VILLANOVA, Pa. – Villanova (14-11 overall, 7-7 BIG EAST) and Butler (16-10 overall, 7-8 BIG EAST) are both in the middle of a logjam in the conference regular season standings. That makes Tuesday night's matchup at Finneran Pavilion a pivotal one, as both jockey for position ahead of next month's BIG EAST Tournament at Madison Square Garden.
Tuesday night's contest is set to tip off just after 6:30 p.m. and air nationally via FS1 (Tim Brando and Donny Marshall). Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby will be on the call on the Villanova IHeart Radio Network (Sirius XM channel 381).
The Wildcats have won three of their last four games, including a 70-54 triumph Friday night over Georgetown at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. In that span Villanova has limited opponents to 53.5 points per contest.
Senior TJ Bamba – named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll Monday after scoring 14 points against the Hoyas – talked about his team's approach when shots weren't falling early on in that contest.
"We were just encouraging one another," noted Bamba, who also added a season-high four steals to his worksheet Friday evening, "reminding ourselves that we just needed to keep getting stops. We kept feeding each other good vibes, saying 'attitude'.
"I thought our first half defense was good. In the second half, we had a few breakdowns here and there. That's an area (where) we can keep getting better. We're trending in the right direction."
That defense has bounced back from a January stretch where it surrendered 79.2 points per game. Included in that five-game snapshot was an 88-81 double overtime loss to Butler at Hinkle Field House. The Wildcats held the lead most of that afternoon before the Bulldogs caught them near the end of regulation. Eric Dixon put up 28 points for the Wildcats.
DJ Davis was held scoreless in the first half before exploding for 28 points for the Bulldogs over the final 30 minutes. Butler also capitalized on 22 free throw attemps – they sank 17 – while the Wildcats were limited to nine attempts at the charity stripe.
"They've got good players over there," said Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune. "They got free in transition a bit, started running (Davis) off some screening action, got him going downhill. He made some timely shots."
This will be Villanova's first appearance at Finneran Pavilion since Jan. 30. The Wildcats have a total of six games remaining on their regular season schedule, beginning with this matchup, and then continuing Saturday night at No. 1 Connecticut. VU will return home next Tuesday night for a return engagement with Georgetown.
But the Wildcats are content to leave the projections about the possibilities on the  road to the BIG EAST Tournament to others.
"The mindset for us doesn't change," said Bamba. "It's always next game."
