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NCAA Tournament: Villanova finally gets out of first weekend as No. 1 seed

03/17/2018, 8:00pm EDT
By Austin Petolillo

Donte DiVincenzo (above) exploded for 18 first-half points as Villanova rolled Alabama to get back to the Sweet 16. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Austin Petolillo (@AustinPSports)
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Since Villanova began its run of dominance on the reconfigured Big East since 2013, the Wildcats have had problems in the NCAA Tournament, specifically the round of 32.

With a 161-21 record in that span to show for it, they only have 11 NCAA Tournament wins in the past half-decade, five of them coming over mid-major teams seeded 15 or 16.

Before this season got underway, the Wildcats had been bounced in the round of 32 three out of the last four trips. All three games, the Wildcats were the favorite.

In the 2013-14 season, the Wildcats were a No. 2 seed but fell to eventual national champion, No. 7 seed UConn. In the 2014-15 season, the Wildcats were a No. 1 seed but then fell to No.8 seed N.C. State. The 2015-16 season saw the Wildcats capture the national championship as a No. 2 seed but then in the 2016-17 season, they were the overall No.1 seed and fell to Wisconsin in the round of 32.

Two of those three round of 32 exits, Villanova won the Big East Tournament title, just like it did this year. One of those losses came as the No.1 seed in the East region at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, just where they found themselves on Saturday afternoon.

So when Villanova was struggling early in the first half and Alabama was keeping it close the entire way, it was something Villanova faithful had seen before every mid-March in recent memory; their team dominating in the regular season and the Big East Tournament, only to lay an egg in the round of 32.

But Villanova wasn’t going to let their past define them this time around. They were determined to make sure that they weren’t ready to go home yet as Villanova rolled over No. 9 seed Alabama by a final score of 81-58 on Saturday afternoon.

Villanova will be heading to its second Sweet Sixteen in three years, 17th in program history and this will be head coach Jay Wright’s sixth appearance in the second weekend of the tournament as head coach of the Wildcats.

Villanova has two players to especially thank for the victory: redshirt sophomore guard Donte DiVincenzo and redshirt junior wing Mikal Bridges.

The two took turns taking over the game. Divincenzo dominated the first half, and Bridges took over in the second.

DiVincenzo came off the bench and scored all 18 of his points in the first half on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor, including 5-of-9 from deep.

“I just came in and my job was to just defend and rebound.” DiVincenzo said. “We were just running things and I found myself hot.”

“He's obviously a sixth starter, but he brings whatever we need.” Wright said. “If we need a scoring punch, he brings it. If we need defense, he brings it. If we need a rebound -- last Thursday night, we didn't start with great energy. He brought it.”

After a lackluster first half performance where he scored only one point on 0-5 shooting, Bridges made up for his performance by scoring 22 of his game-high 23 points in the second half.

So, what flipped the switch in the second half?

“My teammates and coaches they pick me up and kept confidence in myself to go out there and just play, play like how I play,” Bridges said. “Just play good old basketball. Just try to be everywhere.”

We just told Mikal, Don't worry about it,” Wright said. “Don't worry about your shots, just do what we do. Just do the little things, and he did. And obviously he got hot.

Villanova held Alabama star guard Collin Sexton to 17 points on 7-14 shooting from the field.

“Collin Sexton is a player that you're not just going to stop, You got to make it difficult for him.” DiVincenzo said. “They have a lot of good players around him. We had to make sure we were making it difficult for him and limiting the other guys' opportunities.”

Bridges and DiVincenzo combined for 41 of the Wildcats 81 points. Brunson chipped in 12 points and forwards Eric Paschall and Omari Spellman finished with 7 each as Villanova went on to win their 32nd game for the fourth straight season, something that current coaches such as Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and Kansas’ Bill Self have never done.

“It's the consistency of very good players over four years that stayed in the program and each class, you know, got better and better,” Wright said. “Just guys continuing to get better and having very good players. You don't do that without very good players that have passed down their knowledge to the classes behind them.”

The Wildcats will travel up to Boston where they will face the winner No. 5 seed West Virginia and No. 13 seed Marshall in the Sweet Sixteen on Friday at a time to be announced at a later date.

The last time they played in the regional semi-finals and finals, they advanced to the Final Four back in 2009. That team featured players such as Scottie Reynolds, Dante Cunningham and Corey Fisher.

“This is a really different team,” Wright said. “There's a youthful exuberance with this team that is exciting me.”

“That was a veteran team, this is a unique squad...that's why I think we're getting better every day, because they still have a lot of room to grow.”


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