City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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Sure, the Big East season is barely a week old, but once again Villanova finds itself atop the conference.

The Wildcats, with a Wednesday night win over Seton Hall, are the lone remaining undefeated bunch in the 10-team league at 3-0. But Jay Wright and his team are aware they are a long way from a third consecutive regular season title since the conference realigned.

The Big East may be the best it’s been in the three years since it downsized, and Villanova is going to be tested every time it takes the floor – especially when that court is not at the Pavilion or the Wells Fargo Center. On Sunday night, the Wildcats will suit up against No. 18 Butler at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse, and the Bulldogs are desperate for a win.

Butler (11-3), started conference play out with a pair of losses: home against No. 8 Providence and at No. 10 Xavier. The team bounced back with a midweek 77-72 victory over DePaul, but if the Bulldogs want to stay in contention for a conference title, Sunday's game is critical.

A win for Butler gets the team back to .500 and just one game away from first place. A win for Villanova puts the Bulldogs at 1-3 in the Big East, which would require a nearly perfect two months afterward to get to the top of the conference.

A victory at Hinkle Fieldhouse would be great for Villanova regardless, but a chance to issue a major blow to another contender to a Big East contender would be icing on the cake. It would also make the Wildcats 2-0 in their pivotal six-game swing against Butler, Xavier and Providence with two games with Providence, a road test at Xavier and home tilt with Butler remaining.

“You’re going to get it night in and night out,” Wright said of the league. “And I think that’s what we’re going to take from (the Seton Hall) game. There are nights when we’re not going to be making shots, and we’ll have to do other things. We’ll have to defend and rebound.”

Offense vs. Defense

The Sunday night matchup squares up the Big East’s best offense (Butler) against the league’s top defense (Villanova).

Villanova enters allowing just 60.5 points per game, a mark that is good for 10th nationally. Meanwhile, Butler comes in scoring 86.5 points per game, the eighth-best total in the country. The two will, in all likelihood, play a game between those two totals, and it’s not like Villanova lacks offensive firepower.

The Wildcats average 77.7 points per game and really have yet to turn the corner shooting-wise. That was on full display Wednesday against Seton Hall, as Villanova shot just 36.4 percent from the field and went just 4-for-22 (18.2 percent) from distance. In what Wright called a “classic Big East game” big man Daniel Ochefu was vital with 20 points and 18 rebounds.

But another poor shooting night might doom the Wildcats against the high-octane Bulldogs.

Butler, a well-oiled machine with the ball, shoots 49.5 percent from the floor, have six players that average at least eight points per game and four players – Kellen Dunham (15.5 ppg), Roosevelt Jones (14.3), Kelan Martin (14.3) and Andrew Chrabascz (12.2) – who average in double figures.