City of Basketball Love

Dan Newhart (@danny_newhart)
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Villanova played its first game at home Saturday evening at the Wells Fargo Center since being voted the No. 1 team in both the Associated Press top 25 and the USA Today coaches poll for the first time in school history.

The Wildcats got a bit more of a challenge than they expected, but were able to shake off a slow start from the field in the first half and ride Daniel Ochefu’s career-high 25 points to a 73-63 win over St. John’s.

Asked afterward if being voted number one in the polls led to a some added pressure and a approach from his team this game, guard Ryan Arcidiacono shrugged off that notion.

Head coach Jay Wright also downplayed added pressure, saying the Wildcats prepare to get every team’s best game each time out.

“I think St. John’s came out and executed their gameplan,and we didn’t really execute our game plan,” Arcidiacono said. “I don’t think there was any added pressure, we already played a game as number one, but that’s not something that we even think about or talk about.”

After jumping out to a quick 6-2 advantage to start the game, it looked as though ‘Nova (22-3, 12-1 Big East) may run away with it. However, the Wildcats’ poor shooting from the field kept the Red Storm in the game for the entirety of half number one.

Villanova did not make a single three pointer in the first half, as its top three shooters from distance did not knock any down from deep. Josh Hart (35 percent from deep on the season), Arcidiacono (34.7 percent) and Jalen Brunson (36 percent) went a combined 0-for-4 in the first.

“We junked it up a little bit with a little box-and-one on Arcidiacono,” St. John’s coach Chris Mullen said of the first half. “Just to try to junk the game up a little bit, get them out of rhythm here and there. They’re a veteran team, and so well-coached, they’re going to figure it out.”

While the outside shooting woes were widespread during the first half, Ochefu had his way down low with an undersized St. John’s frontcourt. The big man had 10 points, mostly in the paint and close to the rim on 5-for-6 shooting and pulled down four boards as well to keep ‘Nova afloat offensively.

“We try not to rely on our offense,” Ochefu said afterward of the shots not falling early on. “Our urgency is always extremely intense in all of our games. We just try to make sure our defense and rebounding are the things that are winning games for us.”

After the poor shooting in the first half, the Wildcats made it a point to feed Ochefu on the first few possessions of the second half.

The big man scored eight of the team’s first 11 points out of intermission, and during that stretch Arcidiacono also nailed the first three pointer for ‘Nova on the night to end the 0-for-11 drought.  A 23-13 run ensued, capped off by another three ball from Arcidiacono to make the score 51-40.

“[Ochefu] is a big part of what they do,” St. John’s head coach Chris Mullen said afterward. “We play small a lot, and he kind of had his way, sometimes. They’ve got such good shooters, we kind of traded that off for trying to take the three-ball out of the game. We doubled him early and then went back to single coverage.”

Sophomore St. John’s forward Amar Alibegovic had a strong performance and was able to keep the Red Storm within striking distance with his shooting, rebounding and passing.

The 6-foot-9, 235 pound big from Rome, Italy finished with a team-high 18 points, including 4-for-10 from distance. He also pulled down six rebounds and dished out four assists to teammates along the way.

The win keeps the Wildcats in the number one spot in both the polls and the Big East standings. Behind them is fifth-ranked Xavier, which boasts a record of 21-3, 9-3 in conference play.

After that there is a three-way tie between Seton Hall, Creighton and Georgetown who are all at 7-5 in conference play.

Heading into his team’s next game, a matchup with Temple on Wednesday, Feb. 17, Wright wants his team to value the ball more. The Wildcats had 15 turnovers, which the Red Storm (7-19, 0-13) converted into 14 points at the other end. Compare that to the 19 turnovers ‘Nova forced, which resulted in 23 points.

“That’s been a problem for us,” Wright said of the turnovers. “I thought we lost a little defensive intensity tonight too. We had 15 turnovers, shot 21 percent from three, they shot 44 percent, 40 percent from 3. We’ll address that, we’ve just got to keep getting better.”