Villanova has a chance to compete for a Big East title. Up next: A showdown with No. 6 UConn.
With the postseason on the horizon, the No. 14 Wildcats have steadily climbed onto the national radar as Maddy Siegrist continues to break records.
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At the beginning of the 2022-23 season, Villanova head coach Denise Dillon said “we are ready to go as far as Maddy [Siegrist] can take us.”
She was right.
Siegrist leads the country in scoring with 29.4 points per game and has broken countless Villanova, Philadelphia, and Big East records. All this while leading her team to a 23-4 record, including 14-2 in conference play.
Coming into this season, the Wildcats were picked to finish third in the Big East and were not receiving votes in the AP Poll.
Now, with just two weeks left in the regular season, Villanova is the No. 14 team in the country and has a chance to claim at least a share of the Big East regular-season title with wins in each of its last four games.
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The first, and greatest, obstacle standing between Villanova and its first conference title since 1986-87 is a matchup with No. 6 UConn on Saturday (2:30 p.m., Fox29).
The Huskies (23-4) currently are one game ahead of the Wildcats with a conference record of 15-1. Their sole loss came against Marquette on Feb. 8 when the Golden Eagles pulled off a 59-52 upset at home.
The first time Villanova played UConn on Jan. 29, the Huskies escaped with a narrow 63-58 victory at the XL Center despite trailing most of the second half. After the game, Dillon and Siegrist felt like they let a big one slip away in Hartford, Conn.
“Today’s gonna sting a little,” Siegrist said. “We just didn’t capitalize down the stretch. … But they’re a great team, and just knowing that we hung with them, so we can hang with anyone. We’re trying to take that from this game and continue to grow as a team.”
Since the game, Villanova has won five straight by an average of 23.6 points. On the other side, the Huskies have lost two of five, and, in the three wins, have only won by an average of 6.2 points.
While UConn seems to be struggling to play at its usual caliber, Siegrist has said that it feels like the Wildcats are “jelling at the right time.”
On Saturday, Villanova has an opportunity to avenge the loss and prove that it is one of the top contenders in the country.
It’s hard to understate what a win over the Huskies would do for the Wildcats’ national profile.
The win would tie the teams for the top spot in the Big East with just three games remaining. It would add another Top 25 win to the Cats’ resumé, the other being then-No. 24 Princeton in the second game of the season. And it would all but guarantee a top 16 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
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Last week, the NCAA DI women’s basketball committee released an early top 16, with Villanova coming in at No. 15. That would put the Wildcats as a four seed in the Greenville 2 regional and would make them a host school for the first weekend of the tournament, something they have never done.
A win over the No. 6 team would allow for a big jump in the AP Poll and a likely jump in the second top 16 release on Feb. 23.
Dillon has said from the beginning that Villanova is capable of being one of the nation’s top teams.
“I always think we should be in the discussion,” Dillon said of the early top 16 reveal. “People are gonna question it; that’s fine. We’re not gonna question it. We’re gonna do whatever necessary to continue to put ourselves in the conversation and then in the position to prove why we’re there.”
While there always will be people who question, the support for Villanova is starting to overshadow the doubters.
With Siegrist garnering endless national attention, including an appearance on SportsCenter after a 50-point, record-breaking performance, Villanova is feeling the benefit of having a projected first-round WNBA pick on its roster.
Villanova announced on Friday that Saturday’s matchup is sold out, marking the first sellout since the 2004 season.
When the Wildcats played at the XL Center in January, it was a sold-out UConn crowd that gave the Huskies momentum and carried them to victory.
Now, Nova Nation has a chance to do the same for Villanova on Saturday.