VILLANOVA, Pa. – Villanova closes out the Finneran Pavilion portion of its regular season schedule on Tuesday night when it hosts BIG EAST rival Georgetown (9-18 overall, 2-14 BIG EAST) at 6:30 p.m.
 
FS1 will have the national telecast with John Fanta and Jim Spanarkel on hand at Finneran Pavilion. Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby will describe the action on the Villanova IHeart Radio Network (Sirius XM channel 381).
 
As part of this game, Villanova will celebrate its UNITAS initiative. UNITAS is a framework to build a welcoming and supportive athletic department by creating safe spaces for constructive dialogs, educational programming, and community engagement. Students and alumni attending the contest have been asked to don the black UNITAS shirt to tonight's game.
 
As is the custom, Tuesday night will also be "Senior Night", recognizing those in the Men's Basketball program on track to graduate in May. As it happens, only student manager PJ Cavaliere falls into that category in 2023-24. Cavaliere will be honored at halftime.
 
For the Wildcats, Tuesday is another chance to climb in the BIG EAST standings (15-12 overall, 8-8 BIG EAST) with only four regular season contests remaining. The BIG EAST Tournament begins Wednesday, March 13, at New York's Madison Square Garden.
 
"To us, this is our biggest game because it's our next game," stated Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune. "We understand the questions about the impact these games may have on what's ahead. That speculation is part of what makes college basketball great. But we want to keep our focus on the task at hand, which is Georgetown."
 
The Wildcats knocked off Georgetown 70-54 on Feb. 16, breaking open a close game over the final six minutes. TJ Bamba led a balanced attack with 14 points at Capital One Arena.
 
"That's a well-coached team with high-level players," noted Neptune of the Hoyas. "We knew they would make runs and they did. I thought we did a good job. We just kept going and were resilient."
 
Former Providence coach Ed Cooley makes his first appearance as the Hoyas' leader at Finneran Pavilion.
 
The Wildcats were within 45-40 of No. 3 UConn Saturday night in Storrs, Conn., before a 12-0 run gave the Huskies a cushion. UConn generated an 18-4 advantage in fast break points, which proved to be instrumental.
 
Following the game, Huskies head coach Dan Hurley was asked about the Wildcats' postseason prospects.
 
"I don't know that these bracketologists and all these different entities (are thinking)," he stated. "These guys beat Carolina on a neutral, Texas Tech? Went on the road and won at Creighton, where we just got bombed out. You know these guys are an NCAA Tournament team. Obviously, they've got to take care of business down the stretch, win enough to get there. But that's a team that's not only a tournament team, but has the capability of winning a game, winning multiple games and they've got a chance to make a deep run in the BIG EAST Tournament too."
 
Following Tuesday night's game, the Wildcats travel Saturday to Providence and then visit Seton Hall on Mar. 6 before wrapping up the regular season on March 9 vs. No. 12 Creighton at the Wells Fargo Center.