UConn's Dan Hurley On Villanova's Eric Dixon: 'Hardest Guy To Guard In College'
College basketball is full of talent wherever you look, which made UConn Huskies head coach Dan Hurley’s comments on Tuesday about Villanova big man Eric Dixon even more striking.
Apparently, Hurley doesn’t believe there’s a more difficult matchup than Dixon in the entire nation.
“I think (Dixon is) the hardest guy to guard in college basketball,” Hurley said during a media availability session on Tuesday, per Daily Campus’ Sam Calhoun.
“That 1-2 punch that they've got with [Eric] Dixon and [Wooga] Poplar is as good a 1-2 combo as you're going to play against,” Hurley continued.
It’s not hard to qualify Hurley’s statement about Dixon — just look at Dixon’s numbers.
The fifth-year big man is averaging an astounding 25.9 points per game this year to go along with 5.4 boards. Even more ridiculous — Dixon is shooting 49.0 percent from three.
He’s on the shortlist for Player of the Year at this point.
Poplar’s been great for a resurgent Villanova squad, as well, averaging 13.7 points and 6.9 rebounds.
After a difficult couple of seasons, Wildcats head coach Kyle Neptune has his team playing like a second-weekend NCAA tournament squad, which should make things extremely interesting for UConn as it travels to Villanova with Liam McNeeley still sidelined.
The Huskies will have to play much better over the entire 40 minutes than they did versus Providence; otherwise, their first Big East loss will surely be on the menu in Pennsylvania.
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Colin Keane is a contributing journalist for "UConn Huskies On SI." Born in Illinois, Colin grew up in Massachusetts as the third of four brothers. For his high school education, Colin attended St. Mark's School (Southborough, MA), where he played basketball and soccer and served as student body president. He went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Villanova University. Colin currently resides in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "UConn Huskies On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org