O my God! Villanova basketball’s journey to Rome’s Eternal City Tip-Off didn’t exactly end the way Wildcat fans expected.
The Cats opened their 2026-27 season with a frustrating 74-72 loss to former Big East rival Notre Dame on Sunday, blowing a 10-point lead midway through the game.
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But there’s a pretty good reason for Kevin Moss’s squad to feel football after the first game. Actually there are 20 of them.
Novak turned the ball over twenty-four times against the Fighting Irish, including an almost-impressive 15 turnovers in the first half. The Irish turned those mistakes into 20 points, which is a pretty good way to lose an otherwise controlled basketball game.
And somehow, it’s not just a turnovers problem.
The Beasts also gave up 17 rebounds, giving Notre Dame second and third chances on possessions that otherwise went away. Between the turnovers and their inability to clean the glass, Villanova essentially gave the Irish enough outside game-stealing opportunities to win little business.
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Here is the encouraging part.
Villanova shot 46.2% from the field compared to Notre Dame’s 35.4%. Willard’s team made more shots, despite 13 fewer attempts, held the lead for 83% of the game and was considered the better team for most of the afternoon.
He is quite encouraging to the team, still figuring out how to play together.
Of course, no one should be celebrating their 20th birthday or pretending to magically fix the repercussions. The customer is eager to clean up before the open house Friday against Holy Cross.
But the Wildcats also cut their turnovers from 15 in the first half to five in the second, which suggests some laziness could be corrected as this group gets more comfortable playing together.
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The game is 1. Stress is a pain especially with a number that is almost entirely new.
Villanova has already shown that it can do whatever it takes to win. Taking better care of the basketball and completing defensive possessions will go a long way toward turning those encouraging lines of “what we need to win” into actual wins.
It hurts to lose, especially when it comes against Notre Lame (ha(!)). But if Mos can clean up these two areas, there is plenty of what the beasts have shown in Italy.