College Basketball

Wooga Poplar leads Villanova to Upset win over Number 9 St John’s

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David Malandra Jr Sports Editor

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Published12 Feb 2025

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Radnor PA:  We are at the point in the College Basketball season where the games are getting more important and a lot on the line and that is what we saw on Wednesday night as the Villanova Wildcats would do battle with number 9 ranked St John’s Red Storm from Finneran Pavilion. Villanova comes into the game off a win over Xavier while St John’s made their way to the Main Line off a win over Uconn for their 10th straight conference win.

Lineup:

 

During the game, Villanova would honor the Philadelphia Eagles for their win in Super Bowl LIX & Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio was in attendance for the game

 

 

How the game went:
In the first half, Both Villanova & St John’s would have some good scoring chances to take control of the game & it would be one of those physical Big East games that you know you’re going to be in a battle the entire game. The other story in the half was the three-point attempts that the Red Storm would be taking as they attempted 21 three-pointers and the Wildcats were able to hang with the Red Storm. Woopa Poplar would have it going in the 1st half especially this nice drive to the basket

 

Villanova would take a 34-32 lead into halftime and based on what we saw, this game would come down to the final shot. The Red Storm would come out to a 5-0 run for the 37-34 lead & then Villanova responded with a 6-0 run, resulting in back-to-back 3 as the Wildcats retook the lead at 42-39 with 17:16 left. The Wildcats would have a 11 point lead at 59-48 with 9:56 left & then the game would change as ST John’s would go on a 13-0 run which saw them retake the lead at 60-59 & then Villanova responded with Back to Back 3 pointers made from Eric Dixon. St John’s would hang around & take the lead on 3 from Simon Wilcher with 27.3 left for a 71-70 lead & Villanova would have a final shot chance to win the game.

The game would come down to the final seconds as Villanova Tyler Perkins would hit a monster 3-pointer for a 73-71 lead & the crowd at Finneran Pavilion would lose their minds in how the Wildcats were able to respond from watching the Red Storm retake the lead.

St John’s would have a final chance at the buzzer and it would come up short & Villanova would pull the upset & takedown Number 9 St John’s 73-71

 

Interesting stat from the game, This is the 3rd time this season that Villanova has taken down a ranked team inside Finneran Pavilion, the other 2 ranked wins were Cincinnati & Uconn & this is also the first time that Villanova has defeated 2 teams ranked in the Top 10 at Home.

Postgame:

Villanova Kyle Neptune :

 

Villanova Tyler Perkins:

Final Numbers:

 

What is next:
With this win tonight, Villanova has put itself back in the talks for a possible bid in the NCAA Tournament. The team will continue to build on this win as it heads on the road for a Battle with Providence on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Red Storm will attempt to fix the mistakes that were made & see their 10-game Big East winning streak end as they take on Creighton on Sunday at Madison Square Garden.