College Basketball

UPSET: Eric Dixon leads Villanova over Defending Champion UConn

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David Malandra Jr
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David Malandra Jr Sports Editor

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Published08 Jan 2025

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Radnor PA:  There is a certain feel when you get to take on the defending champions of College Basketball & that is what we saw on Wednesday Night as the Villanova Wildcats did battle with Number 9 ranked & 2-time defending champion UConn Huskies from Finneran Pavilion. Villanova came into the game off a blowout win over DePaul while the Huskies made their way to the Main Line off a win over Providence.

Normally this game would have been played at the Wells Fargo Center but tonight it would be on Campus for the 1st time since 1995 as the NBA scheduled the Sixers home simultaneously.

Lineup:

How the game went:
Early on in the first half, both Villanova & Uconn would have some good scoring chances and attempted to take control of the game but the defense would be the story. One of the plays in the first half was a nice dunk from Vilanova Enoch Boakye that cut the Huskies lead down to 2 at 19-17.

The Huskies would have a lead as high as 4 & the Wildcats would have a lead up to 5 at 30-25 & the Villanova would take a 32-25 lead into halftime.

Going into the second half what could both Villanova & Uconn do to take control of the game & The Wildcats would answer that question as they would get the lead up to 12 at 46-34, The Huskies spent most of the second half cutting the Wildcats lead & they would retake the lead on 3 pointer from Solo Ball for 57-55 lead with 8:38 left. The 3-pointers would be key for both teams down the stretch of the game as the Huskies needed the 3 ball which got them back into the game & the Wildcats 3-pointers were stopping whatever momentum the Huskies had. The Wildcats would have a lead of 6 with under 2 minutes left The Huskies would have a chance at the end to get it tied but Alex Karaban would miss 2 big shots & the crowd at Finneran Pavilion was sending that the upset was going to happen

The game would come down to the final shot & Huskie would have a halfcourt shot at the Buzzer & go wide & Villanova would pull the Upset & take down the 2-time defending champion UConn Huskies 68-66

 

How it sounded inside Finneran Pavilion for the final shot

This win for the Wildcats tonight I would say is the biggest one for Villanova Coach Kyle Neptune as you get to host the defending champions in your building and you get the win & also does help your resume down the road for a possible spot in the NCAA Tournament but there is a still a good amount of hoops that need to be played.

 

Postgame:

UConn Coach Dan Hurley:

Villanova Coach Kyle Neptune:

Final Numbers:

UPSET: Eric Dixon leads Villanova over Defending Champion UConn

What is next:

With the win, Villanova now goes to 11-5 & 4-1 in Conference play & will look to build on this win as they take on ST John’s on Saturday at Madison Square Garden while for the Huskies, this would be their first loss since the Maui Inviatiational & going to fix things as they take on Georgetown from Capital One Arena also on Saturday.