Villanova loses to Maryland, 76-75, failing to capitalize on Eric Dixon’s 38 points

NEWARK, N.J. — Eric Dixon had done everything he possibly could to will Villanova to its first win of the season over a team that matters, until he missed the game’s last shot from the corner.

But the Wildcats’ 76-75 loss to Maryland on Sunday at the Prudential Center shouldn’t have had to come to that.

Not when they led 66-63 with 4 minutes, 35 seconds remaining, the last time anyone other than Dixon scored for Villanova in the game. In fact, in the last 7:18 of the contest, only twice did another Wildcat score: Jordan Longino both times, with a layup and later back-to-back free throws.

That can’t be good for anyone, especially this Villanova team that’s now 3-4 on the season.

Jhamir Brickus was the only other Wildcat in double figures, with 11 points. Longino and Tyler Perkins had seven each, Wooga Poplar and Enoch Boakye five each, and Josiah Moseley two.

Dixon’s career-high 38 points were more than half of his team’s points in the game. He also took just short of a majority of his team’s shots, 29 of 62.

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“Everybody has their adversity, every team — even teams that are 6- and 7-0, everybody’s going through something,” Dixon said. “That’s no different for us. This just happens to be our adversity. We’re trying to keep coming back every single day, and trying to figure it out.”

Twenty-two of Dixon’s points came in a first half that was surely the Wildcats’ best of the season, delivering a 40-28 lead at intermission. Maryland coach Kevin Willard wasn’t surprised. He faced Dixon for years at Seton Hall before taking this job two seasons ago, and now has his own young team to shepherd — at a program that has fallen from its own past heights.

“I think they’re going to figure it out,” Willard said of Villanova, holding a bottle of water since there wasn’t an olive branch around. “I think Kyle [Neptune] is going to do a really good job with that group. That’s going to be a team that’s very, very good as the season goes on.”

The blue half of the lowly crowd of 7,117 at the Prudential Center was full-throated, and certainly enjoyed the game’s positives. But the latest round of boos when Neptune’s name was announced with the starting lineup sent their own message.

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(The attendance, by the way, was as good a symbol as any of how far these two long-proud programs have fallen recently. Yes, it was an NFL Sunday, but a Maryland fan from the Philly suburbs who spotted The Inquirer’s reporter said he paid just $36 per ticket for family and friends to sit a few rows behind a basket.)

On cue, Maryland (5-1) came back to take a 57-55 lead with 8 minutes, 46 seconds to go in the second half, making 12 of its first 19 field goal attempts of the period. Villanova had held 6-foot-10 freshman center Derik Queen to four points in the first half, but he hit his first five shots of the second and finished with 22 points.

Then it was a straightforward down-the-stretch game. Tyler Perkins missed a pretty good look from three-point range with three seconds to go, and Dixon missed off the ensuing inbounds play.

If either of those shots, or plenty of others, had gone in, Neptune wouldn’t have had to face another postgame grilling.

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“I think our guys have fight,” Neptune said. “I thought we came out and set the tone, did a good job in the first half. Unfortunately, I really think in the second half, just the little things. Stops. Stops end when you get a rebound.”

That was a glaring line in the box score: Maryland had 10 offensive rebounds to Villanova’s six defensive rebounds in the second half.

“I thought they got way too many second-chance opportunities, especially early in the second half that kind of gave them some life,” Neptune said, “and we just didn’t get it done defensively.”

Do this season’s struggles so far get in players’ minds in moments like that?

“I don’t think about that with our guys,” Neptune said. “I know our guys are headstrong. Unfortunately, they made more plays than we did, that’s just what it is. There’s nothing else to talk about.”