The 2020–21 Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team represented

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Saint Thom ...

in the

2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 25, 2020, and concluded on March 14, 2021. The 2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament culminated the season and began on March 18 and concluded on April 5. Season ...

. Led by head coach Jay Wright in his 20th year, the Wildcats played their home games at the

Finneran Pavilion The William B. Finneran Pavilion is a 6,501-seat multi-purpose arena in Villanova, Pennsylvania, United States, about 10 miles northwest of downtown ( Center City) Philadelphia. Built in 1985, the arena is home to the Villanova University Wildca ...

on the school's campus in the

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

suburb of

Villanova, Pennsylvania Villanova is census-designated place in Pennsylvania, United States. A suburb of Philadelphia, the community straddles the border of Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County and Radnor Township in Delaware County. It is located at the cen ...

. However, they did not play at

Wells Fargo Center Wells Fargo Center may refer to: * Wells Fargo Center (Los Angeles), California * Wells Fargo Center (Sacramento), California * Wells Fargo Center (San Francisco), California * Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, Santa Rosa, California * Wells Fargo C ...

due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They are members of the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

. They finished the season 18–7, 11–4 in Big East Play to finish as regular season champions. However, star guard

Collin Gillespie Collin Gillespie (born June 25, 1999) is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with the Valley Suns of the NBA G League. He played college basketball fo ...

suffered a season-ending MCL tear with a single game left in the regular season and were upset in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament by Georgetown. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament where they defeated Winthrop and

North Texas North Texas is a term used primarily by residents of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to refer to a geographic area of Texas, generally considered to include the area south of Oklahoma, east of Abilene, Texas, Abilene, west of Paris, Texas, Par ...

, despite the loss of Gillespie and

Justin Moore Justin Cole Moore (born March 30, 1984) is an American country music singer and songwriter, signed to Big Machine Records imprint Valory Music Group. For that label, he has released seven studio albums: his self titled debut in 2009, '' Outla ...

in the first-round game, to advance to the Sweet Sixteen where they lost to the eventual champions Baylor.

Previous season

The

Wildcats The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while th ...

finished the 2019–20 season 24–7, 13–5 in Big East play to finish tied for first place. As the No. 2 seed in the Big East tournament, they were slated to play DePaul in the quarterfinals, but the Tournament was cancelled at halftime of the first game of the quarterfinals due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, along with the rest of the NCAA postseason.

Offseason

Departures

Preseason

The Wildcats were picked to win the

in the coaches' poll, receiving nine first-place votes and a total of 99 points.

and

Jeremiah Robinson-Earl Jeremiah Christian Robinson-Earl (born November 3, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Villanova Wildcats. High scho ...

were selected to the Preseason First Team All-Big East, while

was selected to the Preseason Second Team All-Big East. Villanova was considered one of the favorites to win a national title after returning most of its roster from the previous season, and was ranked third in the preseason

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poll.

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=12 style=, Regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, Big East tournament , - !colspan=9 style=, NCAA tournament

Rankings

^Coaches did not release a Week 1 poll.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team Villanova Villanova Wildcats men's basketball seasons Villanova Villanova Villanova