Wildcat Wrap
 
Final Score: No. 10 Marquette 71, Villanova 65 (OT)
 
Overview: Villanova staged a second half comeback and survived what appeared to be a buzzer-beating game-winner by Marquette at the end of regulation, but fell short of an upset of the Golden Eagles, dropping a 71-65 decision in overtime.
 
Eric Dixon posted a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds and Justin Moore added 11 rebounds. The Wildcats' defense was on point all night, slowing the pace against a Marquette team that was without 2023 BIG EAST Player of the Year Tyler Kolek.
 
Villanova held the Golden Eagles to .397 shooting on the night but couldn't generate quite enough offense to gain the win.
 
"Give Marquette a lot of credit," said head coach Kyle Neptune. "They played extremely hard and made some really tough shots when they had to. They got some tough stops when they had to and made it tough for us defensively.
 
"On our side, I'm really proud of how our guys kept fighting to get it to overtime."
 
The Wildcats played their fifth overtime game of 2023-24 (2-3) and their sixth in BIG EAST Tournament history (3-3).
 
Down a Man: The Wildcats played without junior guard Jordan Longino, who suffered a left knee sprain in Wednesday night's win over DePaul. His status is officially day-to-day moving forward.
 
Tempo Felt Right Early: Marquette held a 5-4 lead at the first official timeout of the evening, 4:02 into the first half. The Wildcats' defense was in top form but at the offensive end Villanova misfired on its first five attempts from beyond the 3-point arc, part of a 2-of-7 effort from the field in the opening minutes.
 
When David Joplin dropped in Marquette's second 3-pointer, its lead was 8-4.
 
An 8-0 burst by the Wildcats gave Villanova its first lead of the night. When Hakim Hart dropped in his second 3-pointer in the early minutes, the 'Cats were up 15-12. A Tre Norman 3-pointer tied the contest at 15, midway through the half. A Tyler Burton corner 3-pointer helped the Wildcats hold the lead at the U8 timeout, 18-17.
 
With 7:28 on the clock, 12 of VU's 16 attempts from the field were from beyond the arc as Marquette often employed a 2-3 zone defense. They converted four of those: two by Hart and one each from Burton and Eric Dixon.
 
The Golden Eagles pushed out to a 23-20 lead with 2:53 left in the period. Hart and Burton – who accounted for 11 first half points between them – were saddled with two fouls apiece. Dixon scored the other nine points.
 
Brendan Hausen sank a 3-pointer and Dixon finished the period with a basket to give Villanova a 29-28 lead at intermission. The Wildcats led largely because of a defense that held the Golden Eagles to 10-of-29 shooting in the period (.345) and held a 19-16 edge on the glass.
 
Dixon's 13 points led all scorers over those 20 minutes.
 
After Halftime: Marquette executed a give and go for a Kam Jones bucket on its opening possession of the period and followed that with another score next time down to go up 33-30 in the first minute. Villanova, meanwhile, missed a shot near the end of the shot clock and had a turnover on its first two sequences of the half.
 
The Golden Eagles used an 11-2 spurt over the first 4:40 of the second half to grab a 39-31 lead. Villanova, meanwhile, struggled to score, connecting on 3-of-14 from the field over the first 9:30 of the half, allowing Marquette to retain its eight-point advantage, 47-39.
 
With TJ Bamba adding five quick points on a pair of free throws and a triple, Villanova cut the Golden Eagles' lead to 50-46 after 12:01 had been played in the period. When Bamba drained a corner 3-pointer on the next VU possession, the Wildcats were down 50-49. After another defensive stop, Moore scored to put VU on top, 51-50 with 7:07 left on the second half clock.
 
Marquette scored the next six points to move back up by a 56-51 count.
 
When Bamba was fouled in the act of a 3-point shot, the 'Cats were down by three. Bamba calmly sank all three free throws, and the game was tied as the clock dipped below the one-minute mark.
 
An apparent game-winning basket by Marquette on the final play of regulation was initially ruled to have been good before the clock hit 0:00. But an officials review reversed the call and sent this game to overtime tied at 58.
 
Extra Time: A 3-pointer from Chase Ross broke a 63-63 tie with 1:55 to play in the extra session. When Mark Armstrong – who finished with 12 points – scored on a drive the lead was cut to 67-65 with 47 seconds to play. But Oso Ighodaro, who was held to just four points on the night – made a tough turnaround over Dixon with 18 seconds left to provide a decisive blow.
 
What They Said: Neptune on what comes next: "Right now, we're just processing this. Our guys came here wanting to win the Big East Tournament. There's a lot of disappointment right now and we're focused on processing this."