1995–96 Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team

1995–96 Villanova Wildcats men's basketball
1995–96 Villanova Wildcats men's basketball
Maui Invitational tournament champion
NCAA tournament, Round of 32
Conference	Big East Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 17
AP	No. 10
Record	26–7 (14–4 Big East)
Head coach	Steve Lappas (4th season);
Home arena	The Pavilion (Capacity: 6,500)

The 1995–96 Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team represented Villanova University in the 1995–96 season. Led by consensus First team All-American Senior Kerry Kittles, who became and remains Villanova's all-time leading scorer, the highly ranked Wildcats made their second appearance in the NCAA Tournament since the departure of Rollie Massimino. With an overall record 24-5 and conference record of 14–4, the Wildcats placed second in the Big East Conference, and after reaching the semifinals of the Big East tournament, the team was invited to the NCAA tournament as a 3 seed. In the NCAA tournament, the Wildcats would gain their first tournament win under Fourth Year head coach Steve Lappas, over 14 seed Portland. In the round of 32, the Wildcats would prove to be competitive, but fall to 6 seed Louisville by four points.[4]

1995–96 Big East men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Big East 6
No. 3 Connecticut†	17	–	1	.944	32	–	3	.914
No. 10 Villanova	14	–	4	.778	26	–	7	.788
Boston College	10	–	8	.556	19	–	11	.633
West Virginia	7	–	11	.389	12	–	15	.444
St. John's	5	–	13	.278	11	–	16	.407
Notre Dame	4	–	14	.222	9	–	18	.333
Big East 7
No. 4 Georgetown	13	–	5	.722	29	–	8	.784
No. 15 Syracuse	12	–	6	.667	29	–	9	.763
Providence	9	–	9	.500	18	–	12	.600
Miami	8	–	10	.444	15	–	13	.536
Seton Hall	7	–	11	.389	12	–	16	.429
Rutgers	6	–	12	.333	9	–	18	.333
Pittsburgh	5	–	13	.278	10	–	17	.370

† 1996 Big East tournament winner As of April 1, 1996[1][2][3] Rankings from AP Poll

Roster

1995–96 Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	13	John Celestand	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Fr	Piscataway, New Jersey
G	20	Alvin Williams	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Jr	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
G	30	Kerry Kittles	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Sr	New Orleans, Louisiana
C	42	Jason Lawson	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	Jr	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Head coach

Steve Lappas

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
Nov 20, 1995*	No. 3	vs. Wisconsin Maui Invitational Tournament	W 66–58	1–0	Lahaina Civic Center Lahaina, Hawaii
Nov 21, 1995*	No. 3	vs. Santa Clara Maui Invitational Tournament	W 77–65[5]	2–0	Lahaina Civic Center Lahaina, Hawaii
Nov 22, 1995*	No. 3	vs. No. 20 North Carolina Maui Invitational Tournament	W 77–75	3–0	Lahaina Civic Center Lahaina, Hawaii
Nov 29, 1995*	No. 3	Bradley	W 70–63	4–0	The Pavilion Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Dec 2, 1995	No. 3	St. John's	W 83–68	5–0 (1–0)	The Pavilion Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Dec 5, 1995*	No. 2	at Miami (FL)	W 70–68	6–0	Miami Arena Miami, Florida
Dec 9, 1995*	No. 2	vs. Purdue Wooden Classic	W 67–50	7–0	Honda Center Anaheim, California
Big East Tournament
Mar 7, 1996*	No. 9	vs. Providence Quarterfinals	W 78–68	25–5	Madison Square Garden New York, New York
Mar 8, 1996*	No. 9	vs. No. 6 Georgetown Semifinals	L 76–84	25–6	Madison Square Garden New York, New York
NCAA Tournament
Mar 15, 1996*	(3 MW) No. 10	vs. (14 MW) Portland First round	W 92–58	26–6	Bradley Center Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Mar 17, 1996*	(3 MW) No. 10	vs. (6 MW) No. 24 Louisville Second round	L 64–68	26–7	Bradley Center Milwaukee, Wisconsin
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. MW=Midwest.

Tournament results

Big East tournament
First Round vs. (7) Providence @ Madison Square Garden, New York, NY - W, 78-68
Semifinals vs. (3) Georgetown @ Madison Square Garden, New York, NY - L, 76-84
NCAA Tournament
First Round vs. (14) Portland @ Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI - W, 92-58
Round of 32 vs. (6) Louisville @ Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI - L, 68-64

Team players in the 1996 NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1	8	Kerry Kittles	New Jersey Nets

[6]

References

sports-reference.com 1995-96 Big East Conference Season Summary
Keefe, Gavin, "Big East Notes: The Big East 7 and Big East 6? Big Deal!", The Day, January 1, 1996, p. 7.
"PLUS: COLLEGE BASKETBALL -- BIG EAST CONFERENCE; League Cuts Games In Search of Bids," The New York Times, August 7, 1998.
"Louisville's Wheat Helps Harvest Upset". The Los Angeles Times. March 18, 1996. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
"Santa Clara Tries, but Can't Get Past Villanova". The Los Angeles Times. November 22, 1995. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
"1996 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved January 24, 2021.

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[1] sports-reference.com 1995-96 Big East Conference Season Summary

[2] Keefe, Gavin, "Big East Notes: The Big East 7 and Big East 6? Big Deal!", The Day, January 1, 1996, p. 7.

[3] "PLUS: COLLEGE BASKETBALL -- BIG EAST CONFERENCE; League Cuts Games In Search of Bids," The New York Times, August 7, 1998.

[4] "Louisville's Wheat Helps Harvest Upset". The Los Angeles Times. March 18, 1996. Retrieved March 19, 2023.

[5] "Santa Clara Tries, but Can't Get Past Villanova". The Los Angeles Times. November 22, 1995. Retrieved March 19, 2023.

[6] "1996 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved January 24, 2021.

Villanova Wildcats men's basketball
Venues	Jake Nevin Field House (1932–1986) William E. Finneran Pavilion (1986–2017, 2018–present) First Union Spectrum (alternate; 1967–2009) Wells Fargo Center (alternate; 1996–present)
Rivalries	Saint Joseph's
Culture & lore	Will D. Cat City 6 Philadelphia Big 5 (Robert V. Geasey Trophy) "V for Villanova"
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics