Villanova basketball took down Xavier, 80-68, at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Wildcats and Musketeers were tied at 6-6 in Big East play entering the game. Xavier has still never swept the season series against Villanova.
Takeaway #1: Poplar in the first half, Dixon in the second
The story of Villanova’s first half went through senior Wooga Poplar. He finished two points shy of tying a career-high, scoring 13 of his 23 points in the first half. Poplar sank five of his nine three-point attempts.
Poplar was all over the court. He constantly played with high energy on both sides of the ball, picking up four steals in just the first half. He almost single-handedly kept Villanova in the game during the first half being the only Wildcat with withdouble-digitt points.
Over the last four games, Poplar had quieted down, averaging just 11.8 points. The only exception was his 24-point game in the 62-60 loss against Creighton on Feb. 1.
At halftime, graduate forward Eric Dixon had two points. Rarely does Dixon leave any half, first or second, with such a lower-scoring performance. Dixon did not let that bother him, however, scoring 22 points in the second half.
“I think we’re a confident group,” Dixon said. “I think that we will come every single day and work hard. And we prepare for every game.”
Dixon scored 15 straight points drawing multiple and-ones during a 32-10 Villanova run.
He finished the day with a team-high 24 points. His scoring performance slid Dixon from ninth to fifth on Villanova’s all-time scoring list.
Takeaway #2: Tyler Perkins and the three-point barrage
Sophomore guard Tyler Perkins kicked off conference play against Seton Hall on Dec. 17, with the best game of his season. He shot 5-6 from beyond the arc and scored 17 points. Since that game, Perkins could not replicate that performance.
He averaged 3.3 points the rest of Big East play. In Villanova’s previous game against DePaul, Perkins had eight points and was trending in the right direction.
“I know I bring so much more to the table than just making threes or making shots,” Perkins said. “[I also can] defend and rebound. So, when it wasn’t falling, I just knew I just had to defend more and rebound more and help my teammates more.”
Today, Perkins had a season-high 20 points off the bench, shooting 4-5 on three-pointers.
“I mean we truly look at the game a little differently,” Villanova coach Kyle Neptune said. “We look at who’s out there competing, who’s out there playing hard. [Perkins] does that, and that’s why he’s out there.”
The Wildcats shot 50% (12-24) from three with Perkins and Poplar leading the way. The duo accounted for nine of Villanova’s 12 three-pointers.
Takeaway #3: Xavier Turnovers + Forcing Turnovers
The Musketeers are average when it comes to turnovers. This season the team was averaging 11.6 turnovers per game.
However, Xavier had 14 turnovers against Villanova. Nine of the 14 turnovers came in the first half. It marks back-to-back games with 14 turnovers for Xavier.
The Musketeers lost the turnover battle against Villanova, 14-8.
Xavier is now 1-7 this season when it loses the turnover battle. The Musketeers must limit turnovers to win games and they could not do that against Villanova.
Up next for Villanova basketball (14-10, 7-6): vs. St. John’s (21-3, 12-1) – Feb. 12 at 6 p.m. EST
Up next for Xavier basketball (14-10, 6-7): at Providence (11-13, 5-8) – Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. EST