NCAAB Game Preview - Quinnipiac at Villanova

Sat Nov 10, 2018 8:00 PM EST

PHILADELPHIA -- Villanova will look for its second straight victory to open the season when it hosts Quinnipiac Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

The No. 9-ranked Wildcats (1-0) began the season with a 100-77 win over Morgan State on Tuesday. Eric Paschall led the way with 26 points, Phil Booth added 17 and freshman Saddiq Bey had 16.

In another nonconference matchup, Villanova will be facing a familiar face in Baker Dunleavy, Quinnipiac's head coach. Dunleavy played at Villanova from 2002-06 and was on head coach Jay Wright's staff from 2011-17.

It's a new-look team for Wright with the loss of four players to the NBA from last season's national championship team -- guards Donte DiVincenzo and Jalen Brunson and forwards Mikal Bridges and Omari Spellman.

Wright inserted four freshmen on the court at times against Morgan State.

"We were trying to keep fresh bodies out there," Wright said. "Phil, Collin (Gillespie) and Eric are experienced guys. With the rest of the guys we're just going to see who's going well."

The game against Morgan State was close for a while before the Wildcats pulled away for the 23-point victory.

"We have one of the bigger teams we've had in a while and we struggled to guard them," Wright said. "Offensively we were OK, but we have a lot of work to do defensively."

Paschall was once one of those freshmen at Fordham before transferring to Villanova and now becoming a team leader as a senior.

"They're doing a good job. I mean they're open to learning, they're trying to play hard and they trying to do all the little things and we respect them for that," Paschall said. "By the end of the year I feel like we'll be a pretty good team. It's going to be a journey."

Quinnipiac will be playing its season opener after going 12-21 in 2017-18 in Dunleavy's first season.

The Bobcats are led by senior guard Cameron Young, who was granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA in May. Young, now a graduate student, averaged 18.8 points and 6.8 rebounds last season while scoring a school record 622 points in a single season. He started all 33 games.

Guard Rich Kelly is also back for the Bobcats after averaging 11.1 points and 4.7 assists per game as a freshman. Kelly scored in double figures 13 times and poured in 40 against Fairfield on Feb. 17.

Kelly was just the second player in program history to score at least 40 points in a Division I game, coming up just short of Rob Monroe's 41 against Longwood in 2004-05.

Dunleavy recently signed a five-year extension through the 2022-23 season and he'll open his second season against the defending national champions and his mentor in Wright.

"I am excited and humbled to continue leading our basketball program at Quinnipiac University," Dunleavy told the athletic program's website. "My staff and I are appreciative to our administration and leadership. We could not be more excited about our young group and the direction of our program."

This will be the first career meeting between the two programs.