Two Villanova athletes earned All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships held over the weekend in Nampa, Idaho.

Sophomore Samuel McEntee captured fourth place in the mile but his time of 4 minutes, 1.91 seconds was only .25 seconds off the winning time. His finishing 400-meter split of 54.95 seconds topped the field.

Senior Shericka Ward finished seventh in the final of the 60-meter hurdles. Her time of 8.16 seconds matched her qualifying time.

Sophomore Emily Lipari clocked a time of 4:44.66 in her qualifying heat of the women's mile but did not qualify for the final. The men's distance medley team did not finish its race after being involved in a collision late in the first leg.

--Joe Juliano

There may be people who feel that Villanova has a good chance Wednesday night in the second round of the Big East tournament against South Florida, believing that the Wildcats would not lose three times in the same season to the Bulls.

Well, that got us to thinking: How have the Wildcats done when they’ve had a third meeting in the same season against a Big East rival when they’ve either won or lost the first two games they’ve played?

Since Villanova joined the Big East in 1980-81, that situation has happened 25 times.

On 12 of those occasions, the Wildcats posted a two-game sweep of a season series against an opponent they also saw in the tournament. They’ve won the third game eight times and lost it four times, including the epic 83-80 triple-overtime loss to Syracuse in the 1981 championship game at the Carrier Dome.

The Wildcats dropped both games of a season series against an opponent they saw in the tournament on 12 occasions. Nine times they lost the third matchup and three times they won it.

The lone instance that the third meeting of a season did not happen in the Big East tournament is the one that Nova fans remember the best. Georgetown swept the Wildcats in the 1985 season series, but Villanova came back and defeated the Hoyas in the national championship game.

How this all fits in with trying to figure out Wednesday night’s result is a mystery. But the fact is the Bulls (19-12),who are fighting for their NCAA tournament lives, took care of Villanova rather handily this season, winning 74-57 on Jan. 5 at the Pavilion and 65-51 in Tampa on Feb. 15.

Two common threads are that South Florida shot lights-out in the second half in both games – 58.3 percent in the first contest and 68.4 percent in the second – and Villanova was poor from the field – 34.4 percent and 30.2 percent – from start to finish.  

The Pavilion result was an eye-opener, especially since South Florida’s floor leader, point guard Anthony Collins, was knocked woozy and left the game after only 17 minutes. The Bulls outrebounded ‘Nova by 38-26 and ran away at the end.

Then, in Tampa, where the Wildcats played without the injured Maalik Wayns and lost James Bell midway through with an ankle injury, Villanova had to finish with a flurry just to get to 51 points.

South Florida led the Big East in points allowed (57.2 points per game) during the regular season but was dead last in scoring (59.5). The Bulls defend the three-point line (29.4 opponent percentage) very well.

The Bulls finished the regular season without a single player averaging double figures in scoring; Augustus Gilchrist led with a 9.9-point average. But five others came in at 7.5 points per game or better, and the team also shares the wealth in rebounding with Gilchrist, Toarlyn Fitzpatrick and Ron Anderson Jr., son of the former 76ers player.

South Florida is just 2-3 in the Big East tournament, with their most recent victory, 70-69, coming over Villanova in last year’s first round.

--Joe Juliano 

Villanova has accepted an invitation to tip off its 2012-13 season at the 2K Sports Classic, a tournament that wraps up with two games at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Nov. 15 and 16.

The Wildcats, along with Alabama, Purdue and Oregon State, will host regional round games between Nov. 9 and 11. The four host schools then move on to New York for the championship round of the 18^th annual tournament while the rest of the field competes at campus sites.

Matchups and brackets will be announced at a later date.

For the first time in 2012, the tournament will benefit the Wounded Warrior Project, which raises awareness about the needs of injured members of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Tickets went on sale Tuesday through Ticketmaster.

--Joe Juliano

Video: Villanova clawed back against Cincinnati in the Big East finale, but it still wasn't enough as the Wildcats fell, 72-68, to the Bearcats on Saturday afternoon. The Inquirer's Joe Juliano reports from the Pavilion.

Now that Villanova finally has won a game after building a big first-half lead, the Wildcats appear to have heightened confidence going into their final regular-season game and the Big East tournament.

The Wildcats, who were 0-3 after building up first-half leads of at least 18 points this season, rolled up a 19-point lead over Rutgers midway through the opening period Thursday night and saw it cut to a precarious one-point advantage in the second half, but held on for a 77-71 win over the Scarlet Knights at Piscataway, N.J.

Villanova (12-17 overall, 5-12 Big East) wraps up its regular season Saturday at the Pavilion against Cincinnati (21-9, 11-6), which is trying to move off the NCAA bubble while, at the same time, seeking a two-round bye in the Big East tournament.

The Wildcats hope to continue their momentum in their home finale and try to keep it going into Tuesday’s start of the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden.

A big help to ‘Nova on Thursday night was the return of all of their injured players – Maalik Wayns (knee), JayVaughn Pinkston (ankle) and James Bell (ankle) – even if all three were at less than 100 percent.

“It felt good to have everybody out there,” Wildcats coach Jay Wright said. “I feel good about what these guys can do. I hope we can get it going quick here and maybe make some noise in the Big East tournament.”

The Wildcats shot 69 percent in the first half against Rutgers and led 48-32, scoring two more points than they did in the entire previous game against Georgetown. But they were horrible offensively for much of the second half, shooting 27 percent and committing 12 turnovers.

But after the Scarlet Knights cut the deficit to one point on two occasions, the Wildcats steadied themselves with good defensive play. Pinkston and Ty Johnson, who played 21 minutes mostly in relief of a foul-plagued Wayns, played well at both ends.

Pinkston and Wayns led Villanova with 18 points apiece.

“We learned from games against UConn and Notre Dame,” Wayns said, mentioning two of the games where his team blew big leads and lost. “We know how to deal with it. This is a game of runs. We took their best shot and we came back and got stops, and we were able to pull the game out.

“I think we’re playing well. We had a couple of great practices and now we have a game under our belt. It’s going to give us confidence going into the Cincinnati game and the Big East tournament.”

The Bearcats, who ended a 6-2 February with a 72-61 win over No. 8 Marquette, are led in scoring by sophomore Sean Kilpatrick (14.6 points per game) and senior Dion Dixon (13.5). Senior Yancy Gates is one of the league’s top rebounders, ranking third with a 9.5 average.

Cincinnati defeated Villanova, 82-78, on Jan. 14 at home.

The Wildcats enter Saturday’s game looking at a finish of anywhere from 11^th to 14^th in the Big East. They are battling St. John’s, Rutgers and Pittsburgh for positioning and seeding in the tournament.

A victory over the Bearcats would put Villanova in at No. 11, 12 or 13 depending the outcome of St. John’s at Rutgers and Pittsburgh at Connecticut. The Red Storm, Scarlet Knights and Panthers all can move into a four-way tie with the Wildcats at 6-12, and only the Big East office can figure that tiebreaker out.

Should Villanova lose and finish at 5-13 in the league, it most likely would finish 14^th except for one scenario – wins by St. John’s and Pitt – that would place the Cats at No. 13.

Villanova has had almost an entire week to review its most recent pair of heartbreaking games, contests that saw the Wildcats race out to huge early leads and then relinquish them before battling to force overtime, only to lose in the extra period.

The Wildcats (11-16 overall, 4-11 Big East) return to the court Saturday at the Verizon Center in Washington where they will take on No. 9 Georgetown, and hope they can start stringing some wins together before beginning play in the Big East tournament on March 6.

Coach Jay Wright said he is “hopeful” that leading scorer Maalik Wayns, who has missed the last three games with a sprained left knee, will be able to return to action but added that sophomore James Bell (sprained left ankle) likely will not play.

Despite Villanova’s overtime losses – 74-70 to Notre Dame and 73-70 to Connecticut – Wright said the team has remained upbeat and that he doesn’t feel a lack of confidence will be an issue.

“I know it sounds crazy … but the attitude has stayed pretty good,” Wright said Thursday on the Big East coaches’ conference call.

“You’ve got guys like Mo Sutton getting more playing time. JayVaughn Pinkston, a freshman, is playing more. Ty Johnson, a freshman, is playing more. So they’re happy about playing. Dominic Cheek is playing better. So I think guys are feeling good individually that they’re getting better.

“As a team, they’re sticking together and they feel like, when we get Maalik back and when we get James back, we still have the capability of beating anybody. That’s the way we’re looking at it right now. I really don’t worry about their confidence. I worry a little bit more about our execution, to be honest with you, than our confidence.”

Johnson has taken over point guard duties in Wayns’ absence. While he has struggled with his shooting (8 of 30 in three games), he has done a decent job leading the team, with 17 assists (5.7 average) against nine turnovers. He is averaging 8.7 points.

“Ty has had the ball in his hands (and) it’s something he’s very comfortable with,” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. “I think he’s very, very poised. He does a good job of distributing the ball to his teammates as well as knowing when it’s time for him to take over.”

The 6-foot-7 Pinkston is averaging 15 points since Wayns was sidelined but is shooting just 13 of 48 (27.1 percent). Sutton, a 6-11 junior, started his first two games of the season against Notre Dame and Connecticut, averaging 8.5 points and 8.5 rebounds.

The Hoyas (20-6, 10-5) are coming off a 73-55 loss Tuesday night at Seton Hall. Thompson said it “might have been our worst performance of the year at both ends of the court.”

Thompson said he doesn’t expect Villanova to do anything different than it normally does, and that he will not allow his team to be swayed by the opponent’s poor record.

“All of us could be 4-11 or not with the parity of this league,” he said. “There’s also a lot of luck on top of the skill and the talent and everything that goes into winning. A lot of their games have been close. They’ve been in a lot of games and up a lot of times, but the ball just hasn’t bounced their way.

“As we prepare for them, we realize they still have an outstanding coach, they still have outstanding talent, and you have to ignore the record because they’ve just had a few bad bounces.”

Georgetown has three players averaging in double figures led by senior guard Jason Clark at 14.5 points per game. Junior Hollis Thompson is second at 13.2 points and has connected on nearly 48 percent of his three-point attempts.

The Hoyas are strong defensively. They have allowed 59.2 points per game and a 39.0 field-goal percentage mark to their opponents.

With Wayns out, Cheek is the Wildcats’ leading scorer with a 13.0-point average. Mouphtaou Yarou averages 10.8 points and a team-best 8.2 rebounds, and Pinkston is at 10.3 points per game.

--Joe Juliano

Villanova lost in overtime for the second straight game, this time blowing a double-digit lead in the second half en route to a 73-70 loss to Connecticut.

Mike Kern of the Daily News and Joe Juliano of the Inquirer report from the Wells Fargo Center.

(Video by Samantha Corrado/Philly.com)

The injury news keeps getting worse for Villanova's men's basketball team.

The Wildcats announced Friday that sophomore guard James Bell will miss the team’s next two games – Saturday night against No. 23 Notre Dame and Monday night versus Connecticut, both at the Wells Fargo Center – because of a sprained left ankle.

The 6-foot-5 Bell suffered the injury Wednesday night in the second half of Villanova’s 65-51 loss at South Florida. He scored two points in 17 minutes.

The loss of Bell likely means Villanova will be without two starters for Saturday night’s game against the Fighting Irish. Guard Maalik Wayns, the team’s top scorer with a 17.8-point average, is listed as doubtful.

Wayns suffered a sprained left knee in the second half of the Wildcats’ game Feb. 7 against Providence and did not play against South Florida.

For the season, Bell is averaging 7.5 points and 4.0 rebounds. He has started 18 of Villanova’s 25 games.

To replace Bell in the lineup, Villanova coach Jay Wright will have to go to a freshman, probably either Darrun Hilliard or Achraf Yacoubou.

--Joe Juliano

Villanova guard Maalik Wayns, who suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee in a game last week against Providence, is questionable for Wednesday night’s Big East matchup at South Florida.

A team spokesman said Wayns, the Cats’ top scorer with a 17.8-point average, took part on a limited basis at Monday’s practice and was expected to do the same at a workout Tuesday night in Tampa.

He said the question of Wayns’ participation will be a game-time decision by coach Jay Wright.

Wayns left the Feb. 7 game against the Friars midway through the second half.

--Joe Juliano