Different defensive look quite effective for Villanova

Tuesday night, in a twopoint win over Seton Hall, Villanova hardly looked like the

No. 3 team in the country, at least from a defensive standpoint. The Wildcats allowed the Pirates to shoot nearly

56 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3-point range.

Hardly Villanova-esque numbers.

“We were missing on rotations, messing up on coverages,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said.

You can attribute that to the long layoff due to a pair of COVID-19 shutdowns that kept the Wildcats off the floor for almost a month, which is why Wright and his staff spent much of the last three days focusing on defense.

“Offensively you get one guy to get it going, but defensively, every time one guy breaks down it breaks down the entire defense,” Wright said.

Villanova’s defense returned to form in a 71-56 come-frombehind victory over Providence

Saturday afternoon at the Pavilion.

The Wildcats (10-1 overall, 5-0 Big East) limited the Friars to 42 percent shooting overall, 33 percent from 3-point range, forced 19 turnovers, which led to 17 points.

“Jeremiah (Robinson-Earl) did an amazing job on (Nate) Watson, moving on him, just