# 2014–15 Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team

The 2014–15 Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team represented Villanova University in the 2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Led by head coach Jay Wright in his 14th season, the Wildcats participated as members of the Big East Conference and played their home games at The Pavilion, with some select home games at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They finished the season 33–3, 16–2 in Big East play to win the Big East regular season championship. They defeated Marquette, Providence, and Xavier to win the Big East tournament. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 seed in the East Region. They defeated Lafayette in the Second Round before being upset in the Third Round by NC State. The Wildcats set a single-season school record for wins with 33.

## Previous season

The 2013–14 Villanova Wildcats finished the season with an overall record of 29–5, with a record of 16–2 in the Big East regular season to capture their Big East regular season title. In the 2014 Big East tournament, the Wildcats were upset by Seton Hall, 64–63 in the quarterfinals. They were invited to the 2014 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament which they defeated Milwaukee in the second round before getting eliminated by eventual NCAA Tournament Champion Connecticut in the third round.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Tony Chennault | 5 | G | 6'2" | 195 | Senior | Philadelphia, PA | Graduated |
| Nick McMahon | 12 | G | 6'0" | 165 | Senior | Colts Neck, NJ | Graduated |
| James Bell | 32 | G | 6'6" | 220 | Senior | Orlando, FL | Graduated |

### Incoming recruits

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Mikal Bridges SF | Malvern, PA | Great Valley High School | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Jun 25, 2013 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 83 ||||||
| Phil Booth PG | Baltimore, MD | Mount St. Joseph High School | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 170 lb (77 kg) | Jul 30, 2013 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 81 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2014 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved April 26, 2014. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| 11/04/2014* 7:00 pm, FS1 | No. 12 | Northwood | W 93–50 | | The Pavilion (6,500) Villanova, PA |
| 11/09/2014* 12:00 pm | No. 12 | Nyack | W 82–45 | | Wells Fargo Center (4,529) Philadelphia, PA |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/14/2014* 8:00 pm, FS2 | No. 12 | vs. Lehigh | W 77–66 | 1–0 | PPL Center (8,751) Allentown, PA |
| 11/17/2014* 7:00 pm, FS1 | No. 12 | Maryland Eastern Shore Legends Classic | W 81–44 | 2–0 | The Pavilion (6,500) Villanova, PA |
| 11/20/2014* 8:00 pm, CBSSN | No. 12 | Bucknell Legends Classic | W 72–65 | 3–0 | The Pavilion (6,500) Villanova, PA |
| 11/24/2014* 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 12 | vs. No. 14 VCU Legends Classic semifinals | W 77–53 | 4–0 | Barclays Center (8,465) Brooklyn, NY |
| 11/25/2014* 10:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 12 | vs. No. 19 Michigan Legends Classic Championship | W 60–55 | 5–0 | Barclays Center (8,093) Brooklyn, NY |
| 11/30/2014* 4:30 pm, FS1 | No. 12 | Delaware | W 78–47 | 6–0 | Wells Fargo Center (11,289) Philadelphia, PA |
| 12/03/2014* 8:30 pm, CBSSN | No. 10 | at La Salle | W 84–70 | 7–0 | Tom Gola Arena (3,400) Philadelphia, PA |
| 12/06/2014* 1:00 pm, FS1 | No. 10 | Saint Joseph's | W 74–46 | 8-0 | The Pavilion (6,500) Villanova, PA |
| 12/09/2014* 7:00 pm, ESPN | No. 7 | vs. Illinois Jimmy V Classic | W 73–59 | 9–0 | Madison Square Garden (11,617) New York, NY |
| 12/14/2014* 2:00 pm, FS1 | No. 7 | Temple | W 82–65 | 10–0 | The Pavilion (6,500) Villanova, PA |
| 12/20/2014* 1:00 pm, FOX | No. 7 | Syracuse | W 82–77 $^{OT}$ | 11–0 | Wells Fargo Center (18,369) Philadelphia, PA |
| 12/23/2014* 7:00 pm, FS1 | No. 7 | NJIT | W 92–67 | 12–0 | The Pavilion (6,500) Villanova, PA |
| Big East Conference Play ||||||
| 12/31/2014 2:30 pm, FS1 | No. 6 | Butler | W 67–55 | 13–0 (1–0) | The Pavilion (6,500) Villanova, PA |
| 01/03/2015 12:00 pm, FS1 | No. 6 | at Seton Hall | L 61–66 $^{OT}$ | 13–1 (1–1) | Prudential Center (10,701) Newark, NJ |
| 01/06/2015 9:00 pm, FS1 | No. 8 | at No. 24 St. John's | W 90–72 | 14–1 (2–1) | Madison Square Garden (8,565) New York, NY |
| 01/10/2015 4:00 pm, CBSSN | No. 8 | DePaul | W 81–64 | 15–1 (3–1) | The Pavilion (6,500) Villanova, PA |
| 01/14/2015 9:00 pm, FS1 | No. 5 | Xavier | W 88–75 | 16–1 (4–1) | The Pavilion (6,500) Villanova, PA |
| 01/17/2015* 7:00 pm | No. 5 | at Penn | W 62–47 | 17–1 | Palestra (8,722) Philadelphia, PA |
| 01/19/2015 9:00 pm, FS1 | No. 4 | at Georgetown | L 58–78 | 17–2 (4–2) | Verizon Center (13,872) Washington, D.C. |
| 01/25/2015 7:00 pm, FS1 | No. 4 | Creighton | W 71–50 | 18–2 (5–2) | The Pavilion (6,500) Villanova, PA |
| 01/31/2015 2:00 pm, FS1 | No. 7 | at DePaul | W 68–55 | 19–2 (6–2) | Allstate Arena (7,532) Rosemont, IL |
| 02/04/2015 7:00 pm, FS1 | No. 7 | Marquette | W 70–52 | 20–2 (7–2) | Wells Fargo Center (13,313) Philadelphia, PA |
| 02/07/2015 2:00 pm, FOX | No. 7 | No. 24 Georgetown | W 69–53 | 21–2 (8–2) | Wells Fargo Center (20,587) Philadelphia, PA |
| 02/11/2015 8:00 pm, FS1 | No. 6 | at Providence | W 74–68 | 22–2 (9–2) | Dunkin' Donuts Center (12,410) Providence, RI |
| 02/14/2015 6:00 pm, CBSSN | No. 6 | at No. 18 Butler | W 68–65 | 23–2 (10–2) | Hinkle Fieldhouse (9,231) Indianapolis, IN |
| 02/16/2015 7:00 pm, FS1 | No. 6 | Seton Hall | W 80–54 | 24–2 (11–2) | The Pavilion (6,500) Villanova, PA |
| 02/21/2015 2:00 pm, FOX | No. 6 | at Marquette | W 87–76 | 25–2 (12–2) | BMO Harris Bradley Center (17,961) Milwaukee, WI |
| 02/24/2015 7:00 pm, FS1 | No. 6 | No. 25 Providence | W 89–61 | 26–2 (13–2) | The Pavilion (6,500) Villanova, PA |
| 02/28/2015 2:00 pm, FOX | No. 6 | at Xavier | W 78–66 | 27–2 (14–2) | Cintas Center (10,250) Cincinnati, OH |
| 03/03/2015 9:15 pm, FS1 | No. 4 | at Creighton | W 76–72 | 28–2 (15–2) | CenturyLink Center (16,337) Omaha, NE |
| 03/07/2015 12:00 noon, FOX/FS1 | No. 4 | St. John's | W 105–68 | 29–2 (16–2) | Wells Fargo Center (19,161) Philadelphia, PA |
| Big East tournament ||||||
| 03/12/2015 12:00 noon, FS1 | No. 4 | vs. Marquette Quarterfinals | W 84–49 | 30–2 | Madison Square Garden (15,197) New York, NY |
| 03/13/2015 7:00 pm, FS1 | No. 4 | vs. Providence Semifinals | W 63–61 | 31–2 | Madison Square Garden (15,194) New York, NY |
| 03/14/2015 8:00 pm, FS1 | No. 4 | vs. Xavier Championship game | W 69–52 | 32–2 | Madison Square Garden (13,471) New York, NY |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| 3/19/2015* 6:50 pm, TBS | No. 2 (1 E) | vs. (16 E) Lafayette Second round | W 93–52 | 33–2 | Consol Energy Center (16,170) Pittsburgh, PA |
| 3/21/2015* 7:10 pm, TBS | No. 2 (1 E) | vs. (8 E) NC State Third round | L 68–71 | 33–3 | Consol Energy Center (18,762) Pittsburgh, PA |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. (#) during NCAA Tournament is seed with Region E=East. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Final |
| AP | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | Not released |
| Coaches | 12 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
*AP does not release post-NCAA tournament rankings