VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Villanova Wildcats (17-14 overall, 10-10 BIG EAST) held a practice late Tuesday morning at Finneran Pavilion ahead of their charter bus ride to New York City for the 2024 BIG EAST Tournament presented by Jeep. The No. 6 seed 'Cats meet No. 11 seed DePaul (3-28 overall, 0-20 BIG EAST) Wednesday night at approximately 9 p.m. at Madison Square Garden.
 
Tim Brando and Bill Raftery will be courtside for the national telecast on FS1. Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby have the call on the Villanova IHeart Radio Network.
 
Two other opening round BIG EAST matchups will precede this clash. In the opening game, Butler faces Xavier at 4 p.m. followed by Providence and Georgetown at approximately 6:30 p.m.
 
The Wildcats are looking to rebound after dropping a pair of tight battles in the final week of league play at Seton Hall (66-56) and to No. 8 Creighton (69-67). Prior to that Villanova had bolstered its postseason prospects, winning six of eight.
 
On Saturday, Villanova fell into an early 21-3 hole that mushroomed to a 32-8 Bluejays lead after just eight minutes of action. The Wildcats fought their way back to tie the game at 67 with 23 seconds left before Trey Alexander dropped in the game-winner with .2 seconds left in the contest.
 
It wasn't the first time this season that the Wildcats fell into a deep hole in the game's first 10 minutes. There was a 20-7 deficit to St. John's on Jan. 6 that played a part in an 81-71 loss to the Red Storm. Then No. 1 UConn built a 10-0 lead over the Wildcats at the Wells Fargo Center on Jan. 20 before holding on for a 66-65 triumph.
 
Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune doesn't necessarily see a pattern to it, given there have been instances where the Wildcats have jumped out quickly, as they did in decisive February wins over Seton Hall and Georgetown.
 
"We look at everything and have certainly re-examined it from every angle," noted Neptune. "I don't think there's any pattern to it.
 
"You (media) hear us talk a lot about defense and rebounding. Those are our priorities. We try to zero in on those areas because making or missing shots fluctuates. For the most part, we've done a good job of it, like the last 30 minutes against Creighton. But there have been games where we have done that for 40 minutes. At this level that can be the difference between a win or a loss.
 
"Our guys are resilient. We just have to have that mindset for 40 minutes."
 
Eric Dixon – who was named second team All-BIG EAST by the Associated Press on Tuesday – leads Villanova into this BIG EAST Tournament. He averaged 16.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per outing this season, including an 18.5 ppg average in the two games last week.
 
Justin Moore, who missed five weeks in December and January due to a sprained right knee, scored 17 points against the Bluejays and has averaged 13.0 ppg over his last four contests. Newcomers TJ Bamba, Tyler Burton, Hakim Hart and Lance Ware are all set to make their BIG EAST Tournament debuts.
 
"We're excited," said Neptune. "The Big East Tournament is a really special event and we're looking forward to it."
 
The Wildcats downed DePaul in both regular season meetings, though two months will have passed since the last meeting at Finneran Pavilion (a 94-69 Wildcats' win). The Blue Demons have changed head coaches – Matt Brady is the interim head coach – since that last matchup.
 
This is only the second time these two programs will meet in the BIG EAST Tournament. Villanova downed DePaul 75-67 in 2007.
 
Wednesday night's victor advances to meet No. 3 seed Marquette in a quarterfinal Thursday evening (9:30 p.m/FS1).