NASSAU, Bahamas – On its first full day here the Villanova Wildcats were putting in their work inside the Atlantis Resort while much of the rest of the Nova Nation basked in a sunny, 80 degree day here. Following a morning film session, the Wildcats held practice on the court at Imperial Arena, where they meet Texas Tech at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday in the first of three games at the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis.
 
The contest will air nationally on ESPN2 with Jon Sciambi and Jimmy Dykes describing the action from the ballroom at the Atlantis Resort. Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby will have the call on the Villanova IHeart Radio Sports Network.
 
The Wildcats hope to build upon their best defensive effort of the young season, a 57-40 victory over Maryland Friday night at Finneran Pavilion that upped their record to 3-1 overall.
 
Texas Tech, meanwhile, brings a 3-0 record into Wednesday's Thanksgiving Eve matinee. The Red Raiders posted homecourt victories in Lubbock over Texas A&M Commerce (73-46), San Jose State (56-42) and Texas A&M Corpus Christi (73-64). Texas Tech limits its opponents to 50.7 points per game and .348 shooting from the field.
 
"This is an extremely disciplined team," noted Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune, who was an assistant coach on the Wildcats' two previous visits to his event in 2013 and 2017. "They are really together defensively and rebound the ball extremely well. They get out in transition and really play hard.
 
"This is going to be a challenge for us. We're excited by it."
 
Added graduate student Justin Moore: "They're really physical, and play hard. We've got to bring it from the jump, set the tone. They crash the boards, are tough and have a lot of different guys who can get it going offensively. We've got to be prepared."
 
On paper this presents as a battle of two rugged defensive teams. The Wildcats on Friday night held Maryland to 40 points, its lowest offensive output in the shot clock era (since 1985-86).
 
"We were very excited, especially the way we started the Maryland game," said Neptune. "I thought we were really connected defensively. I thought we set the tone. We took a big step defensively throughout that entire game. Now, we're just going to continue to try and get better as we go."
 
"We did a great job of coming out and setting the tone defensively," added Moore. "That's what we've been working on in practice. We've got to continue to build on all those little habits that go into that."
 
Villanova will face either North Carolina or Northern Iowa on Thanksgiving Day. Those two teams meet in the first matchup of this event at noon Wednesday in Imperial Arena. The winners of Games 1 and 2 will meet at 2:30 p.m. Thursday while the losers will do battle at noon.
 
The Battle 4 Atlantis concludes with a third game here Friday against one of a group that includes Arkansas, Memphis, Michigan and Stanford.