City of Basketball Love

Will Slover (@WillSlover31)

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Villanova used a huge second-half run to power to the No. 1 ranked Wildcats past the Eagles of American University by a score of 90-48 to extend their university-record win streak to 18 games on Wednesday night at the Pavilion.

At First…

A slow 3-of-9 start from the field plagued the Wildcats as Villanova trailed American by a score of 7-6 with just under 16 minutes to play in the first half and found themselves knotted up at 15 with the visiting Eagles just before the midway point of the half. An 11-2 run over the following four minutes gave Villanova a 26-17 lead with 6:03 to play. Villanova closed out the half on a strong note, keeping their lead in double digits until a three-pointer from junior forward Matt Cimino cut the Wildcats’ lead to nine with six seconds remaining in the first half which prompted a Jay Wright timeout to draw up a play to closeout the half. Villanova raced down the court after the timeout and Josh Hart extended the lead back up to 11, 40-29, on a buzzer beating jumper to extend his point total for the half to 12. Hart’s 12 points and five rebounds led the ‘Cats in the first frame. Also contributing for Villanova was senior forward Darryl Reynolds, who entered intermission with six points and five rebounds on a perfect 3-of-3 from the field. For American it was freshman St. Augustine Prep (N.J.) graduate Sa'eed Nelson who cause problems for the opposition, as he scored seven points for the Eagles in the first frame.

Turning Point…

After a Mark Gasperini basket out of the half cut the Wildcats’ lead back down to nine, Villanova reeled off an 31-6 run over the next 10:07 that gave Villanova a 34 point lead by a score of 71-37 with 8:31 to go that they would never look back from. Villanova’s aggressive style of play proved to be too much for their Patriot League foe as the Eagles reached the double bonus with 14:33 to go in the game and Villanova let their strong offensive play put the Eagles away for good as the Wildcats continued their strong half until the final buzzer sounded.

Standout Stars…

Senior guard Hart led the way again for Villanova in their 18th consecutive win. The National Player of the Year frontrunner torched American for 20 points while also adding in seven rebounds and three assists. Aiding Hart were redshirt sophomores Eric Paschall and Mikal Bridges. Paschall finished with 15 points and six rebounds on an extremely efficient 5-of-6 shooting while Bridges chipped in with another 15 points and four assists. 

For American, the lone bright spots were Delante Jones and Nelson as the two finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively. 

Noteworthy Numbers…

25- The number of free throws Villanova attempted on the night, their most of the season. The Wildcats cashed in on 20 of those attempts to shoot .800 for the night. Their huge night from the free-throw line can largely be attributed to their being in the double bonus for the final 14 minutes of the contest. This new total surpasses their previous season high of 24 which was reached on two occasions, November 17th against Western Michigan and November 23rd against College of Charleston.

5:13- The amount of time American went without scoring in the second half. From the 12:55 mark until there was 7:42 left, the Eagles went scoreless and saw Villanova’s lead grow from 21 to 35 over that time span.

Up Next…

No. 1 Villanova (12-0) vs. DePaul (7-4), Wed., Dec. 28, 7:00 PM

American (3-8) vs. Loyola (Md.) (5-5), Fri., Dec. 30, 7:30 PM