VILLANOVA, Pa. – Villanova continued its preparation Tuesday for an opening round matchup in the National Invitation Tournament. VCU (22-13), which reached the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament final Sunday before falling to Duquesne 57-51, will face the Wildcats at Finneran Pavilion.
 
Tipoff Wednesday night is set for just after 9 p.m. Tickets remain available and can be accessed via the link at the top of this story.
 
Dave Leno and Mark Adams will have the call on the national telecast for ESPN2. The "voices of the Wildcats", Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby will be in their customary midcourt location for a broadcast that is to air on the Villanova IHeart Radio Network (Sirius XM channel 383).
 
"It's another chance for us to compete as a team," stated Wildcats head coach Kyle Neptune, whose team was knocked out of the BIG EAST Tournament by Marquette in overtime, 71-65, in its most recent action. "Our guys get to represent Villanova again and have a chance to keep playing."
 
The Wildcats (18-15 overall, 10-10 BIG EAST) were riding significant momentum after a key 71-60 victory at Providence on March 2. But Villanova was unable to get wins at Seton Hall (66-56) or against Creighton (69-67) in the regular season's final week. It then needed a Justin Moore 3-pointer with 8.8 seconds left to hold off DePaul 58-57 in the opening round of the BIG EAST Tournament presented by Jeep before a strong effort against the No. 10 Golden Eagles came up short at Madison Square Garden.
 
"Our guys really battled," said Neptune, "but Marquette made all the big plays in overtime."
 
That marked the fifth overtime game Villanova has played in 2023-24, the most in a single season since 1980-81.
 
As a No. 1 seed, the Wildcats have an opportunity to host another game this weekend ( against the winner of Tuesday night's South Florida/UCF contest) if they can get past the Rams, coached by Ryan Odom.
 
Villanova has defended at a high level over its last 12 games. Only once in those outings since the start of February has it allowed more than 70 points in a regulation game (No. 1 UConn posted a 78-54 win on Feb. 24). None of those opponents converted more than 50 percent of its field goal attempts in that span.
 
But the Wildcats' offense has been held in check over the last four games. It was 88-of-222 from the field in that span (.396), including 38-of-117 from beyond the 3-point arc (.325), averaging 61.5 points per game.
 
Villanova was outscored 27-12 in points off turnovers last week at the BIG EAST Tournament.
 
"VCU is an outstanding team," Neptune said. "We know we're in for a battle. But our guys love to compete, and this is our biggest game because it's the only game we're guaranteed to play now."
 
Second Team All-BIG EAST selection Eric Dixon leads the Wildcats in scoring at 16.5 points per game. Sophomore guard Mark Armstrong has averaged 10.0 points per game over his last six outings.