Villanova @ Saint Joseph's preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 8, 2018 ) St. Joseph's 58, Villanova 70

No. 22 Villanova has passed its first two Big 5 tests at home, but now Jay Wright's team heads to Saint Joseph's on Saturday for a Philadelphia battle on the road. The Big 5 is an annual round-robin between Philadelphia area schools with the specific rivalry between Villanova and Saint Joseph's known as the Holy War.

Villanova opened its 2019-20 Big 5 schedule with a pair of 11-point home wins against La Salle and Pennsylvania in its last two games, but this particular matchup reminds Wright more of the Wildcats' 25-point loss at Ohio State last month. "This is our first Big Five road game, so some of our young guys haven't seen anything like this," Wright said. "We didn't handle our game at Ohio State really well and I hope that we've learned from that. This is going to be a tough environment Saturday." The Wildcats have been getting great play out of sophomore forward Saddiq Bey, who scored a career-high 27 points in the win over the Quakers. He will certainly be a focus defensively for the Hawks, who posted a solid win at Connecticut last month but since have lost six straight.

TV: 3 p.m. ET, ESPN2

ABOUT VILLANOVA (6-2): With his strong play of late, Bey has overtaken several teammates for the top spot on the Wildcats' stat sheet, as he is now averaging 16 points per game on 54.5 percent shooting. Freshman forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, who was the team's top scorer in the early going, is down to 13 points per game, although he has pulled down 10-plus rebounds in five of his last six outings. Collin Gillespie (14.6 points) is just 5-of-15 from the floor over the last two games, though he still has scored in double figures in every game this season.

ABOUT SAINT JOSEPH'S (2-7): The Hawks' last three defeats have come by double digits - a 12-point loss to Towson, a 16-point defeat to St. Francis (Pa.) and a 23-point pounding against Lafayette. Ryan Daly was a bright spot for Saint Joseph's in that most recent one with 25 points, six rebounds and five assists, while freshman Cameron Brown notched a season-high 13 points. Daly is the only player on the Hawks averaging more than 9.7 points, as his averages (20.9 points, 8.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists -- all team bests) have established the junior guard as one of the best players in the Atlantic 10.

TIP-INS

1. The Wildcats have not lost by 30-plus points since Kentucky clobbered them in February 1997.

2. Villanova has defeated Saint Joseph's in every matchup since December 2011.

3. Prior to his 13-point effort against Lafayette, Brown had totaled 13 points on 6-of-25 shooting in his previous four games.

PREDICTION: Villanova 84, Saint Joseph's 67