Wildcats host No. 14 Cincinnati on Tuesday night

VILLANOVA, Pa. – After a short Thanksgiving break, Villanova returns to the court at Finneran Pavilion to host No. 14 Cincinnati on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. The undefeated Bearcats (6-0 overall) made their first appearance on campus since March 3, 2012, in their final season as a member of the BIG EAST Conference.

Tuesday’s matchup is part of the Big 12/BIG EAST Battle and will be broadcast nationally on FS1, with Alex Faust and Bill Raftery on hand to kick off the action. Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby will host the audio call on the Villanova Sports Network on IHeart (Sirius XM channel 380).

The Bearcats moved up to No. 14 in this week’s Associated Press poll. They rank sixth nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.00) and third in field goal percentage defense (.346).

“We look forward to the challenge of playing against an outstanding Cincinnati team,” said Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune.

The Wildcats defeated Rider 72-48 on Thanksgiving eve, took a day off for the holiday and returned to the Davis Center practice field on Black Friday. Villanova hopes to build on one of its stronger defensive efforts of the young season.

“We’re a work in progress,” Neptune said of his team, which enters December with an overall record of 4-4. “We try to get better every day. We had a few good days of practice and I think we can get a lot better on both sides of the ball. Our guys in the locker room know that and “We’re looking forward to getting better every day.

Tuesday night’s contest marks the sixth time the Wildcats have been part of the Big 12/BIG EAST Battle. In 2019, the Wildcats beat Kansas 56-55 at the Wells Fargo Center and won 68-64 at Texas the next year. In 2021, Baylor defeated Nova 57-36 in Waco, Texas. Before the Wildcats earned a 70-66 win over Oklahoma at Center in Neptune’s first season in 2022. Last year, Kansas State defeated the Cats 72-71 in overtime in Manhattan, Kan.

Villanova forward Eric Dixon His 25.1 points per game ranks second nationally. Green Bay’s Anthony Roy (27.2 ppg) was the only Division I men’s player to score higher Monday morning than Dixon, who led the Cats in scoring in each of the seven games he has appeared in so far ( he sat out). due to an NCAA-ordered suspension from attending the Portsmouth Invitational last April as part of his NBA Draft preparations.

In the win over Rider, Dixon added five assists with zero turnovers. He averages 2.3 helpers per mission.

“I think Eric’s trajectory has continued to improve over his time here,” Neptune said. “When he gets doubled – which he does a lot – he finds the open man.”