Poplar scores 19, Dixon makes history, but Villanova suffers second-half collapse in Hartford | Villanova vs. UConn Recap

HARTFORD, CT—Eric Dixon continued to make scoring history on Tuesday, but his accomplishment was overshadowed by Villanova’s second-half collapse at the XL Center.

Villanova is also making history, but for the wrong reasons. The Wildcats suffered their seventh road loss of the season, giving them the fourth-worst away record in the Big East. They have only two road wins this season, and Villanova has not finished with less than three road wins since 2011-12.

UConn (18-8, 10-5 Big East) defeated Villanova (15-12, 8-8), 66-59, on Tuesday night. Wooga Poplar was seven-for-21 from the field for 19 points. Eric Dixon scored 17 points, while Jordan Longino added 13 points, including two threes.

Dixon’s 17-point performance pushed him past Bob Schafer for sole possession of fourth place in program scoring history. Dixon currently stands at 2,095 points in his college career.

Villanova converted 35% of its field goals and 36% of its three-point attempts.

UConn’s Liam McNeeley, who did not play in the first matchup against Villanova, led all scorers with 20 points. He scored 16 points in the second half, including nine made free throws.

Solo Ball and Tarris Reed Jr. both finished the game with 13 points. Alex Karaban, a junior from Southborough, MA, was held to just six points on two-for-six shooting.

Villanova led by as many as 14 points in the second half, but UConn went on a 23-5 run in almost 11 minutes, led by McNeeley, to take a 62-58 lead with 71 seconds left in the game. Villanova scored six points in the final 12 minutes of the contest, and it was outscored by 15 points in the second half. Poplar scored 14 of Villanova’s 25 second-half points.

“Unfortunately, down the stretch, they [UConn] just made plays, and we didn’t make them,” Villanova’s head coach, Kyle Neptune, said. “A lot of credit goes out to those guys. They played hard.”

UConn was 23-for-51 (45%) from the field, including only four-for-19 (21%) from behind the arc. The Huskies were just one-for-nine from three-point range in the first twenty minutes, but McNeeley and Ball carried the Huskies’ on this second-half surge.

The Huskies outrebounded the Wildcats, 35-29. They also finished the game with 38 points in the paint compared to Villanova’s 16 points. The Wildcats entered foul trouble in the key stretch of this contest with 12 total fouls in the final twenty minutes. UConn made 16 of its 18 free throw attempts, including 11-of-12 in the second half.

Coach Neptune discussed UConn’s defensive adjustments in the second half.

“They came after us,” Neptune said. “It was a press they hadn’t used as much. They did a good job coming after us, being physical, took us out of what we wanted to do.”

Key Takeaways

The Road Losses….

Villanova has won two of its nine road games in 2024-25. Only Butler, DePaul, and Seton Hall have worse road records in the Big East. The Wildcats have lost three of their last four away games and have been outscored, 660-612, on the road.

Lowest Scoring Second Half

The Wildcats scored 25 points in the second half, the lowest number of points they have scored in the final twenty minutes of a game this season.

Wooga Poplar Impressed Again

Wooga Poplar has impressed for Villanova in the last few weeks. With his 19 points against the Huskies, Poplar has now averaged over 19 points per game in his last six contests. He was 15-for-33 (45%) from behind the arc in that stretch.

Poplar is Villanova’s second-leading scorer with 15 points per game. He also leads the team in rebounding with 6.5 rebounds per contest.

The Road Ahead + WXVU’s Live Coverage

After winning three consecutive games, Villanova has lost back-to-back contests. The Wildcats will look to snap this losing skid on Friday against #16 Marquette (20-6, 11-4) at 7pm at the Wells Fargo Center. WXVU’s pregame coverage starts at 6:30pm in South Philly.