Villanova’s tough season continued Friday night as the Wildcats suffered a third straight defeat in a 79-71 loss to Butler. The ‘Cats have now lost five of their last six.

The first half, well, it wasn’t very good.

It wasn’t all bad, as ‘Nova shot 52% from the field and 45% from three, clearly doing a decent job at putting the ball in the basket. However, despite those solid offensive numbers, the Wildcats still managed to score just 30 points and to trail by 10 at the half.

How?

Well, there are a couple of places we could start. For continuity’s sake, let’s stick at the offensive end. While ‘Nova was having success putting the ball in the basket, the ‘Cats weren’t getting enough opportunities to do so. Why? Turnovers, again. The ‘Cats had almost as many turnovers (8) as made field goals (11). Those eight miscues led to 10 Butler points. Villanova managed 21 shot attempts while Butler had 29.

Meanwhile, things were even worse at the other end of the floor. Butler shot 59% in the first half, powered by 12-15 on two-point attempts. Of those 15 attempts, 10 of them were layups, all of which were converted. Butler outscored ‘Nova in the paint 24-12. The Bulldogs shot 36% from beyond the arc, but that number is actually respectable after accounting for the fact that they started 0-5 and 1-9 from beyond the arc. ‘Nova also forced just two Butler turnovers.

The result was a 10-point deficit.

Villanova came out in the second half looking like a completely different team. The ‘Cats held Butler scoreless for the first 6:45 of the half and didn’t allow a field goal for the first 7:45. As a result, ‘Nova scored the first 14 points of the period and turned that 10-point deficit into a four-point lead.

“I thought we came out, we had some fire to start the half,” Kyle Neptune said.

“I thought we played harder, I thought we played a little more inspired,” Neptune added. “That first couple minutes of the half was amazing, that’s how we gotta play for a full 40 minutes.”

The lead was pushed to five until a 10-5 Butler run tied things up with 9:48 to play. ‘Nova responded with five straight points to re-establish the five-point advantage with 8:51 to go. The teams traded blows briefly, with ‘Nova holding Butler off as best it could, clinging to a two-point lead with 5:40 left. It was then that the wheels fell off.

It started with a 7-0 run for Butler to put the Bulldogs up five. A Caleb Daniels layup broke the run, but Butler scored the next two baskets to extend the push to 11-2, leaving ‘Nova trailing by seven with just 1:47 to go. ‘Nova would get no closer than five the rest of the way, while Butler would lead by as many as 10 before taking the eight-point win. Overall, Butler closed the game on a 19-9 run over the final 5:40.

“I thought we were in a good spot, they made their run, unfortunately we couldn’t sustain it,” Neptune said.

In what has become a trend, Villanova once again came apart down the stretch, fumbling away a very winnable game. There were times late in Friday’s game where it looked like Villanova didn’t know what it was supposed to be doing or where three of the guys were doing one thing and the other two another.

Before we dig into the ugliness, let’s acknowledge the opening of the second half. It was as good a stretch as ‘Nova has played this season. The ‘Cats played strong defense, they forced turnovers (five over the half’s first 5:15) and they played smart, confident offense. Why they could only manage to play this way for seven minutes out of 40 remains to be seen.

Now for the less fun part. First, some quick hitters. Turnovers were again a major factor. The ‘Cats committed 15, leading to 21 Butler points. It’s way to many, and it’s just so uncharacteristic of Villanova basketball. The three-point shooting was also poor again, despite the solid showing in the first half. The ‘Cats shot just 2-11 (18%) from deep in the second half, falling to 32% for the game. ‘Nova also shot an uncharacteristic 70% from the free throw line.

But the story of the game is the continuing poor defense. It was egregiously bad on Friday. Against teams in KenPom’s top 150, Butler had only scored over 70 points four times in in 12 opportunities. The Bulldogs scored 62 against Penn State, 45 against Tennessee, 61 against N.C. State, 46 against UConn, 56 against Creighton, 52 against Providence, 51 against Seton Hall and 61 against St. John’s. In eight of their eighteen games entering Friday night, they scored 62 or fewer points. To give up 79 to them is poor.

The Bulldogs shot 57% overall, powered by 17-25 (68%) on two-point attempts. They were a perfect 14-14 on layups. Butler also shot a solid 43% from three. For the season, Butler has averaged 52% from two and just 34.2% from three. It averaged 69.4 PPG entering Friday night.

From slow closeouts, to going under screens against good shooters, to miscommunication on switches and screen coverage, to missed/blown assignments there were struggles all over the court. Just not the kind of basketball we’ve become accustomed to seeing, at either end of the court.

At-large NCAA Tournament hopes are toast. It’s all about looking for improvement and the development of the young guys at this point while hoping that Villanova is playing its best basketball heading into the Big East Tournament.

“We just gotta keep committing to our core values,” Neptune said. “We gotta play harder than the team we’re playing against, we gotta try to do it for a full 40 minutes.”

Villanova will look to stop the bleeding with a rare weekday afternoon game on Monday when it hosts Georgetown at noon.