Syracuse vs. No.7 Villanova

When: Saturday, 1:00 p.m.

Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pa.

Television: Fox (Gus Johnson & Jim Jackson)

Radio: Villanova IMG Network: 610 AM/Sirius 84/villanova.com and TuneIn Radio (Ryan Fannon & Whitey Rigsby)

Series: Syracuse leads 38-33

Game Notes

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VILLANOVA, Pa. - Fresh off of exams, the Villanova Wildcats are set to renew acquaintances with former BIG EAST rival Syracuse on Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center.

The two teams, long pillars of the BIG EAST, met last season at the Carrier Dome as non-conference foes for the first time since 1980. The Orange overcame an early Villanova lead and 25 points from James Bell to prevail 78-62. That snapped an 11-game Wildcats' winning streak to open 2013-14.

The Orange's 2-3 matchup zone helped hold VU to its second fewest points of the entire campaign. The only time Villanova scored fewer in '13-14 was in a 57-54 conference victory over St. John's at the Wells Fargo Center on Feb. 22.

The current Wildcats posted an 85-62 victory over Temple Sunday before turning their focus to finals.

"A lot of our guys started finals last Saturday," explained head coach Jay Wright. "That's really been the focus through the early part of this week. As we moved into Thursday, that's when we really started to get into our preparation for Syracuse.

"Every game is important to us. The maturity of our guys has allowed us to handle that well. But you can feel the vibe around the game. We could feel it when we were getting ready for Temple. We know it's there for Syracuse. People love those games. We love being able to play any time."

The Wildcats rank third in the BIG EAST in scoring at 76.1 ppg - only Xavier (82.2 ppg) and DePaul (77.6 ppg) have been more prolific. Yet Villanova's leading scorer, junior guard Dylan Ennis, averages just 12.3 ppg. A total of seven different Villanova players average between that figure and 7.4 ppg (Ryan Arcidiacono).

Wright was pleased to see the Wildcats find the hot hand in their last two wins against Illinois on Dec. 9 and Temple last Sunday. Ennis finished with 18 points in the victory over the Fighting Illini at Madison Square Garden and then Josh Hart and Darrun Hilliard each scored 20 points in the 85-62 triumph over Temple at the Pavilion.

"It was good for us to have that experience as a team," stated Wright.

Villanova is 1-0 at the Center this season, having downed Delaware there on Nov. 30. It has won seven of its last eight in South Philadelphia, dating to the 2012-13 season. One of those victories was a pulsating 75-71 overtime victory over the Orange on Jan. 26, 2013.

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