City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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In 60-plus years of Big 5 competition, the quintet of Philadelphia-area basketball programs have taken turns trading city superiority.

Beginning with the inaugural season in 1955-56, each of the five schools -- La Salle, Penn, Saint Joseph’s, Temple and Villanova, for those who needed a reminder -- have won at least 11 outright or shared titles. No program has been atop the standings in the round-robin competition in any more than three consecutive years.

So it’s safe to say that Villanova is staking a claim of basketball dominance unlike that the City of Brotherly Love has ever seen.

The No. 2 Wildcats’ 82-57 win over the Penn Quakers at the historic Palestra was the program’s 15th consecutive Big 5 victory, setting a new city record. On top of that, they haven't lost a game in November dating back four seasons, a 26-game run.

The Big 5 streak is one they could be extending for quite some time, though Villanova head coach Jay Wright isn't willing to reflect on his team's run just yet.

“I honestly can’t, and I don’t want to, because it’s not really going to do us any good," he said. "I don’t mean that disrespectfully, but if we’re thinking about that, it’s not going to help us get better.

"I think they’re going to talk about things when they’re done playing, but I think that’s going to be something that they’ll be really proud of. And when I’m done coaching, this is going to be a four years, four Novembers that I'm going to look back on and really be proud of."

Aside from a brief early moment, when Penn’s Jackson Donahue answered a game-opening 3-pointer by Kris Jenkins with one of his own to create the game’s only non-zero tie, Villanova was in complete control.

The Wildcats (7-0, 1-0 Big 5) made their first six shots overall, jumping out to a double-digit lead just past the midway point of the first half, and didn’t look back from there. They shot 60 percent (15-of-25) in a first half that ended with them up 18; by the first media timeout of the second period, it was a 24-point advantage.

"Us getting some (3-pointers) early was really important in this game," Wright said. "Kris hit some deep ones, he was guarded. That’s sometimes where talent takes over. A number of the ones he hit, he was guarded...I think that made a big difference, that stretched them out and gave us some rolls to Darryl Reynolds inside."

Penn (2-3, 0-1 Big 5) never made a serious challenge the entire second half.

The Quakers, in the second year of head coach Steve Donahue's reign, have certainly made strides from last season, but Donahue doesn't believe his team quite yet has the confidence to walk into any gym with the defending national champions and be ready to come away with a win.

"I don’t think there’s a sense of intimidation, I just sense that we’re not a completely finished product enough to think that we can go in and compete with Villanova, who’s playing really well at this point," Donahue said. "I’m looking for signs of growth, competitiveness...and the reality of it is, you can’t speed this along, it’s a confidence thing, get some wins against programs like this and then that’s another step. And that’s what I’m saying, I don’t think we’re there yet.”

The impressive margin of victory is nothing new for Villanova in Big 5 competition; their previous 12 city wins had all been by double-digits, by an average margin of victory of 20.6 points dating back to a 65-61 win over Saint Joseph’s on Dec. 11, 2012.

In typical ‘Nova fashion, the win was powered by standout outings all over the court. Jenkins, the national championship hero and 6-6 sharpshooter, had his best game of the season with 22 points on 7-of-11 from the floor (6-7 3PT), surpassing the 1,000-point mark in the first half to become the 63rd player in program history to hit the milestone.

Fellow senior Josh Hart had 12 points, six rebounds and career-best nine assists. Darryl Reynolds, a senior forward and the team's starting big man, tied a season high with 12 points to go along with eight rebounds. Mikal Brides, the do-everything sophomore wing, added 10 points and five boards.

All-in-all, six Villanova players finished in double figures. That's an effort that's become commonplace for this program the last four seasons, a big reason the program has a 104-13 record and a national championship during that span.

"I don’t mean this to slight their talent, but there’s a lot more talented teams in this country; not a ton, but there’s a good share -- more length, more size, more speed, depth, skill," Donahue said. "But there’s no team that plays together, and that hard, in every aspect of the game."

As a team, the Wildcats shot 55.1 percent from the floor, their second-best performance of the season after shooting 57.6 percent against Wake Forest in a win on Nov. 18. Their 12-of-26 (46.2 percent) mark from 3-point range also trailed only the win over the Demon Deacons, and was a nice bounce-back after the 'Cats had made fewer than 30 percent of their triples in the last two games.

Whether or not Villanova can win three more Big 5 games and become the first program to win four consecutive city titles won’t take long to determine. The Wildcats host St. Joe’s in the annual Holy War on Saturday, then turn around and play La Salle on the Palestra floor three days later.

The final city game comes one week after that, Dec. 13, when they host Temple.

But don't expect the rest of the Big 5 to be cheering on whoever Villanova's playing in the hopes of watching that streak come to an end sooner rather than later.

“I’m rooting for someone to knock off Temple on Saturday,” Donahue said, alluding to his team's own upcoming clash against the Owls. “I don’t care about those other games.”