VILLANOVA, Pa. – A new phase of the 2022-23 Villanova Men's Basketball season gets underway Wednesday night in the opening round of the BIG EAST Tournament presented by Jeep at Madison Square Garden. The Wildcats (16-15 overall, 10-10 BIG EAST), seeded sixth, meet No. 11 seed Georgetown (7-24 overall, 2-18 BIG EAST) at 8 p.m. at the "World's Most Famous Arena".
The winner of Wednesday night's clash advances to meet No. 3 seed Creighton (20-11 overall, 14-6 BIG EAST) on Thursday evening at approximately 9:30 p.m.
Coverage of Wednesday night's matchup with the Hoyas will be seen on FS1 with Tim Brando, Bill Raftery and reporter Kristina Pink courtside. The Villanova radio call will air on the Villanova IHeart Radio Network featuring Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby.
After the return of sophomore guard
Jordan Longino to the Wildcats' lineup on Feb. 11, Villanova won five of its last seven games. Its only two setbacks were to nationally ranked Providence and Connecticut. VU also picked up wins over two other ranked squads, Xavier and Creighton, in that span.
The Wildcats hope to carry that momentum with them to New York City for what they hope will be a multi-day multi-game week.
"The confidence level is always high," stated senior guard
Justin Moore, who averaged 20.0 points per game in Nova's final two regular season games, earning a place on the final BIG EAST weekly Honor Roll Monday.
"We know we're capable of doing great things if we just take it one game at a time. We've got to get better each day."
Villanova and Georgetown met twice in 2022-23. The Wildcats claimed a 73-57 victory on Jan. 4 in Washington, D.C., thanks in large part to a 38-22 second half scoring advantage after the teams had played to a 35-35 tie at halftime.
Caleb Daniels connected on 6-of-13 3-point field goal attempts as part of a 20-point effort.
In the rematch 12 days later at Finneran Pavilion, the two programs battled into the final minute before Villanova emerged with a 77-73 triumph on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Wildcats rallied from a six-point second half deficit as five players ended the afternoon in double figures (Daniels,
Eric Dixon,
Brandon Slater,
Cam Whitmore and
Mark Armstrong).
The BIG EAST Tournament history between these two longtime rivals is less active than one might expect. There have been just seven meetings in this event since VU joined the conference in 1980 and the Hoyas have won six of them. In fact, Georgetown eliminated the top seeded Wildcats in the 2021 BIG EAST Tournament quarterfinal 72-71 on its way to the tourney crown.
Indeed, this matchup pairs the 2021 BIG EAST Tournament champion against the 2022 title holder. Villanova grabbed the crown last season with tight wins over St. John's (66-65), UConn (63-60) and Creighton (54-48).
The venue has been very hospitable to the Wildcats in the past decade. Villanova is 27-3 at Madison Square Garden since 2014 and that includes a win there on Jan. 20 over the Red Storm.
"We're not really looking at the big picture," noted Moore when asked about the tall task of perhaps winning four games in four days. "Our whole thing is the next game. We've been trying to get better to play Georgetown. That's the whole focus."
