What: Villanova (8-0) at Saint Joseph’s (4-3)

When: 6 p.m. Saturday

Where: Hagan Arena

TV/Radio: CBS Sports Network/610-AM

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By AARON BRACY

Philahoops Staff

@Aaron_Bracy

Missed shots, bad passes and other physical errors are part of basketball. Nobody wants them to occur, but it’s easier to accept them.

Harder to swallow, though, are mental miscues.

Glaring in St. Joe’s 77-69 defeat at Temple Wednesday night was the rebound Temple center Anthony Lee grabbed with 28.1 seconds left and the Owls up 71-67 after missing the second of two free throws. Lee, the shooter, was the only Temple player on the offensive end of the court. He beat four Hawks to the ball.

It was a tremendous hustle play by Lee and a costly mistake for the Hawks, who didn’t have the necessary awareness on the play. A four-point deficit with 28.1 seconds left wouldn’t have been easy to overcome for St. Joe’s, but the Hawks still had a chance. Lee’s rebound, though, ended any hopes of a comeback.

“It was a young play that we shouldn’t be making at this point in time,” Hawks coach Phil Martelli said afterward.

The Hawks certainly can’t afford those types of errors on Saturday night (6 p.mCBS Sports Network) when undefeated and No. 14-ranked Villanova comes calling to Hagan Arena for the 71^st renewal of the Big 5 rivalry – at least if St. Joe’s expects to come out with a victory.

“The team that we have has really great character, really good people in the room,” Martelli said Wednesday. “They really are strong character young guys. But on the basketball court (Wednesday), we made some plays that were young with our age we shouldn’t make: missed dunks, missed layups, dropped balls, missed assignment, a simple assignment, staring right at you, so that’s on me. That’s on me that a more manly approach needed to be pulled out of them.”

The Hawks will need that approach against a Villanova team that made national headlines last weekend by downing highly touted freshman Andrew Wiggins and No. 2 Kansas in the Battle 4 Atlantis semifinals before toppling No. 23 Iowa in the championship game in the Bahamas.

The Cats overcame a shaky second half in their return to the states in a 77-54 victory over Penn on Wednesday night. It wasn’t exactly the performance coach Jay Wright had hoped for as a follow-up to last weekend’s success.

“I was so confident we were going to come out and play with great aggressiveness, great intensity, and we didn’t,” Wright said on Wednesday. “There are no sandwich games for us. This is a big game for us. Every time we get a chance to play, it’s a big game for us.”

Wright said following the win over the Quakers that the heightened focus on Villanova nationally only is a positive and didn’t negatively affect the Cats.

“I like being ranked, I really do,” he said. “I think it’s great for the school, our conference; it’s great for the fans, Philadelphia basketball. There’s nothing bad about it. (Villanova’s play against Penn) doesn’t have anything to do with it, just the commitment to play every game, every possession the same way.”

Much like St. Joe’s, Villanova will need to be focused against the Hawks.

In their only other trip to Hawk Hill in the long history of the series, the Wildcats lost 74-58 on Dec. 17, 2011.

Villanova plans to be ready.

“I don’t think the Bahamas gave us a big head, but you can’t look past anyone,” said Darrun Hilliard, who scored a team-high 19 points against Penn. “Penn is a good team. It’s a good learning experience. We’re going to get back to work tomorrow and get ready to play Saturday.”

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-Scouting St. Joe’s: Villanova leads the series 45-25 and has won 12 of the last 16 meetings. … The Hawks fell to the Wildcats last season 65-61 in a game marred by Halil Kanacevic’s middle-finger gesture to the Villanova student section. … A win over the Wildcats would give the Hawks a victory over their highest-ranked opponent since beating No. 12 Xavier on March 14, 2008 in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. … The schools are located 6.7 miles apart. … Langston Galloway is averaging 21.3 points in his last three games, going 15-for-29 (51.7 percent) from the arc during the stretch. … Ronald Roberts, the A-10 co-Player of the Week, scored 13 points against Temple after averaging 20.3 points in three games at the Old Spice Classic in Florida. … The Hawks committed a season-worst 15 turnovers against the Owls but tied their season best by making 81.3 percent of their foul shots. … Galloway leads the Hawks in scoring at 18.1 points per game, followed by fellow senior Roberts (17.7) and freshman DeAndre Bembry (10.1). … Kanacevic (7.7) and Roberts (7.1) top St. Joe’s in rebounding.

-Scouting Villanova: The Wildcats missed their first 14 field goals in the second half in Wednesday’s win over Penn. … Villanova loves to shoot the 3-pointer and comes in averaging 26.8 attempts from the arc per game. St. Joe’s, meantime, tries 19.7 3-pointers per contest. … The Wildcats are 68-for-214 from the arc this season, good for 31.8 percent. … James Bell and JayVaughn Pinkston are tied for team scoring honors, at 16.6 points per game. Hilliard (13.8 ppg) and Dylan Ennis (11.8 ppg) are the Wildcats’ top long-range threats. Ennis has hit 52 percent (9-for-17) of his triples and Hilliard has made 41 percent (16-for-39). … Ennis missed the first four games this season due to a broken right hand. … The Wildcats go nine deep in Wright’s rotation.

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-Follow Aaron Bracy on Twitter @Aaron_Bracy and email him at [email protected]