City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)

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VILLANOVA — Kevin Willard talks about bringing Villanova basketball back to where it was. For the first-year Wildcats’ coach, that means championships, and gaining a stronger foothold in the Philadelphia basketball community.

Nothing does that better than winning the Big 5 Classic.

The Wildcats first had to get there, and that meant securing their place on Monday with a second-half surge that produced a 74-56 victory over Temple at Villanova’s Finneran Pavilion before 6,501.

Willard had more than his share of maddening moments Monday night. He saw his team fumble around, miss free throws (10/15) and easy inside buckets, and make dubious decisions with the ball.

But overall, he saw freshman guard Acaden Lewis take another step in his maturation, scoring 12 points, handing out eight assists and coming up with two clutch steals, one at a pivotal moment in the game.

Villanova’s victory sets up a Big 5 Classic Championship against Penn on Saturday, December 6, at the Xfinity Mobile Arena.

Ironically, it was Penn transfer Tyler Perkins that led Villanova (6-1) there with a game-high 19 points, with Duke Brennan adding 14 points and 8 rebounds.

Temple (4-4) lost for the third time in its last four games, and was led by Aiden Tobiason’s 15 points and Derrian Ford’s 14.

It was the sixth-straight victory for Villanova.

“We talked about (winning the Big 5 championship) the other day, and where to get this program back to, we’re going to have win games that matter,” Willard said. “To play Penn in the Big 5 Championship, that is something that you’re learning how to win championships especially in today’s world where 13 guys all are brand new, it’s an opportunity for us to learn and see what it’s all about.”

Willard said Lewis has been playing at a high level ever since the BYU game.

Villanova opened the game up with 6:27 to play on a Lewis steal, followed Perkins’ three-pointer for Nova’s first double-figure lead of the night, 60-49.

“Temple did a really good job making us work in the first half,” Willard said. “A little bit of that was coming off Thanksgiving. When the defense goes that hard, it makes a big difference.”

Willard walked off the court at halftime with his palms in the air, possibly wondering what was going on. But he said he was pleased. He knew his team should have been up by around 12, if not for the close misses.

The Wildcats went into halftime clinging to a 29-28 lead. Villanova shot 11-of-31 (35%) to Temple’s 11 of 24 (46%).

With 5:39 left in the first half, Villanova held its largest lead of the half, 21-14, but it was a game that felt like each team was running in sand and not on the polished Finneran Pavilion court. It was not a pretty first half. The Wildcats missed numerous gimme layups, like when Nova’s Matt Hodge cut through the lane and was hit with a perfect pass, only to miss an open layup.

Temple, meanwhile, could not hit anything beyond the arc, going 0-for-4 from three-point range. The gaping advantage was much-larger Villanova grabbed 21 rebounds to Temple’s 12, although the Owls scored 18 of their 28 first-half points in the paint to Nova’s 12 points inside.

The Owls held the lead twice in the opening half, 6-5, with 14:53 left on a pull-up jumper by Jordan Mason, and 24-23, on a Derrian Ford layup with 2:30 remaining in the half.

Temple’s last lead was 39-38 with 15:00 left to play, when Villanova’s size and inside superiority surfaced. For the game, Villanova outrebounded the smaller Owls 43-24, holding a 21-6 edge in offensive rebounds.

“They wore us down in the second half,” Temple coach Adam Fisher said. “They did a nice job taking it away, and I thought we did a nice job in the first half getting to the foul line. In the second half, we missed a few and our heads dropped a little bit. Keep shooting, keep shooting good shots.

“I think it’s the consistency. We played three in three days and that can be difficult (in Florida). You travel on Thanksgiving, it’s a long week for these guys. Our first practice back we went through some defensive drills on Friday. We have to continue to improve our defense. Giving up 45 points (to Villanova) in the second half is too many.”

Perkins played down his performance, saying “I’m just happy we got the win tonight, my teammates set me up and out me in positions to score. I’m excited (about playing Penn).”

It was Devin Askew who out the Wildcats up for good, 41-39, with 14:32 to play, followed by a Perkins’ trey with 13:48 left.

That jumpstarted the Wildcats.

It’s when on successive trips down the court the Owls decided to leave the 6-foot-10 Brennan, the biggest player on the court, alone in the middle, for pair of easy layups, and the Wildcats’ lead surged to 48-42 with 11:53 to play.

Villanova streaked to the finish building a double-digit lead on a Perkins layup, and the Owls never got within 10 again.

“We talk about how we want to get out in transition, but we have to make stops to do that,” Fisher said. “We were down five, and that turned into seven, and then we were down nine.”

Temple will St. Joe’s at 4:30 on Saturday, December 6, and then the Owls will host Division II Georgian Court on Tuesday, December 9. Villanova, meanwhile, will have time to rest and prepare for Penn. St. Joe’s won the first two Big 5 Classics, with Villanova sharing winning the Big 5 title with Temple in 2022-23 and winning it outright in 2021-22.

It would be a nice first step for Willard in his first season as Wildcats’ head coach.        

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Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on BlueSky here.