For the second time this season, Villanova found itself looking to bounce back from a disappointing loss. This time, the Wildcats couldn’t get the needed victory, falling to Virginia 70-60 Friday night.

“Lot of credit goes to Virginia, they really defended at a high level,” Kyle Neptune said. “They made it hard to score and then they made some timely threes. I thought they were really organized offensively, they weren’t really affected by our press, they moved the ball really well.”

Things started out well enough for the ‘Cats. After Virginia opened the scoring, ‘Nova ripped off a 9-0 run to establish an early cushion. That was about the end of the positives for Villanova, however.

The Cavaliers answered by scoring 18 of the next 20 points, flipping a seven-point deficit into a nine-point lead. Villanova suffered through a 1-11 shooting stretch and produced a nearly six-and-a-half-minute drought. Virginia’s advantage would grow as large as 12 before Villanova ended the half on a 7-0 run, capped by an Eric Dixon four-point play, to cut the deficit to five and give the ‘Cats a bit of momentum heading into the break.

Any hope of that momentum carrying over into the second half was quickly dashed. Virginia scored the first basket of the period, and after the teams traded buckets for the first three minutes Virginia landed the knockout blow. Over a five-minute stretch, the Cavaliers ripped off an 11-0 run to blow the game open and extend their lead to 17. It was Villanova’s second 5+ minute drought of the game. Villanova would never truly threaten again, not getting within single digits the rest of the game.

Villanova was poor at both ends of the court.

Offensively, the Wildcats shot just 35% overall, 45% on two-point attempts and an abysmal 28% from three. They continued to be plagued by turnovers, committing 13 and turning it over on 21% of their possessions despite Virginia entering the game forcing turnovers on only 15.5% of opponents’ possessions. Meanwhile, the ‘Cats finished with just eight assists.

“I thought we did have some early shots that we missed,” Neptune said. “But I think one thing that’s hurt us is ball movement and turnovers. I think our guys are still learning each other, gotta get more cohesive. But that’s hurting us in key moments.”

Things were arguably worse defensively. Virginia shot 51% overall and rained threes on the Wildcats throughout the game, finishing with 14 made threes at an impressive 56% clip. The Cavaliers had a 15-point advantage from beyond the arc.

“They just got a lot of options,” Neptune said. “With their size and shooting, it’s hard to contest those. I thought some guys made some that don’t normally make them early, I thought that gave them some confidence. I thought they made some tough ones that gave them some confidence.”

There’s no way to sugarcoat it. It was a bad performance, and Villanova’s season is already in a precarious position just five games in.

“Obviously we gotta get better,” Neptune said. “Virginia’s a good team. There’s no shame in going into that game and not getting the results we want. But I think there’s a lot of things we have to get better at.”