Villanova ‘has to get better’ following 68-66 home loss to Marquette

For long stretches Saturday afternoon, it looked like Villanova was on its way to what would have been a pivotal, resume-boosting win against Marquette.

But college basketball fans know well that Shaka Smart’s teams don’t just lay down. Even this young and mostly inexperienced one. Marquette trailed for more than 20 minutes between the first and second halves before taking control of the game midway through the second half and holding on for a 68-66 win at Finneran Pavilion.

The Wildcats, who went cold down the stretch, had a chance to tie it on the final possession, but Eric Dixon’s fadeaway jump shot rimmed out.

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“We just have to get better,” Villanova coach Kyle Neptune said. “If we had won this game, we would have had to still get better. Our mission doesn’t change.”

Villanova (7-7, 1-2 Big East) was led by Cam Whitmore’s 14 points (12 in the first half) and eight rebounds. Dixon and Caleb Daniels each scored 13 and had seven and six rebounds, respectively.

Reading native Stevie Mitchell led Marquette (11-4, 3-1) with a career-high 19 points. Kam Jones added 14.

A corner three by Dixon gave Villanova a seven-point lead, 53-46, with 16 minutes to go. But Marquette responded with an 11-2 run that was capped off by David Joplin driving right at Jordan Longino’s chest for a tough basket at the rim. The 57-55 lead with 12 minutes to play was Marquette’s first lead since the Golden Eagles led, 7-5, three minutes into the game.

Daniels and Chris Arcidiacono hit crucial three-pointers to keep the Wildcats in it while shots weren’t falling. Arcidiacono’s came with 3 minutes, 35 seconds to play, and the shot clock expiring. It tied the score, 66-66.

But the Wildcats missed their next five shots, including Dixon’s fadeaway jumper just before the horn, which came after Jones missed the front end of a one-and-one.

“We have a lot of reads out of that set, and that was definitely one of the reads,” Neptune said of the final shot.

After combining for 83 points in the first half, Villanova and Marquette scored just 51 in the second half.

The Wildcats shot 4-for-16 from three-point range in the second half. They scored just 11 points in the final 13 minutes and shot 4 of 14 during that stretch.

“They’re just a really well-coached team,” Neptune said when asked about Marquette’s defense. “They take away your strengths and they play extremely hard. They make it hard to get to the rim and take away threes.”

The star freshman debuted in early December for Villanova but came off the bench in all six of the games he played in before Saturday when he made his first start.

The Wildcats started slowly in each of their last three games. With Whitmore on the floor, Villanova was rolling early. Whitmore made his first four shots — two three-pointers, a tough shot at the basket off of a press break, and a back cut that he finished with a slam — and helped Villanova keep pace in what was a fast-paced start.

Whitmore had a dozen in the first half – in just 18 minutes, to be exact – to go with six rebounds and a 44-39 Wildcats lead at the break. The 44 points were the most Villanova has scored in a first half all season.

Villanova led by seven at one point in the half, but Marquette kept clawing back thanks in part to Jones’ shooting. He scored 14 in the first half on 5 of 7 shooting. He made 4 of 6 from three-point range.

While Whitmore started fast, he struggled early in the second half (two turnovers, three shot attempts), then seemed to be benched. He was taken out of the game with seven minutes remaining and didn’t check back in until there were 26 seconds left on the clock.

“It was just a feel in the game at that point in time,” Neptune said. “There wasn’t much stoppage, we were going up and down. So we decided to stay that way.”

There were five stoppages, including a full media timeout, between the time Whitmore went to the bench and the time he checked back in with less than 30 seconds remaining. The Wildcats managed six points over the final seven minutes.

Villanova doesn’t have a deep rotation but their options were fewer than usual Saturday. Redshirt freshman Angelo Brizzi entered the transfer portal Friday and has left the team. Reserve big man Nnanna Njoku missed his second consecutive game with a foot injury. And star senior guard Justin Moore has not yet made his debut this season as he continues to recover and rehabilitate after March Achilles surgery.

In all, the Wildcats had nine scholarship players at their disposal on Saturday.

The Wildcats play Wednesday night at Georgetown (6:30 p.m., FS1). They then host No. 22 Xavier – which beat No. 2 UConn on Saturday – at Finneran Pavilion.