Villanova finally shows its best self in pulling away from Xavier for an 80-68 win

There was at least one event at the South Philadelphia sports complex on Sunday that wasn’t a Super Bowl viewing party.

It might have drawn a smaller crowd than the rest of the day’s events did, and there was as much kelly green as Villanova blue in the Wells Fargo Center stands. But those 8,462 fans in attendance chose to think about a team other than the Eagles for a few hours, and in theory they had a good reason to as the Wildcats prevailed, 80-68.

Here were Xavier and Villanova, tied at 6-6 in the Big East, fifth and sixth in the standings, respectively. The winner would take the lead in the race for the conference tournament’s last first-round bye.

In some years, fifth place in the Big East could earn an even bigger prize: an NCAA Tournament berth. That probably won’t happen this time, with fourth-place Connecticut now two games above the rest of the fray.

The gap felt even bigger during a 33-33 first half in which Villanova let Xavier (14-10) shoot 52.2% from the field, while Eric Dixon was a mere 1 for 4. But the score was tied thanks to Wooga Poplar’s 13 points.

» READ MORE: Villanova knows it’s now or never if it is going to turn around its season and get back into NCAA contention

The Wildcats started the second half on an 8-2 run, including two Poplar threes, and it seemed they might take control. They did not, and Dixon remained oddly quiet: just three attempts in the first eight minutes and change, and none went in. Xavier took the opportunity to turn the game back around, and led by 52-46 with 12 minutes, 38 seconds remaining.

What happened after that didn’t feel likely before it happened, but had always been possible — not just on Sunday, but all season. Tyler Perkins hit a three, then Dixon scored 17 of Villanova’s points in a row, starting with a three-pointer for a 52-52 tie and a driving layup for a 54-52 lead.

Initially, that didn’t stop the Musketeers from scoring at the other end. But Dixon kept at it, the defense finally stepped up, and the Wildcats broke the Musketeers’ resistance in the last 10 minutes.

“He only had four shots in the first half, but that’s just partially because we were calling some other guys’ numbers based off of them really having it going,” Villanova coach Kyle Neptune said. “You know, Eric Dixon, at some point is going to get it going. And once he did, he just kept [at] it.”

» READ MORE: These international athletes came to Philly for a college education. Now their Eagles fandom is ‘a way of life.’

That closing stretch produced what the hype man on the court, the DJ, and the camera people who focus on dancing fans all could not for the first 30: real energy in the crowd. The fans were there to see Villanova’s players win a game, not just sing the Eagles’ fight song at the next-to-last media timeout. They got what they wanted, and this time didn’t have to suffer from the late drama of recent weeks.

(Though they enjoyed singing, too, in case you were wondering.)

An optimist might look at how Villanova went from trailing 52-46 to a victory, and think the Wildcats could play like that the rest of the season. Anyone else would say they’ve been far too inconsistent to believe. They’d also likely point out that the 14-10 Wildcats’ next two games are Wednesday vs. Big East-leading St. John’s at Finneran Pavilion, then Saturday night at Providence in what’s always a tough road trip.

Barring a shock, a second straight season with no Big 5 teams in the NCAA men’s tournament awaits. Villanova isn’t the only one whose fans ask what if they’d played like that more often — St. Joseph’s, Temple, and Penn fans have in particular — but it’s still the highest-profile.

» READ MORE: Steve Donahue bears the burden of Penn’s longest losing streak against Princeton

The Wildcats have the talent to pull off that shock. Along with Dixon’s game-high 24 points, Perkins played his best game at ‘Nova yet, with 20 points including four three-pointers. Poplar had the best stat line of all: 23 points, eight rebounds, and four steals.

“He goes up and grabs ‘em — it’s really impressive for a guy his size,” Neptune said of the 6-foot-5 senior. “You look up and he’s, like, snatching [the ball] out of the air above the rim. I don’t know another guy like that, maybe Josh Hart, that we’ve had over these years that’s like that at that size.”

When a team with Villanova’s talent plays that well at both ends of the floor, it can play with anyone in the Big East. So, can this team?

“Something we’ve talked about over these last couple weeks is, really good teams get it done defensively in those moments,” Neptune said. “That’s where we want to be, and that’s what we’ve got continue to strive for, and I think our guys did that.”

It did not need saying that would have been helpful for the last four months, not least for Neptune’s future.