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NCAA Tournament: 'Nova cruises past Radford in first round

03/15/2018, 11:00pm EDT
By Chris Mueller

Mikal Bridges (above) and Villanova are into the Round of 32 for the sixth consecutive season. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Chris Mueller (@bychrismueller)
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PITTSBURGH – It didn’t take long Thursday for Villanova to put on display everything that makes it among the nation’s safest bets to be the team cutting down the nets when the 2018 NCAA tournament is all said and done.

The Wildcats are a No. 1 seed for a reason, and it was rather obvious in their 87-61 win over Radford at PPG Paints Arena that this team has all the makings for a deep tournament run over the next few weeks. 

A Wooden Award finalist at the point. A projected NBA lottery pick on the wing. A savvy redshirt junior shooting guard whose 20 points off the bench played an integral hand in the Wildcats ending a 31-year drought to win the national championship two years ago. A freshman starter at forward with a high-percentage outside shot and a consistent presence on the glass which, for most first-year players at this level, is a unique combination.

There's been-there-before leadership. There’s team-wide unselfishness.There’s depth off the bench. The list goes on and on. And on top of it all, the entire operation is orchestrated by one of the acclaimed coaches across all of the entire Division I landscape.

All of the potential in the world is there, but potential is only hypothetical if failed to be acted upon. On Thursday, even if it was only against a lowly 16-seed in Radford, the Wildcats took a positive first step in doing just that.

“We’re doing a good job focusing on just playing hard in between those lines,” said Jalen Brunson after the game. “I think our guys did a good job showing each other, no matter who we’re playing, no matter what the situation is, no matter what the probability of us winning, we’re going to go out and play hard for each other.

“That’s all we’re going to worry about.”

Villanova connected on 12 of its first 14 field goal attempts of the game and finished with six scorers in double figures highlighted by 16 points from Brunson on 7 of 9 shooting.

Mikal Bridges ended with 13 points, Eric Paschal added 11 and Omari Spellman, Phil Booth and Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree each finished with 10, respectively. The Wildcats shot 68.3 percent in the first half (15-22), posted a 22-1 run over a seven-minute span and ended the game with a 51 percent mark on 3-point attempts (14-27). They reached 30 points before the Highlanders reached double-digits and held a 21-point advantage, 44-23, by halftime.

"I feel like we were just together," Paschal said. "Just being together out there, talking to each other offensively and defensively holding each other accountable."

Villanova's bench combined for 27 points as Jay Wright used a deep rotation, limiting any players  – even Brunson, Bridges and Booth – from eclipsing 30 minutes of floor time.

Not that he needed to, though.

“We’re getting better every time we play,” Wright said. “You play different teams, different styles. And that’s what you have to be able to adjust to. We’ll get a totally different style on Saturday, and we’re going to have to be ready.”

Villanova will play the winner of Virginia Tech and Alabama in the second round, where it failed to prevail last season in a 65-62 loss to Wisconsin. The core of the Wildcats have seen it all, whether it be blue and white confetti falling to the tune to One Shining Moment moments after garnering a national title, to the agony associated with failing to prevail out of the tournament’s first weekend. In 2014, Wright’s team fell to N.C. State in the second round as a No. 1 seed.

Regardless of the opponent, the magnitude of the round of 32 is just as prevalent as that of the games that will potentially come later.

“They know about it, but the guys that you have, they know what they did in their career and the guys they were (previously) with,” said Wright. “The team’s leadership is Jalen and Mikal. I heard Jalen say it. I know the bitter and the sweet of this tournament. I know winning a national championship and I know getting knocked out of the second round. I know anything can happen.

“That’s what this team’s mindset is.”


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