CINCINNATI, Ohio – Villanova looks to extend its exceptional work away from home when it meets Xavier Tuesday evening at Cintas Center. Tipoff is set for just after 6:30 p.m. with the national telecast airing on FS1 and the audio broadcast set for the Villanova Sports Radio Network on Fox Sports Radio Philadelphia, iHeart App, SiriusXM channel 383 and the TuneIn App.)
 
The Wildcats (20-5 overall, 11-3 BIG EAST) carry a five-game winning streak with them into this matchup with the Musketeers (13-12 overall, 5-9 BIG EAST). Xavier defeated Marquette 96-88 Saturday afternoon and has won three of its last four at home with the lone defeat a tight 88-83 tussle with nationally ranked St. John's.
 
Villanova has done some of its best work in 2025-26 away from home. It extended its BIG EAST road record to 6-1 Saturday with an 80-69 win at Creighton behind Duke Brennan's 11^th double-double of the campaign (21 points, 12 rebounds). That's the most league road wins for the Wildcats since they won seven conference road games in a 2021-22 season that brought them to the NCAA Final Four in New Orleans.
 
Brennan, a senior who spent the previous two seasons at Grand Canyon, connected on 8-of-9 field goal attempts in the win over the Bluejays. His 102 offensive rebounds are tops in the BIG EAST and he is second in the overall rebounding column with 10.63 caroms per contest. Only Butler's Michael Ajayi averages more caroms (11.35) or has more double-doubles (15).
 
"Duke's been great," said Villanova head coach Kevin Willard. "You can't talk enough about Duke. He took his time (Saturday) and had some big finishes and the guards did a good job of finding him."
 
Also posting a double-double Saturday was guard Tyler Perkins, who finished with 17 points and 11 boards. Perkins leads the Wildcats in scoring in BIG EAST games at 15.9 ppg and is 11^th in rebounding at 6.79 rpg.
 
On Monday, Perkins was named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll for his efforts in helping Nova secure its 19^th and 20^th wins of the season last week. It is the 17^th time since 2004 that the Wildcats have earned 20 or more victories in a season. Their 11 league wins mark the 12^th time in the last 14 seasons that Villanova has finished with a winning record in conference play.
 
Jack Kizer and Nick Bahe will have the FS1 call. Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby will be at Cintas Center for the audio account of this matchup.
 
Xavier's Tre Carroll averages 18.9 points per game in BIG EAST games, second only to Marquette's Nigel James (19.2 ppg). Filip Borovicanin of the Musketeers averages 8.5 rpg in conference games.
 
The Wildcats are scheduled to return to Philadelphia following Tuesday night's game. Up next is a battle with BIG EAST leading UConn Saturday at Xfinity Mobile Arena (5:30 p.m.). Tickets are available for this game and can be quickly purchased by clicking the link at the top of this story.
 
Also ahead this week, is the airing of a new episode of Inside Villanova Basketball on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Air dates and times are below:
 
Friday, February 20 – 7:00pm & 10:00pm on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Friday, February 20 – 9:30pm on NBCSP+
Saturday, February 21 – 12:00pm on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Monday, February 22 – 6:30pm on NBC Sports Philadelphia