PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Villanova University women’s basketball team will face a big challenge Tuesday night when No. 3 UConn visits the Finneran Pavilion.
The Wildcats have gotten off to a fine start under new head coach Denise Dillon. They bring a 7-0 record (2-0 Big East) into the game with the Huskies.
Dillon said players’ overall commitment to each other has keyed this early success.
“We have a great group of young women. They’re eager, they want to work, they want to see what they’re capable of,” she said, “because a lot of our returning players, they didn’t have a lot of experience. They want to prove now their time is here; they want to be on the floor and doing something for their teammates and for the team.”
The Wildcats are led by sophomore forward Maddy Siegrist, who has been phenomenal so far this season. She is averaging a Big East best — 24.4 points a game — while shooting 53% from the field. She also paces the conference in rebounding, pulling down 12.6 boards a game.
“Maddy, she’s just a workhorse,” Dillon said. “She has a no-stop mentality on both ends at the floor.”
UConn is one of the premier programs in all of women’s basketball. This season, the Huskies are 4-0 (3-0 Big East), and they have enjoyed an average margin of victory this season of nearly 41 points.
“We say it all the time of UConn joining the Big East again and coming back: To be the best, you’ve got to play the best, to continue to improve,” Dillon said. “And we’re going to see it early. With an inexperienced group, it’s definitely a great time for us to see what we have, what top national ranked basketball is, and where we want to go from here.”
Tuesday night’s game gets underway at 7 p.m.