The Villanova Wildcats finished last season with a 29-5 and 16-2 record in the Big East. Their final game of the season would come to the hands of the eventual national champions, the UConn Huskies in the round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament. Nova, the second seed would lose to UConn, who was the seventh seed, 77-65.
This season, the Wildcats look to improve on last season as they bring back the same roster without the likes of James Bell, Nick McMahon and Tony Chennault. Expect players such as JayVaughn Pinkston and Darrun Hilliard to step up as they are the seniors on the team.
Before, the season begins; Villanova will have two exhibition games against Northwood and Nyack. The game against Northwood will be on Tuesday, November 4 at 7:00 p.m. and can be seen on FOX Sports 1.
The season officially begins on Friday, November 14 as they will take on Lehigh University at the brand new PPL Center in Allentown, PA. After the game against Lehigh, they play UMES and Bucknell on November 17 and 20 in the regional round of the Legends Classic. After those two games at the Pavilion, they will then take on VCU in the championship round of the classic which will be on November 24. The championship round games will be taking place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
On the following night, the Wildcats will either take on Michigan or Oregon. Now, in the month of December, Villanova will be taking on majority of the Big Five schools as they will play La Salle on the 3rd at Tom Gola Arena, then three days later St. Joseph’s at the Pavilion and finally Temple on the 14th also at the Pavilion.
Also in the month of December, they will matchup against the Syracuse Orange at the Wells Fargo Center on the 20th. This is not the matchup that it used to be with the Cuse now in the ACC but it will always be a great rivalry. Finally to end off the month, they begin Big East play at home on New Year’s Eve against the Butler Bulldogs.
On January 3, the Wildcats have their first conference road game against Seton Hall. Then they have a break in the conference portion of their schedule as they finish off Big Five play at the Palestra against Penn on January 17. To end off the month of January, they will face Creighton at home as they look for revenge from last season’s debacles.
Finally, to end off their schedule in February, they will have three more home games at the Wells Fargo Center and have five road games against the likes of Providence, Butler, Marquette, Xavier and Creighton.
The Big East conference tournament will take place March 11-14 at Madison Square Garden and can be seen on FOX Sports 1.
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