Villanova lost a second straight game after falling 70-60 to Virginia on Friday, dropping the Wildcats to 2-3 on the season. It was an all-around poor performance from the ‘Cats, and they have put themselves in a precarious position just five games into the season. Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from Friday’s loss.

The good

Offensive rebounding

There isn’t a whole lot of positive to take away from this game, but one area where the ‘Cats managed to perform reasonably well was on the offensive glass. They pulled down 12 offensive rebounds, grabbing 34.2% of their offensive rebound opportunities against a Virginia team that was only allowing opponents to pull in 15.3% of such opportunities, the seventh-best mark in the nation. Villanova converted those offensive rebounds into 11 second chance points, building an 11-1 advantage in that category.

The bad

Turnovers

Turnovers continued to haunt the ‘Cats. They committed 13 on Friday, turning it over on 21% of their possessions against a Virginia team that entered the game forcing a turnover on just 15.5% of opponents’ possessions. Consistently losing the turnover battle is not a recipe for success, and giveaways are particularly taxing when your offense isn’t explosive or efficient, which Villanova’s has not been.

The ugly

The offense

We mentioned the turnovers, and the offense overall was even more concerning. Villanova shot just 35% overall, 45% on two-point attempts and a dismal 28% from three. The Wildcats managed just eight assists and had only two players make more than three baskets: Eric Dixon (six) and Jordan Longino (four). Only six Wildcats scored through the game’s first 39 minutes, with Kris Parker becoming the seventh with a layup in the waning seconds of the game. It was a dismal offensive showing.

Three-point defense

Virginia came into the game as a respectable three-point shooting team (37.5%), but Villanova had the Cavaliers looking like the Splash Brothers Warriors. Virginia poured in 14 threes, hitting them at a 56% clip. The result was a 15-point advantage from beyond the arc, something that was simply too much to overcome. A few of them were tough shots, but far too many of Virginia’s 25 three-point attempts were easy looks. Villanova had no answer for the long-range barrage and appeared content to ride out the game plan rather than make an adjustment to counter the hot-shooting Cavaliers. Villanova currently finds itself ranked 310 out of 364 teams in three-point defense (39.7%).