Villanova and Butler tip off at the Pavilion on Tuesday night. (Photo: Aaron Bracy)
By AARON BRACY
February 20, 2024
Big5Hoops.com
VILLANOVA, Pa. — On Jan. 24 at Madison Square Garden, after a 20-point knockout and two-game sweep by St. John’s, Villanova coach Kyle Neptune held his head high and, essentially, said it’s about where you are at the end of the season and not at the moment.
Neptune’s message: It’s all about getting better.
Two games later, on Jan. 30 against Marquette, after Villanova lost its fifth in a row and Neptune and the Wildcats were booed at the Pavilion in a rare show of public displeasure by Nova Nation, Neptune held his head high and, essentially, said it’s all about where you are at the end of the season and not at the moment.
Neptune’s message: It’s all about getting better.
Fast forward five games to Tuesday night’s 72-62 victory over Butler at the Pavilion and, you know what, Villanova is getting better.
A hell of a lot better.
It started with ferocious defense, leading to wins over Providence and Seton Hall at the Wells Fargo Center, both of which had opposing coaches calling their team’s offensive performances out in animated postgame press conferences. There was that clunky loss at Xavier sandwiched in between, a game in which the Wildcats played well before a perplexing end-of-game possession in which they didn’t get off a shot, making you kind of forget how well they actually played for most of the night.
Then, there was Friday’s game at Big East bottom-feeder Georgetown, not the prettiest performance but a solid road win for the Wildcats at a time where every victory is as important as passing your driver’s test on your 17th birthday. Actually, probably more important, because you get another shot at that driver’s fail. The NCAA committee isn’t as kind as the motor vehicle instructor.
And, finally, on Tuesday, that first-half offensive performance in which Villanova made 17 of 28 field goals (60.7 percent) and 8 of 16 3-pointers was the best the Wildcats have looked on that end of the floor since beating Memphis in the finals of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament way back in November.
The offense wasn’t as pretty after halftime, but the Wildcats did more than enough to move a little closer to the NCAA tournament field, still on the bubble but with another layer to keep it from bursting for now.
Villanova is getting better. Just like Neptune said they would.
“It starts with our guys,” Neptune said. “Coaches normally tell their guys to do the right stuff. It’s really up to the players to execute it. I give our guys a lot of credit. They go out there, they compete. They come in every day and try to get better. They hold each other accountable. They’ve done a great job this year, through highs and lows, staying together, being positive and trying to get better.”
Like the team overall, Justin Moore is improving. It has taken some time to regain his form after a knee sprain in December sidelined him for five games. He returned on Jan. 12 against DePaul and the combination of rust and finding his health resulted in offensive struggles, averaging 5.9 points and shooting 15.2 percent (5 of 33) from long range in nine games.
But, as Neptune said, it’s all about getting better. And Moore has. He has found his health and his offense in the last two games, scoring 10 at Georgetown on Friday and 13 against Butler, 11 of which came in that beautiful first half. Moore has made 5 of 9 from the arc in those two games.
Like his team, just getting better.
“We’ve been seeing progression throughout the whole year,” Moore said. “We just know if we stick with it, we could be the best team we can be by the end of the season. It starts with our leadership, me, Eric (Dixon) and (Chris Arcidiacono). We’ve been playing a lot of games, so we know what it takes. Just reminding the guys every day.
“Confidence is always going to be there. That’s one thing that’s never going to go away. I know I can get buckets. Just being able to control the things I can control, on defense, getting stops, communicating, being a leader. I know at the end of the day it’s going to fall.”
Moore cooled after halftime, but the Wildcats had Dixon (22 points) and Brendan Hausen (13 points) ready to take over. After Butler closed to 48-46 with 13:28 to play with Dixon and Hausen on the bench, they subbed in and promptly combined to score 13 of the next 15 points on a key Villanova run that ended with them matching their largest lead to that point, 63-54, with 5:07 remaining. The Wildcats did plenty down the stretch to improve to 15-11 overall, 8-7 in the Big East.
It doesn’t get any easier for Villanova, which next plays at No. 1 UConn. After that, they’ll have four regular-season games left to make their case to the NCAA Selection Committee. I think the Wildcats need to get to 19 wins for an at-large bid, meaning winning three of their final five in the regular season and a first-round game in the Big East tournament. Of course, winning in Storrs on Saturday night could mean 18 wins (or 17?) would be enough.
That’s all chatter for people who write columns, do podcasts, buy tickets, post in chatrooms and comment on social media.
Neptune, Moore and the rest aren’t focused on that. As they say, they’re just trying to get better.
And, right now, they’re doing really well at that.
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Aaron Bracy has been covering Philadelphia sports since 1996. His byline regularly appears on Associated Press stories. Big5Hoops.com is his second website dedicated to Philadelphia college basketball. Follow Bracy on X: @Aaron_Bracy and like his Facebook and Instagram pages.