Villanova has already played three games against the Big East and has 15 of them left to go. If today’s 61-60 loss to Louisville at the Wacho Center — which followed Tuesday’s four-point, overtime win at Seton Hall — is what it’s going to be like, then we all need to watch what we eat and to exercise more. We’ll never be able to handle the heart palpitations.

The ‘Cats trailed by 11 early, but came back to tie it. They then fell behind by 11 again in the second half, but again they battled back, finally taking a 58-57 lead with 3:12 to go. After that? Villanova was just 2-for-6 from the line, including a 1 of 4 effort that involved a pair of misses by Antonio Pena with 4.9 seconds left just after Terrence Williams gave the Cardinals the lead with about 7.4 seconds to play. The rebound got tapped out of bounds, and after Dante Cunningham caught the inbounds pass under the basket, his missed with his left, and attempted put-backs by Reggie Redding and Dwayne Anderson also didn’t go. Game over.

So what went wrong? Scottie Reynolds, who threw in 40 against Seton Hall, scored just 11 and appeared to be limping. But ‘Nova also missed A LOT of easy shots underneath, with Louisville’s big men altering shots time and again. The ‘Cats also made just 18 of 29 free throws (though Louisville was only 10-for-17 from the stripe, and the Cardinals were also 3-for-23 from the arc). And then, with 27 seconds to go and the score tied, Villanova had the ball and didn’t run out the clock. Instead, Cunningham took a shot and drew a foul, and he made 1 of 2. But why didn’t the Wildcats run down the clock so as not to give Louisville another possession?

‘Nova (13-3, 1-2) has a week to think about it. Its next game is next Sunday against St. John’s at the Ski Lodge.