City of Basketball Love

Will Slover (@WillSlover31)

--

For the majority of their Wednesday night battle with conference foe DePaul, Villanova simply did not look itself.

The Wildcats team that uses efficient ball movement, dead-eye 3-point shooting, and is careful with the ball wasn't quite the 'Nova squad that took the court against the Blue Demons.

“They had a really good game plan,” Villanova head coach Jay Wright said. “They do it in a really well-conceived way and they forced us into that game. Their guys going one-on-one and then our guys trying to go one-on-one, but that’s their game plan and they’re smart at it and it’s not ours.”

Villanova, who only assisted on 12 of their field goals, 3 shy of a season low, struggled greatly to put the ball in the basket after they tried to beat DePaul at their own game rather than sticking to what they know.

“You try to get a team to play your way and they did and they’re good at that and we’re not as good at that and that’s what you saw tonight,” Wright said.

After a sloppy first half which saw Villanova commit nine turnovers and connect on just five of their 16 three-point attempts (.313), the Wildcats still managed to take an eight point lead into the half behind nine points from senior Kris Jenkins.

Out of the half, it looked like Villanova had finally found its groove after a 12-4 run gave the Wildcats a 12-point lead with just over 11 minutes to go.

DePaul didn’t go away easily though, as the Blue Demons rattled off a 14-0 run over the next 2:40 to take a two-point lead with just over six minutes to go.

After more than four minutes of back-and-forth basketball, Villanova finally took the lead for good on a Josh Hart and-one jumper and would go on to win 68-65 in a classic Big East battle that wasn’t truly decided until a three-point attempt by DePaul’s Billy Garrett clanked off the rim as the buzzer expired.

Hart, who has been the hero all season for Villanova (13-0, 1-0), scored 10 points in the last three minutes and all of them came when the game was within a possession.

“I just wanted to be aggressive,” Hart said. “Coach put me in that position and my teammates put me in that position and I just wanted to go help our team.”

Hart finished with 25 points, the fourth time he’s eclipsed that margin this season, and also added in six rebounds while being the only Villanova player who saw action to not commit a single turnover.

After a 42-point dismantling of American last week, and not having a game closer than eight points since November 14th, when Villanova topped Purdue by a score of 79-76, the Wildcats were expecting to be given a tougher test as league play got underway.

“We’re going to learn a lot from this. We’re definitely going to learn a lot from this game,” Wright said. “That’s the beauty of league play. There’s a lot of adjustments made throughout the season.”

Villanova’s senior class, which consists of Hart, Jenkins, and forward Darryl Reynolds, has never lost a game at the Pavilion, and Wright knew that this special senior class wouldn’t let their team leave without a W under their belt.

“Having three seniors really helps,” Wright said. I always say about Jalen (Brunson), he’s an old soul. He’s like having another senior out there even though he’s only a sophomore. We do have veteran guys that are not going to be impacted by the moment or the pressure, they actually thrive on it. We’re really lucky that way.”

Jalen Brunson, the sophomore from Lincolnshire, Ill., was another hero for Villanova on Wednesday as it was his veteran-like composure as he knocked down two free-throws with four seconds left to extend Villanova’s slim lead to three and make DePaul have to shoot a three with the hopes of a tie rather than being able to go for the win.

The 6-foot-2 floor general finished the game with 13 points, on an efficient 5-of-7 shooting from the field and also added in a team-high of six assists and reeled in four rebounds as well.

For DePaul (7-7, 0-1), junior forward Tre-Darius McCallum was a problem all night for Villanova as the Myrtle Beach, S.C. native finished with 19 points on 9-of-13 shooting and also added in seven rebounds.

Villanova, who will travel to Omaha for their next game to take on fellow undefeated No. 10/9 Creighton, will need their senior core to make sure that they don’t let what happened on Wednesday become a recurring theme.

“It’s definitely important to start off the Big East season on a win. We have to bring it and it starts with us three seniors,” Hart said. “We can't be complacent, we have to get back to work tomorrow and get better."