Villanova hosted Butler Saturday in the final home game of the 2024-25 season and the team’s most decorated senior, Eric Dixon, put an exclamation point on the festivities while powering the Wildcats to an 80-70 win with a dominant showing.

Villanova played a strong first half, particularly offensively. The Wildcats shot 55 percent overall and 50 percent from three and assisted on 11 of their 17 made field goals. Dixon (16) and Enoch Boakye (10) reached double figures in the half, while Jhamir Brickus added eight and Wooga Poplar dished out four assists. The strong offensive play helped ‘Nova build a lead as large as 15, but Butler closed the half on a 7-0 run to trim Villanova’s lead to eight heading into the break.

Villanova’s penchant for allowing massive runs immediately after establishing its largest lead of the game continued Saturday, as Butler began the second half extending its 7-0 push to end the half to 10-0 and 17-2, completely erasing Villanova’s 15-point lead five minutes into the period.

The Wildcats were able to prevent the Bulldogs from taking the lead and eventually used an 8-0 run to reestablish a nine-point lead with just over 10 minutes to play. They were able to push that run to 15-3 to build the lead back to 13 with just under eight minutes left.

The ‘Cats gave fans a bit of déjà vu after a 6-0 Butler run in less than a minute cut the 13-point lead to seven with 4:10 to play, but this time there would be no late collapse. ‘Nova was able to stem the tide and keep the Bulldogs at arm’s length and walk away with a 10-point win.

Dixon was virtually unstoppable, finishing with 34 points on 14-21 shooting (4-7 from three) to go with seven rebounds and three assists. He posted his fifth 30-point game of the season and passed Keith Herron for third on Villanova’s all-time scoring list.

“It’s been a ride,” Neptune said of his time with Dixon. “Watching him mature as a person has been unbelievable. It’s why you coach. He’s, along with Jordan, two of the best guys to come through here not just with their play, more importantly with who they are as people. High, high-level people. Just great ambassadors for our program and the university.”

Three other Wildcats reached double figures: Jordan Longino (14), Poplar (12) and Boakye (10). Poplar added nine rebounds and four assists. Tyler Perkins chipped in two points, eight rebounds and two assists.

Minus the 17-2 Butler run and a four-minute drought coinciding with Butler’s late 6-0 push, it was a solid performance for the ‘Cats. They led for 37:53, assisted on 17 of their 30 field goals and shot 51 percent overall and 43 percent from three while limiting Butler to 40 percent overall.

“Definitely proud of our guys’ fight tonight,” Neptune said. “We grinded defensively.”

“Our guys clearly did a great job offensively,” Neptune added. “We’ve got a lot of unselfish guys. If we get into space and can draw two and kick out we’re pretty good.”

It was a nice way to wrap up the home schedule and a nice home capper on Dixon’s phenomenal Villanova career.