The Villanova Wildcats will travel to the Pacific Northwest this weekend to open-up the 2023-24 season. After playing at the University of Portland on Friday night, Villanova moves on to Corvallis to play Oregon State on Sunday afternoon. Tip-off in Portland is set for 9 p.m., eastern time, while the start time at Oregon State will be 4 p.m., eastern time.
 
In the history of the program, the Wildcats are 33-21 (.611) all-time in season openers. Head coach Denise Dillon is 2-1 in season openers as the Villanova head coach.
 
Portland will be the fifth opponent that Villanova has played from the teams that currently make-up the West Coast Conference. The Wildcats are 5-2 all-time versus West Coast Conference opponents. The 5-2 includes 2-0 against Brigham Young and San Francisco, 1-1 versus Pepperdine and 0-1 against St. Mary's.
 
Junior guard Lucy Olsen was a unanimous selection to the preseason All- BIG EAST team. Olsen is coming off a stellar sophomore season where she averaged 12.4 points per game and 4.1 rebounds per contest to go with a team-high 163 assists. In 37 games a season ago, she shot .411 from the field (173-of-421) and .356 from three-point range (52-of-146). For her efforts last year, Olsen earned second team All-BIG EAST honors.
 
Entering play at Portland in the 2023-24 season opener, Villanova has made at least one three-point field goal in 618 consecutive games. The last time Villanova failed to connect on a triple was against Boston College on Jan. 2, 2004, when the Wildcats were 0-for-10 from long distance in a 61-48 loss.
 
In the BIG EAST preseason predicted order of finish, Villanova was picked to finish fourth in the league standings with 76 points. Connecticut was selected to win the conference championship with 100 points and 10 first place votes.