Xavier v. Villanova: Preview, Matchups, Keys to the Game

It feels odd to get this deep into a season and be playing a conference foe for the first time. Xavier and Villanova haven’t met each other yet this season and now they will play twice in three weeks. This one is at home at the Cintas and it could prove vital to Xavier’s goal to getting out of that dreadful 7/8 game.

Villanova is led by William B. Finneran Endowed Head Coach Kevin Willard. There was some contentiousness early on as to how well endowed the coaching pick had been, but that has been answered by now. Villanova had chugged under Kyle Neptune, but it has taken Willard less than a season to put things right. Nova is top 30 in most metrics and exactly 30th in NET. That has them somewhere around a seven seed right now.

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Nova’s five losses this season have come to BYU, Michigan, St. John’s, UConn, and Creighton. While that feels a little like pick the one that doesn’t fit, it speaks to how hard this team is too beat. They’ve played in a lot of close games, including two against Marquette and an OT game against Wisconsin, but they keep finding ways to win.

Team Fingerprint

Part of the reason that Villanova is so tough to beat is because they are back to playing incredibly slow basketball. If you recall those Jay Wright teams that take their time and work the ball around until they find a good shot, this team will seem familiar. They don’t shoot as well as those classic teams, but 36.2% from deep and 54.2% from two certainly isn’t bad. They are surprisingly bad (69%) from the line, but they get on the glass well and take care of the ball. It’s a very solid offense.

That seem things that makes Nova hard to beat also keeps their games close. They have won those because their defense is pretty good as well. It is not a defense that does anything incredibly well. They turn teams over some and don’t send them to the line, but teams shoot pretty well against them and get on the offensive glass well. They profile like a packline team that comes…

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Publish date : 2026-02-17 16:46:00

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