Villanova shows it’s not quite ready for this season to end with win over Colorado

In its victory over Colorado in the first round of the College Basketball Crown on Tuesday, Villanova played without Kyle Neptune’s job at stake for the first time in a long time. And it showed.

With new head coach Kevin Willard looking on, interim head coach Mike Nardi and the Wildcats dismantled the Buffaloes, 85-64, at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Eric Dixon finished with 22 points, surpassing Kerry Kittles (2,243 points) as the program’s all-time leading scorer with his ninth and 10th points, a 10-foot jumper in the paint that put the Wildcats up 15 with 3 minutes, 56 seconds to play in the first half.

“Being anywhere on that list is special,” Dixon said. “Being on top is even more special.”

Dixon, a graduate forward, also logged a career-high four steals, while senior guard Wooga Poplar finished with 24 points in a game Villanova led by as many as 29. After cruising past Colorado, the Wildcats will face Southern California (17-17) in the quarterfinals of the inaugural 16-team tournament on Thursday (9:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1).

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As strange as it is to see a team that fired its coach playing in the postseason, the appearance in the College Basketball Crown allowed Villanova to mark a few milestones.

The Wildcats (20-14) reached 20 wins for the first time since Jay Wright’s final season in 2021-22, and Nardi became the first former Villanova player to win a game as head coach of the Wildcats since Al Severance, who led the Wildcats from 1936 to 1961.

“I’ve grown up here,” Nardi said, “as a student, as a man, and as a player. … This is just an opportunity for me to give back.”

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In the win, 71 of the Wildcats’ 85 points were scored by players who will exhaust their eligibility once the postseason ends. Players with the option to return included sophomore guard Tyler Perkins, who logged nine points and eight rebounds on 3-for-7 shooting. Redshirt freshman guard Kris Parker scored five points on 1-for-3 shooting in 14 minutes.

Colorado finished with a 14-21 record after going 3-17 in the Big 12.

Next season’s team will look different than this season’s Villanova squad, both in roster composition and in style of play. In an interview on Fox Sports 1’s pregame studio show, Willard said the evolution of college basketball dictates that teams “change how you play, year-to-year.”

Villanova needs three more wins to claim the College Basketball Crown.

“They love to play basketball,” Nardi said of his players. “They wanted to compete, and they were excited to continue to play. This is just a great opportunity for them individually as well, to be able to showcase their talents.”