. on ESPN.
