Watch CBS News

Villanova Women's Hoops With Key Match-Up With DePaul

By Matt Leon

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – It will be a critical Big East game for the Villanova women's basketball team on Tuesday night as they host DePaul at the Pavilion.

The Wildcats bring a 20-6 record (10-5 in the Big East) into this game as they try to strengthen their positioning for the conference tournament (currently 4th) and continue to build their NCAA Tournament resume.

"I feel pretty good," Villanova head coach Harry Perretta tells KYW Newsradio. "We're a young team, I really didn't expect to be in this position this year, so I've got to be pretty happy about it. Everything's going to depend on how we do in the last three or four games of the season. But right now, we put ourselves in position."

Perretta talks about when he first realized the group was capable of more than he originally thought.

"After we lost to DePaul the first time," Perretta says. "We lost by (26 points on January 19th) and I kind of felt like it was unraveling at that point. They were young, I saw them lose their confidence. And then we won a couple really close games after that and it was just all of a sudden the light went on and they started to get their confidence back and we won six in a row after that. At that point I thought maybe we have a chance here, because they are really getting their confidence back."

Harry Perretta Interview

The Wildcats are being led on offense by senior guard Devon Kane and her 11.6 points per game.

DePaul is a quality team, the Blue Demons are 21-6 (12-3 in the Big East) and Perretta says they have always proven to be a difficult match-up for his squad.

"We've struggled with them over the years," Perretta says. "We've only beaten them twice and both times we've beaten them we've been able to hold them under 50 points. So for us to win the game, we have to hold them, at least, in the fifties. Because they average close to 85 points a game."

Tonight's game will tip off at 7:00pm.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.