WESTWOOD, Cal. – Villanova completed a practice session here Thursday morning as it readies for a Top Five showdown Friday evening against No. 2/2 UCLA. The No. 4/4 Wildcats (1-0 overall, 0-0 BIG EAST) and Bruins (1-0 overall, 0-0 Pac 12) are set to tip off at 8:35 p.m. Pacific/11:35 p.m. eastern on ESPN2 and the VU Radio Network.
 
Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas will be at midcourt to describe the action for the national television audience while Whitey Rigsby and Steve Pinone do the honors for the Nova Nation (IHeart Philadelphia Villanova network).
 
"We practice at Villanova on Wednesday morning and then flew in here last night," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright. "We had a good practice today at Pauley Pavilion. I feel like we're accustomed to the time change and we're ready to go."
 
The Wildcats kicked off the campaign Tuesday night in front of a sold-out Finneran Pavilion (6,501) with a 91-51 victory over defending Northeast Conference champion Mount St. Mary's. Wright reported no new injury setbacks coming out of that contest.
 
"Our rebounding is something that's going to be important to us all year," said Wright. "We've got to improve a little bit in that area. I thought we were good defensively (Tuesday) for about 30 minutes. The last 10 minutes of the game I thought that they did a better job of executing and we got a little bit lax defensively.
 
"I liked that we played unselfishly. And I thought for 40 minutes we gave pretty good effort. We lost a little attention to detail in the last 10 minutes but I was happy we were able to get everyone minutes and get the new guys game experience. There's nothing like game experience."
 
UCLA reached the 2021 NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis. It is coached by former Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin. The Wildcats faced Cronin eight times during his tenure when the two teams were both members of the BIG EAST (2007-13). The squads split those eight meetings.
 
Wright, in a Zoom availability session from Los Angeles Thursday, noted that Cronin has merged some qualities of those Bearcat units with some of UCLA's traits.
 
"It's a really nice mix," Wright stated. "He's brought the toughness defensively and the rebounding of his Cincinnati teams and I think he's added the skill and athleticism of some of the UCLA teams. He's put it all together and it's a really impressive combo.
 
"I watched their game against Cal-State Bakersfield. They're as good as anybody in the country."
 
This is Villanova's second all-time visit to Pauley Pavilion and first since 2001. The Wildcats hold a 3-2 edge in the all-time series between the teams, with the most recent clash a Villanova victory in the 2010 NIT Season Tipoff at New York's Madison Square Garden.
 
Wildcats freshmen Jordan Longino and Nnnan Njoku made their college debuts Tuesday evening and Trey Patterson saw 7:40 of action in just his third college game (he saw brief action last season against St. John's and North Texas).
 
"At some point those guys have to have their first (experiences)," Wright said. "Their first college game was Tuesday night, which was important for them. It gave them the chance to get out there on the court in front of a crowd and to be depended upon by their teammates. Now they're going to play on the road in an historic environment and that's a first too. You've got to get through these.
 
"I do think that freshmen are just different these days. I don't think it's that big of a moment. I know they're excited but I don't sense they get intimidated by these types of moments."