Villanova basketball needs to get its season back on track.
General Information
Teams: Villanova (1-1) and NJIT (0-1)
Tip-Off Time: 8:30 p.m. EST
Watch: FS2
Listen: Villanova Sports Radio Network
What to know about NJIT
NJIT is coming off a narrow loss to Penn, 58-57.
It is head coach Grant Billmeier’s second season under the helm. Billmeier began his head coaching tenure with NJIT last season. The team finished with a 7-21 overall record and a 3-13 American East record.
Sophomore guards Tariq Francis (20) and Sebastian Robinson (20) were responsible for 40 of NJIT’s 57 points in the season opener on Nov. 4.
As a freshman last season, Francis was the leading scorer, averaging 14.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists. He has already shown improvement in his first game of his sophomore year
Robinson finished with 20 points and nine rebounds while shooting 50% from the field. It was the second-highest-scoring game of his young college career.
If Villanova can contain the backcourt duo, it will be hard for NJIT to stay competitive.
Latest on Villanova basketball
Villanova is looking to bounce back against NJIT after a crushing loss to Columbia, 90-80.
Things are off to a shaky start on the Main Line. Head coach Kyle Neptune is entering his third season, losing in the first round of the NIT the last two seasons.
Sixth-year Eric Dixon dropped 33 points in his season debut, surpassing 1,500 points a Wildcat, but it was not enough to stay undefeated.
A lot of pieces needed to come together. The bench needs to find offensive production after only scoring its first points with five minutes left in the game against NJIT. Poor inbounding and protecting the ball contributed to the Wildcats’ 12 turnovers.
With the addition of transfers over the offseason, such as seniors Wooga Poplar, Jhamir Brickus, and Enoch Boakye, there is talent on paper. Now, the execution of that talent needs to be figured out.
Expect Villanova to attempt to set a tone against NJIT, it is a must-win game.