City of Basketball Love

Ty Daubert (@TyDaubert)
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Philadelphia’s “Holy War” has been a crusade dominated by Villanova men’s basketball for over a decade at this point in time. And while Saint Joseph’s offered its best battle in years, the Wildcats continued their streak in this season’s matchup.

Following a tightly contested first half in which St. Joe’s brought early energy, Villanova jumped ahead in the second to roll to a 71-64 victory on Saturday evening at Hagan Arena, securing its 11th straight win over the Hawks and clinching a share of the Big 5 title with Temple.

“Take out the first 10 minutes,” first-year Villanova coach Kyle Neptune said, “I love the way we competed, especially defensively. We took a lot of shots from them, a lot of punches from them, and they came out really hot.”

Forward Brandon Slater dropped 19 points with eight rebounds while big man Eric Dixon had 16 points and 12 boards to counter an electric performance from SJU’s Erik Reynolds II. Wildcats guard Chris Arcidiacono directed traffic at the end, nailing a 3-pointer with 2:20 remaining to help put the game out of reach.

Reynolds had 27 points on 10-of-27 shooting for the Hawks, going 6-of-8 from 3-point range. 

Behind strong contributions from its veteran players, Villanova (6-5, 3-1 Big 5) overcame a three-point halftime deficit for its fourth straight win to climb back over .500 for the first time since it began the season 2-1. St. Joe’s (4-6, 1-2 Big 5), after a 29-point loss to ‘Nova last year and a lackluster beginning to the 2022 campaign, showed some spark before ultimately falling short against a more experienced and cohesive team. 

“I respect their upperclassmen,” Hawks coach Billy Lange said of Villanova. “I know, at the end of the day, we have to do a lot of things really well and right until we get to that point. … We’re not there yet. We’ll get there, but we’re not there yet.”

Both sides came out firing on a sold-out Hawk Hill, letting it launch from 3-point range to begin the game. Villanova’s first eight field goals came from beyond the arc, Slater leading the way with nine first-half points on 3-of-4 shooting from deep. 

Reynolds opened the game with a 3-pointer for St. Joe’s, only starting off a huge game for the sophomore guard. He scored 11 points in a back-and-forth first half with three 3s, the last of which beat the buzzer to send the Hawks into the locker room with a 35-32 lead and some momentum heading into the break.

“He’s just a really special player,” Neptune said of Reynolds. “We’ve played a lot of good guards this year, and he’s as good as any of those guys. The way he shoots the ball, obviously … he literally does everything. That’s the hardest possible scenario for us and for any team. He just does a great job.”

SJU extended its lead to six points to start the second, but the Wildcats responded with a quick run to go on top. Dixon drove to the basket and scored to put Villanova up by five points with 12 minutes to go, then Slater rattled off a personal 5-0 stretch to make it 58-48.

The Hawks stayed nearby behind Reynolds, but couldn’t surround him with enough help to go back in front. Fellow guards Cameron Brown (eight points on 3-for-15 shooting and Lynn Greer III (14 points on 4-for-16 shooting) struggled to convert on easy and difficult attempts alike as the Wildcats made an adjustment to take away the 3-ball and force St. Joe’s to beat them inside the arc. 

“They force you to try to make tough shots,” Lange said. “They do it a lot. … And you’re gonna have to make some shots, and we didn’t make enough of them.”

As time winded down, Villanova made the key plays down the stretch to come away victorious. With just over three minutes left, Jordan Longino hit a tough turnaround mid-range jumper to put the Wildcats up six. ‘Nova then forced a turnover on Greer, leading to a 3-point attempt from Dixon. Villanova’s Caleb Daniels corralled the miss and kicked out to Arcidiacono, who connected for three of his 14 points to put the Wildcats up 66-57. 

“He knows exactly what we expect of him,” Neptune said of Arcidiacono. “He always comes out and tries to execute.”

SJU couldn’t recover after the shot, forced to play the fouling game against Arcidiacono and Villanova. The Hawks certainly competed, but failed to execute in the same way as the WIldcats in the most important moments. 

With the win, Villanova officially tied Temple in Big 5 play to claim a share in the city series championship for a leading 29th time. The Wildcats had won the previous two Big 5 championships outright in 2019-20 and 2021-22, making it three straight seasons with at least a share for the program. (There was no Big 5 champion in 2020-21 as Penn did not hold a season.)

“It’s great,” Neptune said of grabbing a share of the title in his first season as head coach. “Any time you win a championship at any level, it’s always a special thing. Especially college basketball — you win a championship, it’s a special thing.”

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Up next 

Villanova opens up conference play in its next game, taking on St. John’s in a Big East matchup on Wednesday at Finneran Pavilion. St. Joe’s, on the other hand, hosts Sacred Heart in a non-conference game on Monday at Hagan Arena.