VILLANOVA, Pa. – Since the most recent reorganization of the BIG EAST in 2013, Villanova has spent more than its share of time in New York City, specifically Madison Square Garden. In the last 13 years, via visits to face St. John's, neutral court matchups and the BIG EAST Tournament, Villanova has played 39 times at the "World's Most Famous Arena".
It then feels a little odd that the 2025-26 Wildcats have yet to step foot on the hardwood that rests five floors above the Manhattan street level.
That all changes on Saturday night when the Wildcats meet No. 15 St. John's (22-6 overall, 15-2 BIG EAST) under the bright lights of the Garden. Tipoff is set for 8:05 p.m. The Fox network will carry this contest in prime time with Gus Johnson, Jim Jackson and sideline reporter Allison Williams on hand to describe the action.
At one point in this stretch (2021-22) Villanova was 27-3 in those games at the Garden. But they were just 2-4 there in the past two seasons (.333), dropping regular season decisions to the resurgent Red Storm in the regular season and splitting two BIG EAST Tournament games in March.
St. John's had its 13-game winning streak – that included an 86-79 verdict over the Wildcats on Jan. 17 at Xfinity Mobile Arena – snapped on Wednesday night by Connecticut 72-40.
Villanova, meanwhile, bounced back from its own loss to the Huskies last Saturday (73-63) with a workmanlike 82-73 win over Butler on Wednesday night at Finneran Pavilion.
Devin Askew supplied 13 of his 16 points after halftime to help Nova hold off a Bulldogs charge back from a 14-point halftime deficit.
The Wildcats are 22-6 overall, 13-4 in the BIG EAST and assured of no worse than the No. 3 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament. They have won seven of their last eight games and saw two of their dynamic guards, Askew and
Bryce Lindsay, shake free from recent shooting slumps on Wednesday night.
"I've just focused on other things – defense and rebounding," noted Lindsay of a challenging month of February prior to a pair of double-digit scoring outings in the last three games. "Those things (scoring) are going to come."
Head coach
Kevin Willard in his postgame news conference Wednesday night nodded to Lindsay seated on one side and Askew on the other.
"They haven't been shooting well," said Willard, "yet they still come into practice with a great attitude. They put the work in.
"I think that's why this team is as good as we are. It's their attitude. I look forward to getting in the gym. I look forward to coaching them. I think that's huge."
The Red Storm pose an imposing obstacle. A 27-12 spurt to open the second half last month in South Philadelphia allowed it to create separation that the Wildcats were unable to overcome. Per Ken Pomeroy's advanced metrics at kenpom.com, the Red Storm surrenders 99.9 points per 100 possessions, 15
th in the nation. St. John's also is second in BIG EAST games in scoring average at 79.6 points per game.
Its rebounding margin of +4.33 is second in the league to UConn.
Ryan Fannon and
Whitey Rigsby will be at the Garden to call this one on the Villanova Sports Radio network (Fox Sports Radio Philadelphia, iHeart app, Sirius XM channel 385 and the Tunein app).
Next week, the Wildcats will close out the regular season with a visit to DePaul on Wednesday night and the final against Xavier at Finneran Pavilion on March 7.
