Five things to watch as Villanova plays its final four regular-season games before the Big East tournament

Inside a sold-out Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday night, Villanova endured a 40-16 UConn run over a 20-minute stretch that turned the biggest home game of the season into a blowout loss.

The loss dropped the Wildcats to 21-6 and 12-4 in the Big East, and, barring the unforeseen, all but ensured them the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament, which begins in two weeks at Madison Square Garden.

Just four games separate the Wildcats from the postseason, starting with a home game Wednesday night vs. Butler (15-13, 6-11). A trip to the NCAA Tournament, which would snap a three-season drought, is basically a foregone conclusion, but, as Saturday showed, there are things that need to be corrected if Villanova wants to finish the season strong and threaten to get to the second weekend.

Here are five things to watch in the final four games of the regular season.

It was a rough night all around vs. the fifth-ranked team in the country on Saturday, but it was especially difficult for much of Villanova’s second unit. Sophomore wing Malachi Palmer was minus-17 in 18 minutes. Devin Askew, who has provided a big boost as a veteran ball handler and scorer off the bench, was minus-16 in 18 minutes. Backup center Braden Pierce was minus-13 in 11 minutes.

» READ MORE: Villanova recruited Devin Askew in high school. Six years and five schools later, he’s fueling the Wildcats.

Plus-minus numbers never tell the whole story. But Villanova caused eight turnovers in the first half and couldn’t take advantage in part because the second unit struggled offensively. The two-man game with Askew and Pierce, for example, was ineffective.

Pierce has made some strides in recent weeks filling in for Duke Brennan when the starter needs rest. Palmer emerged in the second half of the season as a reliable reserve on both ends. Freshman Chris Jeffrey returned from injury and has occasionally provided a spark. Askew, meanwhile, has been the reason Villanova has won a few games. But the 23-year-old guard is 9-for-44 from the floor (20.4%) over the last five games and has not made up for it by creating efficient offense and generating assists.

Villanova coach Kevin Willard talked recently about needing to figure out which lineups to get out there at the right times now that his team is healthier and the bench has expanded. Perhaps we’ll see some new wrinkles over the next two weeks.

Lindsay got the weight of the world off his shoulders when he made 4 of 8 three-point shots and scored 15 points during an overtime win at Xavier last week. Before that, Lindsay was 13-for-65 (20%) in the previous 11 games.

Lindsay’s shooting prowess helped Villanova to a 9-2 start through nonconference play, but when his shot wasn’t falling, it wasn’t as easy to justify playing him 30-plus minutes, which Villanova asked of him when he had it going earlier in the season. Villanova’s offensive analytics are much better with Lindsay on the floor than off, even when his shot isn’t falling. But his perimeter defense can leave a little to be desired in critical moments of the game.

Everything is easier for Villanova when Lindsay’s shot is going in. Willard would probably be wise to try to get Lindsay going over the next four games. The coach said the redshirt sophomore guard was feeling the mental side of his slump but was confident that Lindsay would be a big boost going into the postseason.

Villanova has missed at least five foul shots in each of its last 10 games. The Wildcats missed eight and almost lost to a Xavier team with five conference wins last week. They missed 13 on Feb. 10 and almost suffered a home loss to Marquette because of it.

After that game, Willard pointed to a young team shooting important free throws in bigger college basketball games for the first time and needing to work its way through it.

Two weeks from now, the lights get even brighter.

» READ MORE: Mike Nardi only knew Villanova basketball. Now, he’s trying to help UConn dominate the Wildcats.

Villanova “didn’t come out with enough urgency” after it left the locker room following halftime trailing UConn by just two, leading scorer Tyler Perkins said.

It led to an embarrassing loss in front of the home crowd, and Willard said his team seems to have a better mentality on the road than it does at home.

“We’ve really struggled at home at times just playing well for good stretches,” he said. “Some of it is a little bit of youth. This is really only our second time in this building. The crowd was unbelievable. They were into it. I think some shots that we’ve been making, we were a little juiced up and missed some shots early.”

He also said that “every once in a while you get your [butt] kicked.” That’s happened only once or twice (depending how you’d classify the home loss to St. John’s on Jan. 17), but the last time the Wildcats were blown out, an 89-61 loss to No. 3 Michigan on Dec. 9, they responded with a dominant home win over Pittsburgh and two tough road wins at Wisconsin and Seton Hall.

“It’s not the end of the world,” Willard said.

Bouncing back starts Wednesday, when the Wildcats have a chance to also play well in front of a home crowd.

With a road game at St. John’s looming on Saturday, Wednesday night’s game vs. a Butler team that Villanova blew out on the road on Jan. 3 isn’t one to fool around with.

Bracket Matrix, the website that tracks all of the NCAA Tournament bracket projections, shows Villanova as the top No. 7 seed in the bracket with an average seeding of 7.04. Losing to Butler at home would probably be a seed-line loss, and dropping back into the 8-9 range means the possibility of having to face a No. 1 seed on opening weekend.

There’s some runway left, and moving up a seed line — or two, pending a big run at the Garden — is still possible. It’s just a bad time of year to fall backward.