Villanova wrapped up the non-conference play with an 86-72 win over Fairleigh Dickinson. The Wildcats will head into conference play with a 7-4 record.

Both teams came out scorching hot, leading to a tightly contested, back-and-forth first 12 minutes or so. It didn’t take long to set the tone, either. Wooga Poplar snagged the opening tip with a head of steam heading toward the basket and cruised in for a layup to open the scoring just four seconds into the game. Fairleigh Dickinson answered immediately with a three, and we were off and running.

Through the first nine-plus minutes of the game, Villanova had hit a scorching 7-of-10 shots. But Fairleigh Dickinson wasn’t far behind, hitting 7-of-11, and with the Knights connecting on 4-5 threes to Villanova’s 1-3, they had a 20-19 lead with 11:45 to play in the half.

“We knew they were tough and scrappy,” Kyle Neptune said. “We knew they had multiple guys that could make some shots. I thought they made some tough ones early, they also made some ones where we had a couple breakdowns and I thought they came out and set the tone with that and got some confidence off of that. Once they got some confidence, they got comfortable and made some more of those tough ones toward the middle of the first half. I thought as the game went we got some more stops, but I give them a lot of credit. That style has presented some issues for us that we have to continue to improve on.”

A 9-0 run from ‘Nova helped the ‘Cats finally open a multiple possession lead at 30-24 with 5:56 to go in the half. The ‘Cats were able to push the lead to as much as 10 before carrying a nine-point advantage into the break.

The hot three-point shooting from FDU and some ‘Nova turnovers were the main reasons for the game remaining as close as it did. The ‘Cats committed seven first-half turnovers and turned it over on 24.1 percent of their possessions despite the fact that the Knights entered the game forcing turnovers on just 14.8 percent of opponents’ possessions.

But otherwise ‘Nova was quite good offensively. The ‘Cats shot 41.7 percent from three and a scorching 84.6 percent on two-point attempts.

Aside from scoring the first basket of the second half to pull within seven, Fairleigh Dickinson never really threatened again. ‘Nova went to work methodically building the lead, which reached as high as 19 several times before settling on the final margin of 14.

It wasn’t the resounding victory some may have expected going into the game, but it was a solid performance and the outcome never felt particularly in doubt, especially after the first 10-15 minutes.

“I thought to start out FDU’s game plan, spreading us out, moving the ball, getting downhill and making some early threes definitely gave us some issues,” Neptune said. “Give our guys a lot of credit, I thought we weathered their initial storm and started to get some stops and got some easy baskets, got some stuff going in the half court as well. I think right now we’re in a decent spot, I think we can continue to improve defensively. I’m happy where we are offensively.”

Both teams cooled from three in the second half, with FDU hitting 33.3 percent and ‘Nova connecting on just 16.7 percent. But Villanova remained hot inside the arc, hitting 12-17 (70.5 percent) in the second half and 23-30 for the game (76.7 percent). After hitting 50 percent of their two-point attempts in the first half, FDU connected on just 36.8 percent in the second half.

‘Nova cleaned up the turnovers in the second half, committing just four. The ‘Cats were dominant on the boards, building a 38-21 rebounding advantage, and they assisted on 19 of their 30 made field goals.

“I think our guys definitely share and move the ball,” Neptune said. “It starts with Eric, there’s a lot of times he gets blitzed in the post, I think he’s been very unselfish. Also, Jhamir Brickus, he gets 10 assists. He could have easily had 15, 16 assists tonight. He’s a guy that is always making the right read. The guy next to me as well (Poplar) always making the right read. They’re so unselfish.”

As Neptune noted, Brickus had yet another solid game for the ‘Cats with 10 points, those 10 assists which matched a career-high, and four rebounds. Eric Dixon continued to be a scoring machine, pouring in 27 points. Poplar added 19 and four assists while Josiah Moseley chipped in nine and Enoch Boakye added eight with 10 rebounds. Boakye was a team-high +19 on the night.

One other interesting note: Wednesday marked Villanova first win this season when allowing the opponent to score 70+ points. It was also just its second such win in the last 16 instances dating back to last season.

The ‘Cats have built some momentum heading into Big East play, having won four in a row, including their best win of the year so far over Cincinnati. They’ll look to kick off conference play on the right foot when the host Seton Hall on Tuesday.