Villanova goes quiet late in loss to St. John’s. Can it avoid a repeat of last season’s January slide?

Villanova performed well through the first five games of its Big East schedule.

A loss to shorthanded Creighton in Omaha was quickly swept out of sight by a win over Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse that closed with a 22-1 run over the final six minutes. A home win over No. 6 UConn propelled Villanova from an NCAA Tournament afterthought in a down-year Big East back into the national conversation.

But an 80-68 loss to St. John’s at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night casts a shadow over the optimism surrounding the Wildcats’ conference start. The defeat brought Villanova to 11-6 overall and 4-2 in the Big East. Worse, the Cats looked more like the team that failed to close out games against UConn and Butler last season than the one that claimed wins against those same teams this season.

With a trip to Xavier (10-7, 2-4 Big East) on Tuesday (FS1, 6:30 p.m.), Villanova has a chance to quickly respond to the game it let slip away on Saturday

St. John’s defense, ranked seventh nationally by KenPom’s defensive efficiency rating, was exactly what the metrics suggested: It was suffocating. The Red Storm blanketed graduate forward Eric Dixon, the Division I leading scorer entering Saturday. He finished with 18 points on 6-of-19 shooting. Villanova got solid contributions from senior guard Wooga Poplar (22 points) and graduate guard Jhamir Brickus (13 points).

However, the supplementary offense was not enough to counterbalance St. John’s ability to outmuscle the Wildcats. St. John’s secured 16 more rebounds, including a nine-rebound edge on the offensive boards.

“They’re a good defensive team,” Villanova coach Kyle Neptune said. “I think our issues were on the defensive end more than anything. We had some good shots, makeable shots. I think our issues were on the defensive end.”

» READ MORE: Dan Hurley says Villanova is NCAA Tournament-bound. The Wildcats still have to prove it.

Villanova committed 29 fouls, giving St. John’s 39 free throws and resulting in 29 points, 21 of which came in the second half.

St. John’s continued its poor three-point shooting, finishing 7-of-24, but Villanova’s struggles to score in the closing minutes mitigated the Red Storm’s offensive inefficiency.

With 2 minutes, 35 seconds remaining, Poplar’s slam cut St. John’s lead to 66-65. Until then, the teams had been within four points of each other in the second half. After a timeout, Villanova went scoreless from the field and was outscored, 14-3.

The Cats came up empty on their final five possessions. Dixon missed a three, and St. John’s forced a jump ball by tying up Poplar on a drive to the basket; Villanova retained possession but mustered only a long-distance three-point try from Brickus.

When senior guard Jordan Longino missed a three with 59 seconds left, the Cats were in desperation mode, down 72-65 after trailing by just one point 1 minute, 36 seconds earlier.

» READ MORE: Villanova upsets No. 9 UConn at home behind Eric Dixon's 23 points

“Every game is a chance to get better,” Dixon said. “We’ll go back and look at the film, see what we could have done better. … [We’ll] take some lessons from this game, learn, and try to move forward and build on it.”

More worrying might be the familiarity of this start to the season. The Wildcats opened Big East play 4-1, just as they did last season, before Saturday’s loss. In 2023-24, Villanova went on a five-game January skid that took it from the tournament picture to the very edge of the bubble.

If Villanova can return to being the team that claimed wins over Cincinnati and UConn this season, it should be able to avoid such a slide. But if Villanova reverts to being a team that is unable to finish close games, the path back to the tournament may be more treacherous than is manageable.