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Year three of the Kyle Neptune Era has officially begun. On Monday night, the Villanova Wildcats took on the Lafayette Leopards without Preseason All-Big East First Team selection, Eric Dixon. Although Dixon was sorely missed, Miami transfer and Philadelphia native Wooga Poplar would carry Villanova to a 75-63 victory over the Leopards.
Photo: Villanova Men's Basketball (@NovaMBB on Twitter)
With 20 points and 8 rebounds, Poplar stood out in his first game, scoring 5 of Villanova’s first 7. However, Villanova struggled in the first half with 9 turnovers, uncharacteristic of their top-40 ball security in 2023-24. The Wildcats nearly doubled their 14.7% 2023-24 turnover rate, giving the ball away at a 26.3% clip. Lafayette could not capitalize off of these turnovers, however, with only 7 points off of Villanova’s giveaways.
The ‘Cats took a while to get going, leading by just 1 at the half, but gained some distance early in the second half. They never truly ran away with the game, but started to pull away at around the 16:40 mark when Wooga hit a pull-up 3 to make it 35-34 Nova. Villanova never looked back from there, with Villanova’s largest lead of the game reaching 13 points.
Villanova relied heavily on their transfers, with 44 minutes from the returning Longino and Njoku. Enoch Boakye was huge on the boards for this team, ending the game with 11 rebounds, 10 points, and several big dunks. Jhamir Brickus was an unsung hero with 13 points, 3 assists, and phenomenal ball control despite 4 turnovers. Tyler Perkins, with 13 points, helped ease the pain he caused Villanova fans about a year ago when he scored 22 against the Cats in an upset win at the Palestra.
Freshman Josiah Moseley was also a key contributor for the Cats Monday Night, finishing with 10 points and 2 rebounds in 17 minutes of action. “I thought he had a little nerves in the beginning,” Coach Neptune said of Moseley. “But, you know, Josiah is a guy that does a lot of things on the floor, shoot it, handle the ball, can guard literally anyone on the floor, great passer.”
Moseley, the 2023-2024 Texas Gatorade Player of the Year, did everything for his team back in high school. The nerves definitely showed early as he recorded 2 quick turnovers, but he settled in and ended up scoring the most points by a freshman at Villanova since current Pelican Jeremiah Robinson-Earl had 24 points back in November of 2019.
Poplar, a Philadelphia native, was happy to be back and close to home. Speaking on how it felt to play at Villanova, Wooga said; “It’s amazing. It shows how good of a place this is, and I’m just glad to be here and ready to get to work.”
The 'Cats will have to get right back to work as they take on the Columbia Lions in the Finneran Pavilion on Wednesday at 7 PM EST.