Villanova loses back-to-back games for the first time since 2013
On Saturday night, the Villanova men’s basketball team did something it hasn’t done in 2,085 days: lose two straight games.
Villanova, the reigning NCAA men’s basketball champions, lost 76-68 to Furman on Saturday night, three days after dropping a game to 18-ranked Michigan. While losses of any kind would be disappointing for No. 8-ranked Villanova, these two are particularly bad. Furman is unranked, and they lost in overtime. But the loss to Michigan is a gut punch — Michigan and Villanova faced off in the 2018 national championship game, which Villanova won. But on Wednesday, Michigan blew out Villanova 73-46.
According to ESPN, Villanova had been the only team not to lose back-to-back games since the 2013-2014 season — until Saturday night, anyway.
Those losses bring Villanova to 2-2. Villanova hasn’t started a season 2-2 since the end of the 1997-1998 season, more than 20 years ago. Steve Lappas coached that team, which finished fourth in the Big East with a 12-17 record. That’s not the kind of history the Wildcats are interested in repeating.
Is this a major reason for concern? It’s too early to tell. While a 2-2 start is concerning, the team has played just four total games. And while the expectations for Villanova are high, the team has taken some hits since winning the national championship back in April. Four players from that team entered the NBA draft, and redshirt sophomore Dylan Painter said on Friday that he would be transferring.
This isn’t the same team that took the court for the 2017-2018 season, and the two losses so far bear that out — an overtime loss to an unranked opponent, preceded by a blowout loss to the same team they beat in the national championship game less than a year ago. Only time will tell if Villanova is headed for a down season, but thus far, the signs haven’t been great.
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Liz Roscher is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on Twitter at @lizroscher.
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