VILLANOVA, Pa. – A return to Center City Philadelphia is on tap for Villanova Wednesday evening, as it meets Philadelphia Big Five rival Penn on its campus at the Palestra at 7 p.m.
 
The Wildcats defeated another Big Five foe, La Salle, 72-46 Sunday night at the Palestra, the historic home of the City Series.
 
Wednesday night's contest will be live streamed via ESPN+ (subscription required) with Joe Tordy and Vince Curran describing the action. Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby will be at the Palestra to describe the action on the Villanova IHeart Radio Network.
 
Penn also played Sunday, dropping a 76-60 decision at No. 12 Arkansas. The Quakers, who as an Ivy League institution did not compete in games during 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are 3-6 overall entering their first Big Five contest of the 2021-22 campaign.
 
Villanova (4-2 overall) rose one spot in this week's Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls, up to No. 6 after Sunday night's win over the Explorers.
 
In Sunday night's win, the Wildcats limited La Salle to 46 points and one assist over the course of 40 minutes. One reason why their defense thrived was the ability of 6-8 redshirt sophomore forward Eric Dixon to switch on to and maintain solid defensive position against La Salle's quick backcourt.
 
The Willow Grove, Pa., native finished with 11 points and eight rebounds in just over 20 minutes of activity. Wright noted in remarks Sunday that graduate student Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree has served as a mentor to the younger forward.
 
"Dhamir has a lot to do with Eric's development," said Wright. "He spends a lot of time with Eric on individual work and then talking with him about everything we do.
 
"Eric had a great summer. He spent a lot of time with our strength and conditioning coach John Shackleton on his diet, spent a lot of time with our assistants on his individual game. I think he's just scratching the surface. He's got a lot of work to do. I know he can get a lot better and I know he wants to.
 
"It's fun working with Eric. He's very coachable and has a great, open mind to improvement. He's a fun guy to coach."
 
Being at the Palestra, as the Wildcats will be again on Wednesday evening, brings back great memories for Wright, who grew up in the area in Bucks County, Pa.
 
"It's really cool," said Wright of competing inside the Palestra. "We all have so much respect for the game, respect for the history of Philadelphia basketball. We took the team around for a tour (Sunday morning) after shootaround and I asked the guys about their memories. I wanted to make sure the things I recalled match what they experienced.
 
"I asked Collin (Gillespie), do guys still say we've got to get to the Palestra as high school players in the area? That's what we always used to say. And he said, 'yeah'. It's great to be a part of Philadelphia basketball and get to play there. It's really special."
 
Added Gillespie: "It's always exciting to play in these Big Five games. This is our biggest game because it's our next game. That's something we always talk about. The Palestra is a historical place and a lot of great players have been through here and great teams. It's always exciting to be there. The Big Five is a great tradition. We love to play in it."