Maybe it was the fact that the sportsbooks had Villanova favored by 30+ points. Maybe it was the fact that Le Moyne had just lost to Georgetown by 37. Maybe it was the fact that ‘Nova got off to a slow start and Le Moyne led by a point with 8:41 to play in the first half. Whatever the case, Villanova earned one of the least…convincing(?)…encouraging(?)…exciting(?)…26-point wins you’ll ever see.

That’s not to knock the effort. In the increasingly competitive college basketball landscape, a 26-point win is nothing to scoff at, regardless of opponent or circumstance. And Villanova did some good things. It limited Le Moyne to 36% shooting. It dominated the glass, 44-28. It doubled Le Moyne up in second-chance points, 14-7. It assisted on 17 of 28 made field goals. But the entire thing just lacked any juice.

Perhaps that had something to do with it being just Le Moyne’s second game as a Division I program or maybe it was because of the upcoming schedule, which includes a Big 5 game against Penn followed by a Gavitt Games clash with Maryland before a trip to the Bahamas for the holiday week. Or maybe Le Moyne itself deserves some credit.

The Dolphins came out unintimidated and undeterred. They jumped out to an 8-4 lead and led 18-15 at the 11:31 mark, 20-17 at 10:40 and 23-22 at 8:41. With all the factors we mentioned above, that was not a position the Nova faithful expected to be in, and perhaps the result was some stunned silence and unexpected concern.

‘Nova struggled at both ends through those first 11 minutes. The three-point defense was particularly porous, while the team had difficulty putting the ball in the hoop offensively. However, after Le Moyne took that 23-22 lead, things changed in a big way.

The Wildcats connected on seven straight shots while Le Moyne suffered through a three-plus minute drought. The result was a 13-0 run for the ‘Cats. The Dolphins broke the run with 4:35 to play in the half, but ‘Nova ultimately ended the period on a 26-11 push to take a comfortable 14-point lead into the break.

Coach Neptune felt that the turnaround started on the defensive end.

“I thought towards the back end of the first half is when we got stops,” Neptune said. “That’s what we want our identity to be, a team that gets stops.”

The second half was much better for the ‘Cats. After Le Moyne shot 46% from three in the first half, it hit just 25% in the second. The Dolphins hit just 28% overall in the second half and scored just 23 points. Powered by the improved defense, the Wildcats were able to add 12 to the margin and cruise to the 83-57 win.

Justin Moore led the way with 21, while Brendan Hausen contributed a career-high 18 on 6-8 three-point shooting. TJ Bamba (15) and Tyler Burton (10) rounded out the double-figure scorers for 'Nova. Burton had a double-double, grabbing 13 rebounds. Mark Armstrong added nine while Jordan Longino had seven.

Next up is a trip to Penn on Monday.