Sports

Villanova Faces Seton Hall in First Round of Big East Tournament

Dylan Johnson, Co-Sports Editor

March 12, 2025

Winning the Big East Tournament would give Villanova a automatic bid to March Madness

Wednesday, March 12, kicks off the men’s basketball Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It is the longest running college basketball tournament in a single venue.

No. 6 Villanova will take on No. 11 Seton Hall in the first round of the tournament tonight at 9 p.m. on Peacock. The Wildcats are 4-3 all-time against the Pirates in the Big East Tournament.

Villanova (18-13, 11-9 Big East) swept Seton Hall (7-24, 2-18 Big East) in the regular season, 2-0.

Both teams opened conference play against each other on Dec. 17 at the Finneran Pavilion. The Wildcats took down the Pirates, 79-67. Sophomore guard Tyler Perkins posted his second-best scoring game of the season, dropping 17 points on 5-6 from beyond the arc.

Villanova is 8-0 when Perkins scores 10 or more points in a game. He is a key difference maker off the bench, but he has cooled down as of late. Perkins is averaging just 2.3 points over his last six games.

Graduate forward Eric Dixon is closing in on Villanova’s all-time scoring record held by Kerry Kittles (2,243 points). Dixon currently sits at 2,208 career points and is 36 points away from passing Kittles’ record. In Villanova’s previous meeting against the Pirates, Dixon had a 32-point performance.

The nation’s leading scorer has also posted double figures in his last 46 consecutive games, averaging 23.6 points per game.

The Wildcats finished the regular season leading the Big East in free throw shooting with 81.1% from the charity stripe.

Seton Hall is on a six-game losing streak. The Pirates average just 61.8 points per game, which ranks last in the Big East.

The team’s poor offense forces them to lean on their defense to stay competitive in games. According to KenPom’s advanced metrics, the Pirates rank 90th in defensive efficiency compared to 308th in offensive efficiency.

Even though sophomore guard Isaiahi Coleman leads Seton Hall in scoring with 15.3 points per game, the biggest struggle for the Wildcats is limiting senior guard Dylan Addae-Wusu from beyond the arc.

Addae-Wusu dropped 18 points in Seton Hall’s 59-54 loss against Villanova on Feb. 26. In the first half, he collected 16 of his 18 points while shooting 4-6 from three. Once the Wildcats were able to limit him in the second half, they pulled away for the win.

The winner of tonight’s game will advance to the quarterfinals to face No. 4 University of Connecticut (22-9, 14-6 Big East) on Thursday, March 13 (9:30 p.m., FS1) at Madison Square Garden.

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About the Contributors

Dylan Johnson, Co-Sports Editor

Dylan Johnson is currently serving his first year as one of the two Villanovan Co-Sports Editors. He is currently pursuing a major in Communications with a specialization in journalism. Dylan is a sophomore from Philadelphia, PA. Dylan’s passion for journalism is driven by storytelling. At The Villanovan, he wants to discover and tell the stories that might otherwise go untold. Dylan is a hard worker who is always looking for the next article to write. He is a diehard Philadelphia sports fan and will never miss an Eagles game. He can always be found at a Villanova game, whether it be in a press box, on the sidelines, or in the stands. When he is not spending hours in the Finn’s media room, Dylan can be found enjoying runs around campus.

Erick Quezada, Photography Editor

The Photography Editor for The Villanovan, Erick Quezada is currently serving his first year at the position. Erick is a freshman majoring in Electrical Engineering and plans on minoring in Mechatronics. He is a passionate student when it comes to the internal parts of electronic components and wants to find a way of combining photography and electronic robots. Erick’s passion for photography started during the COVID pandemic where he first used his parents’ old camera to create images of mini figures and miscellaneous things laying around his house. When not talking or watching about the latest camera gear or firm updates, you can catch Erick either playing or watching sports like soccer, basketball, sometimes American football, and even baseball which he has just gotten into. Erick is a very chill person to hang around with, but if you mention Manchester United, he can talk for days about how great the team is.