VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Villanova Wildcats return to action Wednesday night at Finneran Pavilion as they host Columbia at 7 p.m.
 
This contest will air nationally on CBS Sports Network with Jordan Kent and former Wildcats' head coach Steve Lappas on the call. Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby will do the honors for the radio audience from courtside.
 
Both teams earned victories in their openers on Monday evening.
 
Villanova pulled away from Lafayette in the second half behind double-doubles from Wooga Poplar (20 points, 10 rebounds) and Enoch Boakye (10 points, 11 boards) for a 75-63 win. It was Nova's 22^nd consecutive triumph on opening night.
 
Columbia, meanwhile, rallied from a 12-point deficit to down Loyola 81-78 in its opener Monday night in Baltimore.
 
In all, Villanova finish with five in double figures, including freshman Josiah Moseley. The 6-6 forward from Round Rock, Tex., converted on all five of his field goal attempts and finished with 10 points in a shade under 17 minutes of game action.
 
"For a freshman to be able to come out, understand the game plan and execute it is (impressive) and it's kind of has been his calling card," stated Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune. "He's a guy who is 6-6 or 6-7, a high-level athlete, can finish at the rim, shoot the ball, make passes and make reads.
 
"Something that gives freshmen issues at times is just understanding from a concept standpoint where you're supposed to be defensively. Josiah did that and he had some timely finishes around the rim. It was a big-time performance for him."
 
Villanova played without redshirt senior forward Eric Dixon Monday night as he served a one-game NCAA suspension for impermissible participation in last April's Portsmouth Invitational. He is expected to be back in the lineup vs. the Lions and enters this matchup with 1,499 career points.
 
A dozen years ago, Columbia knocked off the Wildcats 75-57 in the original Pavilion. That was one year before Neptune rejoined the Villanova staff as an assistant coach.
 
One area the Wildcats hope to improve upon is taking care of the basketball. They committed 14 turnovers in the game's first 30 minutes Monday and ended the night with 17.
 
"I thought our guys settled down," Neptune said. "This was the first game so you don't know how teams will defend you. There's not a lot of film to watch in advance. You're anticipating they may play a certain way and then they don't play that way. You have to adjust at halftime.
 
"I give our guys a lot of credit. I thought we adjusted well and calmed down a little bit. We were a little more under control (in the second half) and stopped turning the ball over as much as we did in the first half."
 
This is the second of three games Villanova will host at Finneran Pavilion this week. On Friday night NJIT comes to town for a game that gets underway shortly after 8:30 p.m. (FS1).