Villanova Men's Basketball
Villanova Handles Seton Hall 79-67 to Open Big East Play

Villanova Men’s Basketball opened Big East play with a win on Tuesday, Dec. 17, taking care of the Seton Hall Pirates 79-67 in one of the most complete games they’ve played all season.
The victory pushes Villanova’s (8-4, 1-0 Big East) ongoing winning streak to five games.
Seton Hall led 10-7 at the first media timeout, with all seven of Villanova’s points coming courtesy of Eric Dixon. Despite the torrid start, Dixon, who entered Tuesday’s game leading all of Division 1 with an average of 25.8 points per game, scored just two points in the next 23 minutes of game time… although he spent the tail end of the first half on the bench after committing two early charges.
Sophomore Tyler Perkins stepped while Dixon shot his way out of the uncharacteristic slump, nailing five of six 3-pointers off the bench on the way to a 17 point night, while Jordan Longino added 15 points and five assists. Secondary scoring has been a question mark for the Wildcats all season, but they were all hands on deck against the Pirates… and Dixon ended up finishing with 25 points anyway, catching fire toward the end of the second half.
Defense helped the Wildcats take control of the game midway through the first half, as Villanova employed a full court press that perfectly countered Seton Hall’s slow-moving offense, forcing them to rush to find looks with the shot clock bearing down on them. The Pirates made just 39 percent of their shots, although sophomore Isaiah Coleman put up 22 points and nine rebounds.
An Enoch Boakye free throw put the Wildcats up 37-26 with 1:35 to play before the half, but Seton Hall managed to stay in the game with a 10-3 run that lasted out of the break. A Longino three snapped the spell, and Villanova began to cruise from there.
Other highlights included a Boakye dunk off an inbound pass from Longino, beating the shot clock and the 5-second rule with an alley-oop slam.
Villanova will hit the road for their last game of 2024, taking on the Creighton Blue Jays in Omaha beginning at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 21. While the Blue Jays climbed as high as No. 14 in the Nov. 18 AP Poll, a three game losing skid knocked them out of the rankings.