Villanova, playing its best basketball of the season, hosted No. 9 and two-time defending champion UConn Wednesday night in what, whether those within the program would admit it or not, was impossible not to view as a measuring stick game. The result was one of the better, and wilder, college basketball games of the entire season.

After a heavyweight fight in which the teams traded blows throughout, fans were treated to a frenetic, nail-biting final minute that was as wild as you’ll see. When the dust settled, Villanova was the team that remained standing, claiming a massive 68-66 win.

“I was really proud of the way our guys came out defensively in the first half and then took a bunch of punches from them in the second half and down the stretch,” Kyle Neptune said. “I thought it was fitting that we got stops down the stretch, I thought that propelled us to the win.”

In the first half, Villanova didn’t play its best half of the season by any means. There were a couple egregious breakdowns defensively, several of which led to UConn layups, and the most glairing of which saw three Villanova defenders staring at each other as UConn drained an open three within an arm’s reach of the ‘Nova players. At the other end, several offensive possessions sputtered badly if the initial action was well defended, leading to forced offense late in the shot clock.

But the Wildcats battled and made more good plays than bad. For all the defensive issues, ‘Nova forced nine UConn turnovers and turned them into 10 points. There were flashes on offense as well, but two sequences in particular sent a jolt into the Pavilion crowd.

The first came with 7:09 to play and started with Wooga Poplar hustling down an offensive rebound. The ball found its way to Jhamir Brickus, who made a nice pass to a wide-open Kris Parker on the baseline for a dunk. The second spanned 30 seconds from 3:21 to 2:50, starting with a Tyler Perkins layup. Perkins then got a block on the other end, retrieved the ball and got out on the break, finding Parker for a layup that put ‘Nova up 25-23 and prompted a timeout from Dan Hurley. The Pavilion crowd roared its approval.

When the halftime buzzer sounded, the Wildcats held a 32-25 lead.

Jordan Longino opened the second-half scoring with a three to push the lead to 10, and while UConn clawed back within six, but a three-point play by Eric Dixon with 15:09 to play established Villanova’s largest lead of the night at 12.

Of course, you don’t become back-to-back national champions by folding when things get tough. UConn answered with a quick 6-0 spurt to cut the ‘Nova lead in half, extended that push to 18-7 to pull within one just over halfway through the period, and extended it further to 23-9…and suddenly the Huskies had taken back the lead with just under eight minutes to go.

But then it was Villanova’s turn to hit back. The ‘Cats scored four straight to retake a two-point lead, and now it was ‘Nova that was extending a run, stretching it out to 10-2 courtesy to huge back-to-back threes from Poplar and Dixon. The ‘Cats were back up six with 3:43 to play.

Back came UConn, however, and the Huskies had pulled within one with just over a minute to play, setting the stage for one of the wildest finishes you’ll ever see.

Villanova missed on its next possession, giving UConn the ball trailing by a point with 49 seconds left. A strong defensive possession from ‘Nova forced an Alex Karaban miss, but the ‘Cats were unable to secure the rebound, which went out of bounds off of ‘Nova. UConn would get a second chance at a potential game-winning shot with 22 seconds left.

Longino took it upon himself to snuff out that chance, blocking a Karaban shot. Kris Parker pulled in the loose ball, but was swarmed by UConn players before the officials called a jump ball. The possession arrow pointed to UConn. The Huskies would get a third shot at a game-winner, now with 18 seconds left. They would miss again. And again, the rebound would carrom out of bounds, again off of ‘Nova. With seven seconds left, UConn would get a FOURTH opportunity to hit a game-winning shot. That’s wild, and somehow things would get even wilder.

With three seconds left, Longino seemed to produce his second huge block of this ridiculous defensive stand. Instead, he was called for a fairly questionable foul. Karaban was heading to the line with a chance to give UConn the lead.

With the Pavilion crowd incensed at the call and worked into a frenzy by the incredible sequence it had witnessed over the past 49 seconds, Karaban stepped to the line amid a cacophony of crowd noise. He missed the first. The crowd roared. Karaban stepped back to the line, now with only the opportunity to tie the game. The decibels rose. He missed again. This time, ‘Nova was able to pull down the rebound and finally send the action to the other end of the floor.

After a timeout by ‘Nova, Poplar was fouled with just over one second on the clock. After making the first free throw, he missed the second, opening the door for one more nervous moment for ‘Nova Nation. But Karaban’s desperation heave from beyond half court bounced harmlessly off the backboard, and ‘Nova had somehow escaped with the win.

“If you’re a good team you’re gonna have to be in these types of games a good amount and our guys took on the challenge,” Neptune said. “I thought we were really good in the first half getting stops in stretches and in the second half they threw some punches, we knew they would, they’re a great team, but then I thought stops got it done for us in the end. And that’s what it has to be.”

That is what it has to be, and that’s certainly what it had to be Wednesday night. Interestingly, defense had been the calling card of the first two Neptune teams at ‘Nova, but this year’s team has fallen woefully short of the previous two teams so far in that area. But on Wednesday, in the biggest game of the season, it was the defense that got it done. And not just because of the four stops over the final 49 seconds. Holding UConn to 25 points in a half, as ‘Nova did in the first half, is no small feat. In addition, the ‘Cats forced 13 UConn turnovers and turned them into 15 points, winning that category 15-4. It had a significant impact on the outcome.

It was a measuring stick game for Villanova, and ‘Nova fans have to be thrilled with the results.