There was plenty of uncertainty surrounding the inaugural College Basketball Crown tournament. Villanova quickly made one thing abundantly clear: it was taking the event seriously. By the time the dust settled, 'Nova walked away with an 85-64 win.

“This was a great opportunity for Fox Sports and for us to be a part of that and the Big East, and also for these guys," interim coach Mike Nardi said. "They love to play basketball and 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.”

The Wildcats used an early 9-2 run to open a seven-point lead five minutes into the game, and followed that up minutes later with a 9-0 run to push the lead to 13. After an 8-2 Colorado push to cut Villanova's advantage to seven, the 'Cats answered with a 13-0 run to take a 20-point lead with 2:40 to play in the first half.

There would be no patented 2024-25 Villanova collapse on this night, as Colorado would never truly threaten again.

The Buffaloes did manage to get the deficit to 15 by halftime, and scored the first basket of the second half to get within 13. That would be as close as they would get the rest of the way.

A 10-0 Villanova run pushed the lead to 24 with 10 minutes to play, and it would get as large as 29 before settling on the final margin of 21.

Under Nardi, 'Nova appeared to play looser and a bit quicker than it did under former head coach Kyle Neptune. While the 'Cats posted just five fast break points, they turned 13 Colorado turnovers into 16 points.

“This is a very special place that means a lot to a lot of people," Nardi said of his coaching debut. "For myself, I’ve grown up here as a student, as a man and as a player. Having the opportunity to coach guys like this who understand that and actually appreciate it means a lot to myself and I know it means a lot to all the former players and coaches. This is just an opportunity for me to give back.”

“We talked about it coming into this game, we had to have ball pressure," Nardi added about the turnovers and looking to score off them. "Our guys came out, set the tone with that. We were just trying to get stops and get out and share the basketball and these guys did a great job playing together tonight.”

Wooga Poplar led the way with 24 points on 11-17 shooting.

Eric Dixon was right behind him with 22, passing Villanova legend Kerry Kittles to become the program's all-time leading scorer. Dixon shot 8-13, adding three rebounds and four steals.

“There’s a lot of people that along the way have helped Eric, but he’s a guy that puts in the work," Nardi said of Dixon. "He’s a great teammate, he’s great to the Villanova community. It’s very special just seeing his progression and his development. Coming in and redshirting and believing in the process and each of the coaches putting in the time with him and him just getting better and better and better. He’s a pretty damn good player. It’s exciting to coach him and it’s also just fun to be around him, he’s a great person.”

Jordan Longino rounded out the double figure scorers with an efficient 13 points (6-9 shooting) while adding four rebounds and four assists while not committing a turnover.

Tyler Perkins had a nice all-around game, chipping in nine points, eight rebounds and three assists.

Enoch Boakye added six points and nine boards, while Jhamir Brickus chipped in six points and three assists. Kris Parker had five points and two assists.

It was a nice all-around performance from the 'Cats, who shot 53 percent while holding Colorado to 40 percent, committed just eight turnovers and led for 37:06.

Villanova will take on the winner of Tulane-USC on Thursday night.