“Cats host Columbia Wednesday Night.”

VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Villanova Wildcats return to play Wednesday night at Finneran Pavilion, hosting Columbia at 7 p.m

This contest will be broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network, featuring Jordan Kent and former Wildcats head coach Steve Lappas. Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby will honor the radio audience from the sidelines.

Both teams claimed victories in their opening games on Monday evening.

Villanova pulled away from Lafayette with double-doubles in the second half Wooga poplar (20 points, 10 rebounds) and Enoch Boakye (10 points, 11 boards) for a 75-63 win. It was Nova’s 22nd^nd Back-to-back triumphs on opening night.

Columbia, meanwhile, rallied from a 12-point deficit to beat Loyola 81-78 in their opener Monday night in Baltimore.

Overall, Villanova finished with five players in double figures, including freshmen Josiah Moseley. The 6-6 forward from Round Rock, Texas, converted all five of his field goal attempts and finished the game with 10 points in just under 17 minutes of play.

“For a freshman to be able to come out and understand the game plan and execute it is (impressive) and it was kind of his calling card,” Villanova head coach explained Kyle Neptune. “He’s a guy who’s 6-6 or 6-7, an elite athlete who can finish at the rim, shoot the ball, make passes and make reads.”

“Something that sometimes gives newbies trouble is conceptually just understanding where to be defensively. Josiah did that and he had some timely completions around the rim. It was a great achievement for him.”

Villanova played without a redshirt senior forward Eric Dixon Monday night he served a one-game NCAA suspension for improper participation in the Portsmouth Invitational last April. He is expected to be back in the lineup against the Lions and enters this matchup with 1,499 career points.

A dozen years ago, Columbia beat the Wildcats 75-57 at the original pavilion. That was a year before Neptune rejoined the Villanova staff as an assistant coach.

One area the Wildcats want to improve is coaching basketball. They committed 14 turnovers in the first 30 minutes of play on Monday and finished the night with 17 turnovers.

“I thought our guys had calmed down,” Neptune said. “It was the first game so you don’t know how the teams are going to defend you. There isn’t much film to watch beforehand. You expect them to maybe play a certain way, and then they don’t play that way. You.” has to change at halftime.

“I give our boys a lot of credit. I think we’ve adapted well and calmed down a bit. We had a little more control (in the second half) and didn’t turn the ball over as much as we did in the first half.”

This is the second of three games Villanova will host at Finneran Pavilion this week. On Friday night, NJIT comes to town for a game that starts just after 8:30 p.m. (FS1).