Villanova’s wacky season continues with a win as the Wildcats hit a break in the schedule

Villanova being 7-4 at this point of the schedule shouldn’t come as much of a shock. The Wildcats have played a relatively difficult nonconference schedule — KenPom had it rated 44th late Saturday night — through 11 games. They hosted a Big Ten team, went to the Bahamas to face a tough group of teams at the Battle 4 Atlantis. They traveled out to Kansas last week to play Kansas State and then hosted UCLA to finish the week.

Show anyone that schedule five weeks ago, before the games started, and, yeah, 7-4 isn’t too far off.

But how they got there? Oof.

These things are rarely linear, but this one has been as abnormal as abnormal gets. Villanova has four KenPom top-50 victories, including one over a North Carolina team that was ranked ninth in the nation last week. It also lost to Drexel, Penn, and St. Joseph’s. That Kansas State game came down to the final seconds in both regulation and overtime. Flip a coin and it could have gone in either direction.

Saturday’s win over UCLA came after three straight losses. It came without star guard Justin Moore, who is considered day-to-day with a right knee sprain. It came on another night when the Wildcats for large stretches couldn’t make a shot, whether UCLA defended the possession well or not.

You name an experience, and it seems like this Villanova team has had it through 11 games. Buckle up, there are still 20 more to go during the regular season, all in the Big East, starting Dec. 20 vs. No. 10 Creighton.

“We know right now that we’ve had nights where we haven’t made shots,” coach Kyle Neptune said. “We’ve had nights where we’ve really made shots. We’ve had nights where we’ve come out with a lot of energy. I think we’ve had every single emotion and every single possible experience you can have as a team so far. I think that’s good in the early season. We’ve had close games, games where we were up a lot, and games where we’re up a lot and teams came back.”

Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center was one of those grind-it-out nailbiters in which neither team played all that well.

This was a 5-2 UCLA team without a good win on its résumé, and a Villanova team that, well, needed another one after the stunning trio of Big 5 losses. The faithful were becoming nonbelievers, and some probably still are. There were audible boos when Neptune’s name was announced during introductions. During one quiet moment near the end of the first half, one fan let out a loud “Fire Neptune.” It came after the team had missed two consecutive open three-pointers and another shot at the rim.

Neptune has been far from perfect, but shooting the basketball is not in his job description.

» READ MORE: Behind Villanova’s struggles: A three-point shooting slump and troubles against the zone

It’s in Brendan Hausen’s, the sharpshooting sophomore who entered Saturday night having missed 12 straight from three-point range. He missed his first two Saturday, but then hit his next two at critical junctures. The first broke a 45-45 tie with more than six minutes to go and came from well beyond NBA range. A few possessions later, Hausen capped an 11-0 run with another triple.

Villanova had been playing poorly against zones, and both of Hausen’s threes served as the perfect zone-beater.

Missing from Villanova’s arsenal during its ugly defeats were timely shooting, better ball movement, and game-changing defensive stops. The Wildcats got the first part from Hausen, an expected outcome. The second was clear when Hart, who had the hot hand, passed up an open corner three to set up Jordan Longino with a better one. One veteran to another. But the latter came from junior big man Nnanna Njoku, who hadn’t seen the floor since a Nov. 24 win over Memphis in the Bahamas. To match UCLA’s size, Neptune deployed Njoku alongside another big, Lance Ware. That duo was on the floor to start a stretch of eight consecutive misses by the Bruins.

Njoku kept an offensive sequence alive by tipping out a missed free throw to extend a possession that ended with a Hakim Hart three-pointer that tied the score at 45. Down at the other end, Njoku swatted away a driving shot attempt from UCLA’s Sebastian Mack.

“He’s had a different type of season than a lot of guys,” Tyler Burton, who led all scorers with 18 points, said of Njoku. “For him to stay prepared and step up in a fashion like that just shows his character and how locked in we are.”

Locked in? It’s one thing to feel that way, but Villanova hasn’t consistently showed that to be reality. Especially when it comes to its three-point shooting. The Wildcats shot 11-for-35 from three-point range Saturday and even that felt like a win in itself. It’s been that trying at times.

How do shooters stay composed?

“It’s just what we do,” Burton said. “Wake up tomorrow and take the same shots. ... It’s going to click one day.”

When put that way, it sounds so simple. But nothing about this Villanova season so far has been simple. And it won’t get simpler when conference play starts.

» READ MORE: Lucy Olsen draws the attention, but Villanova is starting to show opponents ‘they’re all threats’

“You expect the unexpected,” Neptune said. “I’m not surprised by anything. You could have a leprechaun walk through here right now and I’d be like, ‘All right.’”

The coach laughed at his rare postgame quip, but continued ...

“I try not to get too high and I try not to get too low. Whatever happens, happens and we’ll deal with it and move onto the next situation.”

A little less drama wouldn’t hurt, though, right?

“It is what it is,” Neptune said. “This is a season and there are a lot of obstacles in every season.”

As he’s learning, they come in all shapes and sizes.