No. 14 UConn came to the Wells Fargo Center and poured a big bucket of cold water on the recent hot play of Villanova, earning a relatively comfortable 71-59 win over the Wildcats Saturday night.

“I thought they came out, set the tone, played the game on their terms,” Kyle Neptune said. “Hats off to them.”

The start of the game brought the intensity we expected, with the teams trading blows and playing within a possession of each other for the first six minutes before UConn was able to extend its lead to five. It would be Villanova that would land the first big blow of the game, however, using an 8-0 push to turn that five-point deficit into a three-point lead.

Unfortunately, the wheels would fall off for ‘Nova over the final nine minutes of the half. After a Mark Armstrong layup put ‘Nova up two with 8:57 to play, the Wildcats would manage to score just five more points the remainder of the half. Yes, Villanova scored five points over essentially nine minutes. As a result, UConn ended the half on a 15-5 run to take an eight-point lead into the break. All things considered, ‘Nova was fortunate to be down just eight.

The ’Cats shot just 39% overall and 20% from three. They also connected on just 4-7 free throws. Making matters worse, they committed eight turnovers. Inefficiency and turnovers are a recipe for disaster, and we saw the result over the final nine minutes of the half.

Defensively ‘Nova was okay, holding UConn to 45% overall and 27% from three. But the ‘Cats gave up four offensive rebounds that led to nine second chance points for the Huskies (second chance points 9-2 UConn). ‘Nova also got killed in transition, giving up 10 fast break points while scoring none.

The offensive struggles continued into the second half for ‘Nova. The ‘Cats scored just 11 points over the period’s first eight minutes, and over a 19-minute stretch spanning the end of the first half and start of the second half, ‘Nova managed just 18 points.

The result was a 15-point UConn lead and a dire situation for Villanova. As they have throughout much of the season, the Wildcats showed good fight, pulling within nine several times and even eight during a last-minute flurry. But it felt like Villanova’s best chance to truly get back in the game came in a sequence with just under eight minutes to go. Justin Moore missed an open three that would have cut the lead to eight, and then after a UConn turnover on the ensuing possession, Cam Whitmore was unable to complete an old-fashioned three-point play. UConn quickly restored the lead to 13 and would keep the ‘Cats at bay the remainder of the game.

“They’re just a good defensive team,” Neptune said. “They have their schemes and the things they do well, they get into you, they pressure the ball, they take guys away. I thought we had our chances.”

Ultimately, the offense was nowhere near good enough. ‘Nova shot just 36% overall and 25% from three. In addition, the ‘Cats did what you absolutely cannot do when you’re struggling to put the ball in the basket and are playing inefficient offense: they gave UConn extra possessions.

While the teams finished tied with 12 turnovers each, ‘Nova had more through the large majority of the game and UConn scored 11 points off ‘Nova turnovers. Similarly, the teams were tied in offensive rebounds with 10 each, but at one point it was 9-4 in favor of UConn and the Huskies scored 15 points on second chance opportunities. Again, these numbers evened out down the stretch as ‘Nova tried to make a push and sent UConn to the line, but the Huskies had significant advantages for the majority of the game, compounding Villanova’s dismal offense and helping UConn build a double-digit lead.

“I thought we forced them into tough shots, I thought they made some tough shots,” Neptune said. “I thought they got some timely offensive rebounds that helped them, I though they played with a sense of urgency from the start. They just did a good job.”

“I thought we had our moments in this game,” Neptune said. “Unfortunately, when you play against really good teams your margin for error is pretty low.”

The ‘Cats looked slow, both physically and mentally, for long stretches of the game. Whether it was fatigue or some other factor remains to be seen, but Villanova was getting beaten to loose balls, had open shots turn into contested ones by taking forever to get the shot off and generally failed to take advantage of openings that were being created by the offensive sets either by not recognizing them or by taking too long to make the correct play and exploiting the advantage.

The performance was nowhere near the level Villanova had been playing at over the past seven games, and the result was a sound defeat.

With the loss, Villanova finishes its first regular season under Kyle Neptune at 16-15. Any faint hopes of an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament have been put to rest and the ‘Cats know they must win the Big East Tournament if they want to go dancing this year.

They will begin that journey on Wednesday night against Georgetown.