A critical season for third-year Villanova coach Kyle Neptune is already off to a shaky start after the Wildcats fell 90-80 to Columbia at home on Wednesday night. The loss dropped Villanova to 1-1 and puts an early blemish on its resume as the program continues struggling to find its footing in the post-Jay Wright era. Fifth-year senior Eric Dixon led the Wildcats with 33 points, but Villanova struggled defensively against a Columbia team picked to finish fifth in the Ivy League.
The veteran-laden Lions got scoring contributions from nine players and hit 24 of 26 free throws while notching their first win over a Big East foe since the 2012-13 season. Columbia's 90 points were the most scored against Villanova since Butler scored 101 on the Wildcats in the 2017-18 season. Columbia ranked No.
217 at KenPom entering the night and hasn't finished above .500 since the 2015-16 season, making it just the latest embarrassing loss for Villanova under Neptune's watch. Last season, the Wildcats lost to Penn on Nov.
13 before also falling to Saint Joseph's and Drexel . Those confounding losses stood in contrast to wins over Texas Tech , North Carolina , Memphis and UCLA during an erratic non-conference slate for Villanova. Ultimately, the Wildcats were bogged down by those ugly defeats and finished the 2023-24 season 18-16 (10-10 Big East), missing their second straight NCAA Tournament.
. @CULionsMBB is COOKIN' 🤯 pic.twitter.
com/O0AjIVBtAY With the program missing the Big Dance in ba.