Three things to watch in Villanova’s Big East quarterfinal game vs. UConn

NEW YORK — It was after 11:30 p.m. Wednesday when Kyle Neptune, Eric Dixon, and Jordan Longino walked off a podium inside Madison Square Garden and headed back toward the Villanova locker room.

The third-seeded Wildcats got past a seven-win Seton Hall team in the opening round of the Big East tournament despite 16 turnovers and two separate spells of nearly eight minutes without a made basket. It was largely a performance to forget in a season full of forgettable showings. But survive they did, and the reward for Neptune and the rest of his staff was a long night preparing for what was next: No. 3 seed Connecticut in a quarterfinal matchup on Thursday (9:30 p.m., FS1).

There will be time for sleep when it’s all over. The Wildcats played the Huskies three weeks ago in Hartford, and while someone on the coaching staff was already assigned to work on the UConn plan in case Villanova won Wednesday night, the hours after Wednesday’s game would be spent poring over that Feb. 18 game film to figure out the best plan of attack for Thursday night.

In an early January home game, Villanova beat UConn, the two-time defending champion. The Wildcats then led the Huskies by 14 points with 11 minutes to play last month on the road. But UConn closed the game on a 27-6 run and won by seven.

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Dixon used a familiar phrase late Wednesday night when asked about the do-or-die nature of this week. The Wildcats, on the outside of the NCAA Tournament bubble, need to win the Big East tournament to avoid missing the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season. Thursday, Dixon said, is another “Super Bowl” for Villanova just like Wednesday was.

“Right now we’re just focused on going back and getting rest and getting fluids and making sure that our bodies are as ready to go as possible,” he said.

The coaching staff will handle the rest of the prep.

“We’re going to go back, get some rest, watch a little bit of film, maybe walk through a little bit of stuff tomorrow, then come out and have another Super Bowl,” Neptune said.

Will Villanova win another Super Bowl and get by UConn to advance to Friday night’s semifinal round? Here are three things to watch Thursday night.

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Villanova center Enoch Boakye was pretty ineffective vs. UConn during two regular-season games. In both contests, Boakye played below his season average of 21.4 minutes. In February’s road game, Boakye played just 13 minutes as Villanova deployed a smaller lineup that featured 35 minutes from Tyler Perkins off the bench.

Will Villanova go smaller again on Thursday and let Dixon operate as a floor-spacing big man? It’s possible. But UConn’s Tarris Reed Jr. was a key reason the Huskies scored a comeback win in that game. The junior big had three offensive rebounds and scored 13 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the field in 27 minutes.

Boakye has been inconsistent for Villanova. He had nine points and nine rebounds Wednesday, but he also was called for three offensive fouls on screens and left a little to be desired at times protecting the rim. How Neptune and the coaching staff decide to distribute his minutes might impact the game greatly.

Luckily for Villanova, Dixon was in foul trouble early in Wednesday night’s win, and only played 28 minutes. He played fewer than 28 minutes just once this season when he logged 26 in a 91-54 blowout win over NJIT on Nov. 8.

Dixon, the nation’s leading scorer, plays nearly 35 minutes per game, and they are difficult minutes. He frequently faces double teams and physical defenders. That’s not likely to change Thursday night. Dan Hurley knows Villanova’s path to victory is with Dixon carrying the load.

How many more times can Dixon carry the Wildcats to the finish line?

Two of Dixon’s most inefficient games of the season have come vs. the Huskies. He shot 6-for-20 in the Villanova win in January while playing the entire game. In the road loss, Dixon went 3-for-13. That’s 27.2% over two games for a 46.5% shooter. Villanova got solid production Wednesday from Wooga Poplar and Perkins. The Wildcats may need all the help they can get Thursday.

» READ MORE: Eric Dixon, Jordan Longino, and the end of an era for Villanova basketball: Can they go out with a bang?

Madison Square Garden used to be the place where Villanova fans were among the loudest and most visible. These days, it’s Storrs South, and Thursday night should be no different even though the Huskies don’t look like a team that’s about to three-peat.

It will be a pro-UConn crowd, and Hurley has made the Garden his playground of late.

Beyond the meaningless stuff above, coaching decisions are a big deal in some of these toss-up tournament games. Neptune has been too inconsistent in end-of-game situations, and Hurley’s Huskies are battle-tested.

It’s hard to measure how much it will all matter.

But we’ll know around midnight.