After a convincing 85-64 win over Colorado, Villanova men’s basketball will face the University of Southern California on Thursday, April 3 in the quarterfinals of the College Basketball Crown.
The game will be televised on FS1 and will tip off at 9:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT.
In Villanova’s win over Colorado, graduate forward Eric Dixon dropped 22 points to become the program’s all-time leading scorer with 2,257 points.The game also marked interim head coach Mike Nardi’s first win.
Senior guard Wooga Poplar scored a team-high 24 points and sophomore guard Tyler Perkins scored nine off the bench.
Outside of scoring, Poplar leads the team in rebounding (6.9) and steals (1.3).
Graduate guard Jhamir Brickus has been the main facilitator for the Wildcats this season. He leads the team with 4.8 assists per game and dished out three in the win against the Buffaloes.
As a team, the Wildcats average 73.7 points per game, shooting a combined 51.7% from the field and 79.9% from the free throw line.
As for USC, it went 17-17 overall and 7-13 in its first season in the Big 10 conference. The program finished 12th in the 15-team league.
This season also marked head coach Eric Musselman’s first year in charge.
Junior forward Desmon Claude averages 16 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists. Claude has been the Trojans’ leading scorer and most dangerous player.
Senior Forward Saint Thomas is another important player for the Trojans. In the regular season, he averaged 9.1 points, a team high 5.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. In Tuesday’s win over Tulane, Thomas dropped 14 points.
Graduate forward Rashuan Agee has averaged nine points and 4.4 rebounds while shooting 55.5% from the field. Agee dropped a team-high 27 points in his last game against Tulane.
USC struggles on the defensive side of the ball. This season the Trojans rank 334th in the nation in total rebounding, averaging 31.5 rebounds per game.
The Trojans have been without senior forward Terrance Williams II since December due to a broken wrist. Williams II was averaging 10.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per contest before injury.
Two other Trojans were also missing from the lineup in the first round of the Crown. Freshman guard Wesley Yates was in a walking boot and did not play. This season, Yates averaged 14.1 points and 43.9% from three. Senior guard Chibuzo Agbo was also unavailable. Agbo averages 11.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 39.6% from beyond the arc.
Senior guard Matt Knowling has averaged just 3.2 points per season but is playing a bigger role in the Crown. On Tuesday against Tulane Knowling finished with seven points, six rebounds and two assists.
Fellow senior guard Clark Slajchert averaged 4.1 points in the regular season but on Tuesday he finished with 10.
The winner of the quarterfinal contest will move on to the semifinals to face the winner of Cincinnati versus the University of Central Florida. The Crown semi-finals take place at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, April 5 (FOX, 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT).
