Hey all...my apologies, a family thing came up at halftime of the game and I hade to run out and was unable to see the second half. Obviously can't do a write-up or any analysis under those circumstances.

Looking at the box score, a couple things stand out. Obviously, the three-point shooting, as Creighton shot 56% for the game and outscored Nova by 18 from beyond the arc. The other is the assist numbers for Nova...after assisting on a high number of their baskets the last two games, Nova managed just eight assists on 32 baskets Saturday. It didn't seem to inhibit the offense, as the Cats shot 50% overall and 40% from three, but an interesting shift in the recent trend nonetheless.

Here are some quotes from coach Neptune postgame:

“Hats off to Creighton. They did an unbelievable job. They had a great game plan, came in and did what they had to do. Scored the ball unbelievably, we just couldn’t get stops.”

“They’re a team that score a lot of different ways. They can hurt you inside and then they have great shooting from the outside. There’s really nothing they don’t have in their offensive package. They came out, they set the tone, they made some early ones. Some tough ones, but some that we wanted to take away that we didn’t. But I give them a lot of credit. They came in and made a lot of shots, especially early. I thought we had it going offensively as well, but we were just trading baskets and they outlasted us making shots.”

“I thought we got a lot of good stuff offensively. But I don’t know if that’s the best recipe just trying to outscore teams and not get stops. They shoot for the game 55% and 56% from three, that’s not a good recipe if you want to be a winning team.”

“We weren’t as connected as we need to be defensively. I don’t think it’s just one thing, it’s a million different details and they took advantage of all of them. They went to the offensive glass, they hurt us switching, they hurt us in the post. They did a great job.”

“They’re a complete team offensively and we didn’t do a good job of guarding them.”

Nova now gets an extended break before returning to action on New Year's Day at Butler.

A look at the good, the bad and the ugly from Nova's win over Seton Hall Tuesday.


Did we miss anything? Was there anything you were impressed with or concerned by that we didn't talk about? What did you like most about the performance?

A solid start to the conference schedule for the Cats.


Encouraging showings from Longino and Perkins. Dixon scores 25 even on an "off night." The ball is moving and the offense is humming. Has your opinion changed? Is there hope? What did you like most about the performance?

A few injury updates ahead of the Big East opener against Seton Hall.

Aleksandar Gavalyugov is out with a left ankle sprain (he's in a walking boot).
Nnanna Njoku is out with right knee soreness.
Malcolm Thomas is out with left knee soreness.

A solid, if unspectacular, close to non-conference play for Villanova.


Nova did some good things and was able to keep the positive momentum going heading into Big East play. How are we feeling heading into conference play?

Nova followed up Tuesday's upset of Cincinnati by trouncing Temple in the Big Five Classic.


Are they going the right direction? Is there hope for this season?

Credit where it's due, Nova got an absolutely huge win on Tuesday.


What impressed you most about the victory? Do you dare let it rekindle hope? Where does the win rank among the biggest of the Neptune era?

Nova got back in the win column and back to .500 with an easy win over Rider.

What are we thinking about Eric Roedl as new AD?

I don't know a ton about Roedl, but I like that he's a Nova grad and has an understanding of the uniqueness of Villanova combined with extensive experience at a big, athletically-oriented state school. I think that's a mix that will be important. I think it was important to step out of house for this hire, and doing so while bringing someone with knowledge of the house was a good move in my opinion. Roedl will obviously have a big, important decision to make very early into his tenure, and how that is approached and what is ultimately decided will be telling.

Anyone more familiar with Roedl? Are optimistic on the hire? Or disappointed/concerned?

Nova squandered a wonderful first-half performance in a heartbreaking one-point loss to Maryland on Sunday.


What do we think? Encouraged by the first half and/or by sticking right with a pretty good Maryland team? Discouraged by the inability to play consistently/poor execution in crunch time/ongoing issues in close games?

Desperate for a positive performance, the Cats delivered in a big way Tuesday night.


Obviously, any takeaway from this game needs to consider the opponent. Still, there were a lot of good things and the Cats were truly dominant. What did you like the most about the performance? Did it restore any hope for you or produce any shift on your outlook for the season?

Cats drop second in a row, dip below .500.


Not a whole lot to say here, just a really poor performance on both ends of the floor.

The good, the bad and the ugly from an overall poor performance against Virginia.

NCAA ridiculousness.

Nova suffers another sub-100 KenPom loss.


Is the season cooked four games in?

The Cats have suffered yet another debilitating early-season loss. Here's the good, the bad and the ugly from the discouraging defeat.


Is there anything we missed? Were we too optimistic or pessimistic?

Here are the player grades from Friday's win.


Anyone too high? Too low?

Villanova desperately needed a resounding win, and that's exactly what it got on Friday night.


How much can we take from this game? How much was improvement and how much was the result of playing an inferior opponent? Did this performance restore any kind of confidence or hope? Or is it simply a band-aid in the form of a fortuitously placed matchup on the schedule?

Villanova released a statement updating the status of freshman Matthew Hodge, who has been sitting out due to an eligibility issue with the NCAA.


On one hand, this sounds like more classic NCAA nonsense. But you also have to wonder how Villanova didn't get out ahead of this. Regardless, yet another issue for a program that doesn't not need it.

It certainly was not a banner night at the Pavilion Wednesday night. Here are the player grades from a disastrous result.


Are we too high on any player? Too low?

Well, that wasn't great.


Are you taking any positives away at all? Any negatives we missed?

The first game of the season, combined with the fact that Villanova was integrating a lot of new pieces, naturally led to some ups and downs. Here's a look at the good, the bad and the ugly from the season-opening win over Lafayette.


What did you think were the highs and lows from the team's first showing of 2024-25?

Welp, that was unexpected.


How bad do you think it is? Can the team bounce back?

Assigning player grades for Monday's win over Lafayette.


Do you agree with our assessment? How would you grade the players for Monday's showing?

The new-look Cats got off to a good start, even if the game didn't play out the way many expected.


What did you think of the game? Did it leave you encouraged or discouraged?