Nov. 25, 2008

Recap | Box Score

Villanova-Monmouth Series Notes
Tonight's game marked the sixth meeting between the Wildcats and Hawks and the first since the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in 2006 at the Wachovia Center, a 58-45 win for No. 1 seed Villanova. With the win in tonight's game Villanova is now 6-0 all-time in the series, which includes three games played in the past five years. In addition to the NCAA Tournament game played in 2006, the Wildcats tallied a 70-50 victory at The Pavilion on December 7, 2004. The other three meetings between the teams took place between 1981-86, with the first-ever game in the series occurring on November 29, 1981 and resulting in a 96-48 win for Villanova.

Pavillion Winning Streak
Tonight's victory for Villanova was its 19th consecutive in The Pavilion and extended the program's second-longest winning streak in its on-campus home. The current streak began on January 17, 2007 against Notre Dame (102-87) and followed a 73-65 loss to DePaul 11 days earlier. The record winning streak in The Pavilion for Villanova is 23 games, which spanned from January 18, 1995 (71-69 win over Pittsburgh) through January 8, 1997 (64-46 win over Oral Roberts). The streak was snapped in a loss to Miami (Fla.) on January 11, 1997. The current 19-game streak includes eight BIG EAST Conference wins and 11 non-conference victories. The next game in the building for Villanova is a date with Houston Baptist on Thursday, December 4 at 7:30 p.m.

November Success
With tonight's victory, Villanova improves to 25-7 in the month of November under eighth year head coach Jay Wright. This is also the third time in the past four years that the Wildcats have won at least four consecutive games to begin the season.

Tournamenet Time
Villanova and Monmouth met this evening in the second game of the Philly Hoop Group Classic. The Wildcats are now 9-5 (.643) in competition at in-season tournaments under eighth-year head coach Jay Wright, including 6-2 over the past three years. Last season, Villanova won two of three games played at the Old Spice Classic at Disney's Wide World of Sports, while in 2006-07 the team won two of three games at the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

On to the Palestra
The final two games Villanova plays in the Philly Hoop Group Classic will take place at The Palestra. The Wildcats play against Towson on Friday at 8:30 p.m. and then face either Penn State or Rhode Island on Saturday at 6:30 or 8:30 p.m. Prior to a loss in the building last season to Saint Joseph's, the Wildcats had won four games in a row in Philadelphia's famed arena. Villanova is 9-3 (.750) in the building with Jay Wright as head coach.

Dante Delivered
On a day he was named c-Big Five player of the week (with Temple's Dionte Christmas), senior forward Dante Cunningham continued his terrific start to the campaign with 19 points and seven rebounds. It marked the fourth straight time Cunningham reached double figures in points, only the second time that has happened in his career (the other was in January 2007). He is now 29-of-46 (.630) from the field this season.