NEW YORK – Villanova’s Eric Dixon is the nation’s top scorer and the Big East’s top 3-point shooter.
Despite Dixon’s individual success, the sixth-seeded Wildcats are barely on the NCAA Tournament bubble heading into Wednesday night’s Big East tournament opener against 11th-seeded Seton Hall.
If they can beat Seton Hall, a matchup with UConn awaits the Wildcats (18-13), who enter their third conference tournament under coach Kyle Neptune. Villanova enters Wednesday with an NET rating of 53, one behind 19-12 Indiana and three behind 17-14 Cincinnati.
Villanova has wins over St. John’s, Marquette and UConn along with two losses by a combined nine points against Creighton. The Wildcats were trending in the right direction with three straight wins before blowing a nine-point lead in the final 3:43 of a 75-73 loss at Georgetown in the March 4 regular-season finale.
Dixon scored 24 points against the Hoyas and Jordan Longino added 17 but the Wildcats allowed the winning layup with five seconds left.
“We’re looking ahead, looking at whoever our next matchup is,” Longino said. “Hopefully, we’re going to crumble this one up and throw it away after we watch film and regroup.”
Seton Hall (7-24) took a five-point home loss to Villanova two weeks ago and ended the regular season of the second 20-loss season in school history on a six-game losing streak. Of the Pirates’ 18 conference losses, 11 were by double digits and they were held to 60 points or fewer 16 times.
“Obviously, they got a mismatch with Dixon,” coach Shaheen Holloway said of the fifth-year Villanova senior who scored 57 points against the Pirates in two games. “He causes problems for everybody. There’s a reason why he’s the No. 1 scorer in Division I.”
The Pirates ended their trying regular season with an 81-50 loss at UConn on Saturday when they shot 35.3 percent. It was the 17th time they shot under 40 percent this season.
Seton Hall is led by Isaiah Coleman’s 15.3 points. No. 2 scorer Chaunce Jenkins missed the final 13 games after sustaining a knee injury Jan. 18 against St. John’s. Coleman scored 10 points Saturday and scored at least 20 in 10 games, including 22 in the first meeting with Villanova on Dec. 17.
Dixon averages 23.6 points per game.
–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media