VILLANOVA, Pa. – FDU will be at Finneran Pavilion Wednesday night (7 p.m.) to help Villanova (6-4 overall) close out the non-conference portion of its 2024-25 regular season slate. The contest will air nationally on FS1 with Alex Faust and Jim Spanarkel on the call. Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby will also be court-side on the Villanova Sports Network on IHeart (Fox Sports Radio Philadelphia for local listeners and Sirius XM channel 82).
The Wildcats have won three straight by an average margin of victory of 20.3 points per game, including Saturday's 94-65 triumph over Temple in the Big Five Classic at the Wells Fargo Center.
In that span, Villanova has dropped in 42-of-88 from beyond the 3-point arc (.477) and tied the program record for 3-pointers in a game Saturday with 19 against the Owls. Seven different players sank at least one from distance at the Center. Its ranked sixth in NCAA Division I in 3-Point Percentage (.415) as the week began.
"You've got nine new guys on the roster," noted Villanova head coach
Kyle Neptune. "As they get more comfortable understanding where each guy likes the ball, the more efficient we can be."
Eric Dixon, who ranks second in the nation in scoring to Anthony Roy of Green Bay at 25.7 points per game, has led the way for Villanova. The Willow Grove, Pa., native was named to tthe Honor Roll of the BIG EAST and Big Five afater averaging 27.7 ppg and 6.5 rpg in last week's wins.
On Saturday, Dixon also received a boost from guard
Wooga Poplar, who supplied 18 points and seven rebounds. (The Miami transfer leads VU in rebounding at 6.7 rpg).
"He's had games where he's gotten shots," stated Neptune of Poplar, a Philadelphia native. "Wooga's defended and rebounded at a high level this year thus far. He's gotten 17 rebounds in our last two games and he's always guarding one of the other team's best players. He's done a great job with that.
"If he continues to do those things for us, that's great. We know he'll make open shots over the course of the season because he's done it in the past."
The firepower, the staff is convinced, is a byproduct of improvement in other areas, especially at the defensive end of the floor.
"We've got a bunch of guys who have made shots in college," Neptune said. "With this team, we're not as worried about making shots. Obviously, we want to execute what we do. But I think over the long haul if we have guys playing as hard as they did (Saturday) with attention to detail, we'll be in a great spot."
The Wildcats have made strides on defense, but Neptune believes there is more work ahead.
"I still think we're a work in progress," he said. "We still can get a lot better with our attention to detail, sprinting back a little bit more, and taking (opponents) away from their strengths. But we are getting better."
This will be the fifth meeting all-time between FDU (formerly known as Fairleigh Dickinson) and the Wildcats. All of those took place at the original Pavilion and were won by VU. The last clash came on Nov. 13, 2015, a 91-54 Wildcats win.
Exam week begins Saturday at Villanova. The Wildcats will then open their BIG EAST schedule on Tuesday, Dec. 17 when they host Seton Hall at 7:30 p.m. at Finneran Pavilion (Peacock).
