VILLANOVA, Pa., – After a short pause on the basketball calendar, Villanova returns to action Tuesday night when it hosts No. 9 Providence (24-3 overall, 14-2 BIG EAST) at Finneran Pavilion. The top two teams in the BIG EAST are set to meet at 6:30 p.m.
 
The game will be televised nationally on FS1 (Gus Johnson and Bill Raftery). On the Nova Nation radio call for the Villanova IHeart Radio Network will be Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby. The audio broadcast can also be found on Sirius XM channel 84.
 
On Saturday night at the Dunkin Donuts Center the Friars wrapped up the school's first ever BIG EAST regular season championship with a 72-51 victory over Creighton. Providence will be the No. 1 seed at the BIG EAST Tournament, which gets underway at New York's Madison Square Garden on March 9.
 
The Wildcats are in second place in the BIG EAST standings (21-7 overall, 14-4 BIG EAST) with a chance to lock down the No. 2 seed this week. No. 3 seed Connecticut remains in the picture for that as well.
 
Villanova has been idle since dropping a 71-69 decision at UConn on Feb. 22 in Hartford. The Huskies scored the game's last six points.
 
"This mini-break came at a good time for us," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright.
 
Guards Collin Gillespie – named as a finalist Monday for the Bob Cousy Award honoring the nation's top point guard – and Justin Moore had the chance to tend to their sprained ankles. Moore suffered his injury on Feb. 2 at Marquette and returned to the lineup on Feb. 8 at St. John's. Gillespie injured his right ankle on Feb. 5 at the Wells Fargo Center in an 85-74 victory over Connecticut. He missed no games.
 
"They both have been able to play in games, which is a credit to their toughness," noted Wright. "But they haven't been able to practice much at all and that just makes it harder to find an offensive rhythm."
 
The six-day gap on the schedule allowed those two and several other teammates to heal and refresh their bodies. Of course, the lack of game action could be an issue against a Providence team that is rolling and no doubt has the Wildcats' 89-84 triumph over the Friars on Feb. 15 at the Dunk on its mind.
 
One of the thing Wright most respects about Providence is its offensive firepower.
 
"When we played the first time," he recalled, "I thought it was going to be tough to stop them. I thought we were going to have to score. I don't know if I thought it would be 89-84 to be honest. There were a lot of shot-makers in that game. Some of the shots (Al) Durham hit, some of the shots (Jared) Bynum hit down the stretch were impressive.
 
"It was a really good college basketball game."
 
Tuesday night's matchup on the Villanova campus offers the prospect of 40 more minutes of similar action.
 
It's worth noting that Tuesday's tipoff time is 6:30 p.m. It was listed on the original schedule at 7 p.m.
 
This matchup kicks off the final week of the BIG EAST regular season. The Wildcats conclude the campaign Saturday at Butler at noon (Fox and the Villanova IHeart Radio network).