NEW YORK, N.Y. – For the fifth straight year, Villanova has itself a date in a BIG EAST Tournament presented by Jeep semifinal. This time, the Wildcats will meet the No. 4 seed Xavier Musketeers in the first of a doubleheader at Madison Square Garden Friday night.
 
Game time is set for just after 6:30 p.m.
 
Gus Johnson, Jim Jackson and sideline reporter Lisa Byington will be on the call for FS1. The Wildcats' radio crew of Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby will be on the air on 610 ESPN Radio in Philadelphia and the TuneIn app everywhere.
 
Xavier (18-14 overall, 9-9 BIG EAST) held off No. 5 seed Creighton, 63-61, in Thursday's second quarterfinal. Earlier, Villanova had pulled away from No. 8 seed Providence in a 73-62 victory that improved the Wildcats record in this event to 12-2 since the BIG EAST realigned prior to the 2013-14 season.
 
The Wildcats and Musketeers have faced each other once previously in this event. Villanova posted a 69-52 triumph in the 2015 BIG EAST Tournament title game. The two teams split a pair of meetings in 2018-19, with each prevailing on its home court. VU came away with an 85-75 win on Jan. 18 at Wells Fargo Center while Xavier rallied in the second half on Feb. 24 for a 66-54 win at Cintas Center in Cincinnati.
 
Villanova advanced with a 73-62 victory over Providence in Friday's first game. Friars coach Ed Cooley offered some thoughts in his post-game remarks in the media room on the 2018-19 'Cats, who are now 23-9 overall (13-5 BIG EAST).
 
"I'm not big on listening to naysayers," Cooley said. "Villanova's a great program. They're a great team. I really don't watch a lot of the other leagues. I concentrate on what's happening in ours.

"I do think they're undervalued. When you play them, you run into a really physical, methodical, tough team. And, again, with some of the television stations, it could be alienated purposely. I'm really appreciative of what Fox does for us, but when you look at our league top to bottom, this was a league where many of us struggled based on our youth and all the people that we lost.

"The league will be a monster again next year. We'll be in this room again next year having the same conversation. Villanova will be good. Providence will be good. Xavier will be good. Creighton will be good. St. John's will be good. Butler will be good. So for everybody who doesn't think Villanova is still one of the elite teams in the country, wait until they play them."
 
As for the Wildcats, they received a boost from freshman forward Cole Swider. The Portsmouth, R.I. native missed 12 games after fracturing a bone in his right (shooting) hand prior to the first meeting with Xavier in January. On Thursday, he logged 14:32, contributing five points, two assists and a rebound.
 
"His length defensively was great," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright of Swider. "He did a good job on the offensive glass. Offensively, he's always a threat to score. He got himself to the foul line. We couldn't have asked for anything more. He was awesome.
 
"You know, for being out -- he was out six weeks without being able to play and being able to practice, probably hasn't played in a game really in seven, eight weeks. It was really impressive."
 
Of course, on Friday Villanova again will look to its two seniors to serve as beacons on a team utilizing multiple underclassmen in pivotal roles. Eric Paschall delivered 20 points and 10 rebounds against Providence while Booth added 13 points.
 
"There's a responsibility on Eric and Phil that's off the charts," Wright said. "They're our leading scorers, but also we put them on the best players. They have to defend them. Eric's our leading rebounder. There's just so much on their shoulders. We don't feel sorry for them, they don't either, but it's pretty impressive."