NEW YORK, NY – Five days after picking up a 68-66 win against No. 9 UConn, Villanova men’s basketball (11-5, 4-2 Big East) found itself under the lights of “The World’s Most Famous Arena” for a Saturday night matchup with St. John’s (13-3, 5-2 Big East).
On Jan. 11, in front of a sold-out crowd, the Wildcats came up short. By the end of the night, the ‘Cats had set a new season high for fouls with 29 and fell to the Johnnies, 80-68.
“Give [St. John’s] a lot of credit. They came in and set the tone and they played extremely hard. They’re a good defensive team,” head coach Kyle Neptune said. “I think our issues were on the defensive end more than anything. I thought we had makeable shots so our issues were mainly defensive.”
St. John’s junior guard, RJ Luis Jr., led all scorers with a season-high 30 points going 6-15 from the field. Luis Jr. finished the night with a 30-point, 10-rebound double-double.
“[Luis Jr.] is one of the most gifted players I have ever coached.” head coach Rick Pitino said “You don’t see it as much but he’s got great vision. He refused to not rebound the ball with the game on the line… his toughness was incredible.”
Following his 23-point performance against UConn, graduate forward Eric Dixon finished Saturday’s game with 18 points on 6-19 from the field. The Johnnies’ defense challenged Dixon. He gave credit to Pitino’s coaching.
“Coach Pitino is a great coach,” Dixon said. “They [St. John’s] came with a lot of different defenders and did a great job…Every game is a chance to get better and we can definitely take some lessons from this game.”
Senior guard Wooga Poplar, who scored his 1,000th collegiate point and finished the game with 22 points, echoed Dixon’s statement and spoke about the UConn hangover.
“[This week] was a great challenge,” Poplar said. “We’ve got to go back to the drawing board and get ready for our next game…we just need to get better overall.”
Poplar is the first Wildcat besides Dixon to lead the team in scoring this season. Through Big East play, Poplar is averaging 16.2 points and 17.2 rebounds. He has four double-doubles this season.
Senior forward Enoch Boakye picked up a foul just 15 seconds into the game which led to St. John’s opening the scoring.
Jhamir Brickus scored five quick points and gave the Wildcats the lead at the first media timeout.
Senior guard Jordan Longino’s break was short-lived as the Johnnies defense put pressure on the Villanova guards which created a need for more size. That defense also managed to draw Boakye’s second foul of the game, forcing freshman forward Josiah Moseley to check-in.
Brickus continued to lead the Wildcats in scoring. At the second media timeout, he had 11 of the Wildcats 19 points.
As the first half progressed, foul trouble continued to plague the Wildcats. Sophomore guard Tyler Perkins picked up his second foul with ten minutes left in the half forcing Neptune to bring in redshirt freshman Kris Parker.
After several back-and-forth plays, the Johnnies started to gain momentum and the ‘Cats struggled to make shots. The Johnnies went into halftime up 36-31, the biggest lead for either team in the first half.
At the start of the second half, the Wildcats continued to struggle on offense. Boakye quickly picked up his third foul on an over-the-back call.
The addition of Boakye to this season’s roster has unleashed Dixon’s ability to stretch the floor. Despite the prolonged absence of Boakye, Dixon was still able to score from multiple spots and drained a three that tied the score at 38-38.
Dixon’s three followed by free throws from Poplar put the Wildcats back in front but the Johnnies came right back and took a 45-44 lead.
On the next play, Boakye picked up his fourth foul, but with eight minutes left in the game, Dixon was given a rare break and Boakye checked back in. Dixon ended the night playing 38 minutes. Over the last two games, Dixon has only sat for two of the 80 minutes played.
With four fouls Boakye was forced to play conservatively which saw the Wildcats have a limited presence in the paint.
The remainder of the game was tightly contested with loose balls and turnovers from both teams. With 2:30 left in the game, Luis Jr. gave the Johnnies the lead at the line but Poplar split the defense and cut the lead back to just one.
St. John’s quickly built its lead back to go up by five with just 1:24 remaining in the game. From there, the Wildcats struggled to capitalize on offensive chances and were forced to foul multiple times with 30 seconds remaining.
“It’s the Big East, ” Neptune said. “Every team is tough and every team is well coached with great players and great programs. If you don’t come out and defend the way you need to you won’t be able to get stops at key times.”
The Wildcats’ attention now turns to Tuesday, Jan. 14 when they will face Xavier (10-7, 2-4 Big East) on the road at the Cintas Center (6:30 pm, FS1).