Villanova’s disappointing 2023-24 season came to a disappointing end Wednesday night at Finneran Pavilion in a 70-61 loss to VCU in the opening round of the NIT.

“A lot of credit to VCU,” Kyle Neptune said. “I thought they came out with a good game plan. Their length was formidable. I think they’re one of the longest teams we’ve played against 1-through-4. I think their length affected us. I give them a lot of credit.”

The first half lived up to the old cliché “basketball is a game of runs.”

Villanova struck first with a 9-0 run to open a six-point lead. VCU responded immediately with an 11-0 push, reclaiming a five-point lead. ‘Nova came right back with a 7-0 spurt, only to see that run matched straight away. From there the half closed with four straight from ‘Nova, five straight for VCU and then five straight for ‘Nova. When the dust had settled, VCU took a one-point lead into halftime.

There were two clear issues for ‘Nova in the first half: the three-point line and turnovers.

VCU hit 7-18 (39%) from deep while the Wildcats managed just 3-13 (23%). Meanwhile, after committing just a single turnover over the first 10 or so minutes, Villanova committed six in just over five minutes and seven in just over six minutes down the stretch in the half. VCU turned eight Villanova turnovers into 10 points.

“I thought in the first half they got out in transition a little too much,” Neptune said.

The teams played within a possession of each other through much of the second half before VCU was able to open a seven-point lead with just under eight minutes to play courtesy of a 10-0 run. ‘Nova responded with an 8-0 run to retake the lead with 5:35 to go, but VCU hit back with a 10-1 push to go back up eight with just 1:49 left. ‘Nova would get as close as five, but a pair of easy fast break baskets by VCU pushed the deficit back to nine with 43 seconds left and Villanova wouldn’t score again.

Villanova was outscored 14-4 over the game’s final 5:35 after taking that one-point lead.

“Obviously we’re not happy with these results,” Neptune said. “We’re gonna go back and work our behind off as a staff and the guys that come back next year, we’re gonna work our tails off to be the best Villanova basketball team we can be.”

The issues that defined the first half ultimately defined the game. Villanova was outscored by 15 points from beyond the arc, VCU turned 13 ‘Nova turnovers into 16 points and scored 18 points in transition. For too much of the game, the Rams were able to play to their strengths and were given opportunities to work around their weaknesses.

Perhaps nothing served to better punctuate the disappointment of the season than Wednesday night’s attendance, which was announced at a paltry 1,763.

“Obviously we didn’t have the results we wanted toward the end of the season,” Neptune said about the sparse attendance. “I get it, I get the frustration. All we can do as a staff is go back, put our heads together, we’re gonna come up with a great plan and we’re gonna push our guys as hard as possible in the offseason, we’re gonna recruit some great guys here and we’re gonna come back better than ever next year.”

Some in the crowd didn’t’ shy away from expressing their frustration on the way out of the building, with some sporadic “Fire Neptune” chants breaking out as the crowd departed. Asked about the chants, Neptune said he didn’t hear them, but then he paused and further addressed the situation.

“I get the frustration,” Neptune said. “We’re all frustrated, me included, I’m frustrated as well. Definitely not the end of the season that I wanted, our team wanted and the fans wanted so I understand the frustration.”

Despite the sour end to a second straight disappointing season, Neptune maintained an optimistic tone.

“I think we have a bright future,” Neptune said. “We have a great staff here. The guys that come back, we’ll get them better in the offseason. We have a great staff and people that support our program, so I think we have a bright future.”

“I think we got some guys that are coming back that are big time guys,” Neptune continued. “We got some young guys coming back that I think have a good future. We got guys coming in that we think can really help us. And then we’ll make some additions based off of need as we go. And we’ll have a great summer and we’ll come back next year. We have the type of program, the type of people here that are grinders, and we’ll continue to grind.”