Villanova Men’s Basketball Gets Back On Track Against NJIT

Two days after suffering one of the worst losses of the Kyle Neptune era, Villanova Men’s Basketball got back on track by steamrolling the NJIT Highlanders 91-54.

Eric Dixon logged a double-double highlighted by 22 points and six offensive rebounds, playing just 26 minutes as Neptune rotated out his starters, getting more than a third of his minutes from players off the bench. Four other Wildcats managed at least ten points: Wooga Poplar, Enoch Boakye, Tyler Perkins and Kris Parker.

Both teams enjoyed hot shooting from beyond the arc, with the Highlanders making 10 of 25 such attempts; Villanova, 11 of 23.

Dixon scored Villanova’s first four points and nine of their first 15, showing his penchant for storming out of the gate. The Highlanders began on a similar scoring tear, taking a modest 11-6 lead in the first five minutes, aided by three threes in a 119 second span. Layups from Wooga Poplar and Jhamar Brickus closed the gap, then a five point outburst from Dixon cut the Highlanders down to size… and put Villanova ahead for good. A Perkins three made it 29-16, capping a 14-3 run for the Wildcats.

The Highlanders never found an answer. Villanova kept their foot on the gas out of the break, taking a commanding 59-29 lead with an 18-2 run in the first six minutes. The Wildcats backed off their defensive pressure with the game well out of hand, and NJIT made 50 percent of their shots in the second half, up from 35.71 percent in the first.

Villanova Men’s Basketball, now 2-1, begins Big Five pod play on Tuesday, November 12, facing St. Joseph’s at Hagan Arena with an opening tipoff at 5pm.