Villanova women tune up for showdown with UConn by routing DePaul

Villanova women’s basketball coach Denise Dillon wrote one word on the team’s whiteboard during the preseason: tough.

Since then, “tough,” has morphed into an acronym that the Wildcats find applicable to any situation.

T is for together, O for optimistic, U is unselfish, G is for grit, and H is for humble.

“We do a lot of conversations about toughness,” Dillon said. “I think if you break it down, if you have all those qualities, those characteristics, a lot of great things can happen.”

And for Villanova, it needs all five of those qualities as it looks ahead to its largest Big East challenge on Wednesday: UConn.

“In the Big East, you know what’s going to happen?” Dillon asked. “Game in and game out it’s going to be a battle. It’s going to be tough.”

Here’s a look into what the Wildcats have been up to and how they are preparing for the tough matchup:

Villanova (13-7, 6-3 Big East) is 1-2 in its most recent conference matchups.

The Wildcats suffered a 63-49 loss to No. 21 Creighton on Jan. 21 which snapped their six-game winning streak. In the loss, junior Lucy Olsen had a game-high 29 points and was the only Wildcat to reach double figures.

Villanova went 32.8% from the field and a shocking 0-for-17 from outside the arc.

After coming off a tough offensive performance, the Wildcats headed to Rhode Island three days later for their matchup against Providence where they fell to the Friars, 82-76, in overtime.

In the defeat, freshman Maddie Webber scored a career-high 20 points, while Olsen chipped in with 18, junior Zanai Jones had 13 and Bella Runyan was the fourth Wildcat in double figures with 12 points.

“I think they just came in wanting it more,” Runyan said. “They crawled back one possession at a time and it was overwhelming for us, but I think it’s something that we can learn from because we’ve done that to other teams. We just need to know that every other team can do that to us, too.”

After the losses to Creighton and Providence, Villanova was in need of a Big East win, and Sunday against DePaul was its time to do that.

“When a loss happens, we don’t really do anything different,” Runyan said. “We want to stick to who we are because if we try to do different things, that’s where things fall apart.”

The Wildcats posted a decisive 95-64 win over the Blue Demons. Olsen led Villanova with 24 points, Webber was second with 18, while Jones contributed with 16 and Runyan chipped in with 10.

Who doesn’t love playing when you have nothing to lose?

“I love being the underdog,” Runyan said. “I think with this team, when we are favored, we get frazzled. Being the underdog has been helping us … so I think playing UConn will be good for the team.”

Coming into the matchup, UConn is eighth in the nation, boasting a 17-4 record (9-0 Big East).

The Huskies are led by redshirt junior Paige Bueckers, who is averaging 20 points this season after missing her junior season with a knee injury. Senior Aaliyah Edwards averages 16.7 points and 8.4 rebounds for UConn.

“As the year goes on, Paige is bringing her teammates along with her. … The team just keeps getting better,” Dillon said. “They’re putting up the numbers necessary, so we just need to rely on our players to step up, recognize the greatness, respect what UConn has done, and just face that challenge so we can get better.”

No. 15 Notre Dame upset UConn, 82-67, on Saturday.

“I love playing UConn, especially at home,” Runyan said. “This is a game we can go in and be ourselves and put up a fight. We really have nothing to lose.”

In college basketball, home court advantage holds a lot of weight — especially when the home court is right on your own campus.

“Just the environment we have here [at Villanova], the fan base, it’s been tremendous,” Dillon said. “I think the growing attendance is based on the product you put out on the floor. … It’s about getting people to the games and then keeping them here and having them wanting to come back for more.”

In the 2022-23 season, Villanova fell to UConn in front of a sold out Finneran Pavilion crowd. This was only the second time in Villanova women’s basketball history that it has played for a sold-out crowd. The first came in a 59-56 win over the Huskies on Feb. 28, 2004.

“After last year, the season we had, it helped people realize how exciting women’s basketball really is,” Runyan said. “Being able to see the Finn packed like that is honestly a dream come true.

Tip-off for Wednesday is set for 6:30 p.m.