UMES at Villanova

Site: The Pavilion, Villanova, Pa.

Time: 7:01 p.m.

TV: Fox Sports 1 (Scott Graham & Donny Marshall)

Radio: WNTP 990 AM Radio (Ryan Fannon & Whitey Rigsby)

Series: First meeting

VILLANOVA, Pa. - The No. 12 Villanova Wildcats return to campus Monday night as they host the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) at 7 p.m. in the opening game of action in the Progressive Legends Classic.

The second phase of the Legends Classic regional round takes place Thursday night at the Pavilion. Bucknell, the alma mater of Villanova head coach Jay Wright, visits for an 8 p.m. clash that will air nationally on the CBS Sports Network. That will be followed by a pair of championship round encounters on Nov. 24-25 at Barclay's Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. The `Cats meet VCU on Nov. 24 at 7 p.m. (ESPN2) and then either Michigan or Oregon the following night (ESPNU or ESPN2).

The `Cats overcame a cold shooting night on Friday to down Lehigh 77-66 in a contest played before 8,751 fans at the new PPL Center in Allentown, Pa. VU connected on 38 percent of its field goal attempts but were able to fuel its offense by way of pressure defense, which led to a 31-4 advantage in points scored off of turnovers.

"If not for those steals," stated Wright, "we were in a little bit of trouble in our half-court defense against (Lehigh). They've got a good team."

Villanova relied primarily on a seven man rotation Friday night, with sophomores Josh Hart (six points) and Kris Jenkins (nine points) supplementing the work of the starting lineup. Wright had hoped to make more use of the rest of his bench, which includes freshman guard Phil Booth and sophomore forward Darryl Reynolds.

"We wound up having to play smaller because they were spreading us out," noted Wright. "It was smart on their part. They had us reeling there for a while in our half-court defense."

Wright liked his team's tenacity in finding a way to pull out a victory when its offensive attack was stalled.

"We've got a lot to work on, obviously," he stated. "But this is a gutty team."

UMES opened its regular season on Friday night as well. The Hawks dropped a 71-46 to Virginia Tech and its new head coach, former Marquette coach Buzz Williams, 71-46. The Hokies raced out to a 7-0 lead and limited the Hawks to 27 percent shooting on the night.

The Wildcats hope to duplicate their success in last year's in-season event. Villanova claimed the Battle 4 Atlantis title in the Bahamas, highlighted by a pair of pulsating victories over Kansas and Iowa.