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Northwood no match for 'Nova in exhibition matchup

11/04/2014, 10:30am EST
By Tom Reifsnyder
Josh Hart

Josh Hart (above) and Villanova had no problems with Northwood in an exhibition matchup on Tuesday night. (Photo: Mark Jordan)

Tom Reifsnyder (@tom_reifsnyder)

For the first time in 22 years, former Villanova head coach Rollie Massimino returned to the sideline at the Pavilion.

Massimino made his claim to fame with ‘Nova in 1985, when he led the Wildcats to an upset victory over highly-favored Georgetown in the NCAA Championship.

Now in his ninth season at Northwood University (Florida), Massimino has matched up against his former school twice before (2006, 2008), but never on Villanova’s home court. He and the rest of the 1985 championship team were honored in a special ceremony after pre-game warmups.

It was a great moment for Massimino and the 1985 team, but once the game began, it was all business for Jay Wright’s 2014-2015 Wildcats.

Villanova had no issues in a 93-50 exhibition win over their NAIA opponent.

The Wildcats put the heat on Northwood right away, opening up with a 16-3 lead and taking advantage of the obvious size differential.

Junior forward Daniel Ochefu looked especially good for ‘Nova’s frontcourt, scoring eight of his 12 points in the first half; he would finish with 10 rebounds for a double-double.

“He’s big for us, both him and Darryl [Reynolds] inside,” redshirt junior Dylan Ennis said. “I think we have a lot of guys that are versatile that can play multiple positions so having big guys like Daniel and Darryl in there rebounding is great for us.”

Ennis got the start over sophomore Josh Hart alongside Ryan Arcidiacano and Darrun Hilliard in the backcourt for ‘Nova. Ennis finished with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting while Hart had five points, five rebounds, and four assists.

Ennis looked very comfortable in a starting role despite not knowing he would be in the lineup until the day before.

“He [Wright] actually didn’t tell the team who’s starting until the day before the game,” Ennis said. “We all play hard, any one of us could start at any given moment.

“You see all those guys who come off the bench, they could be subbed in to start for any one of us; so we never look at it as they five starters we just look at it as those five are starting the game.”

If it wasn’t evident before tip-off, the Wildcats’ 50-23 halftime lead was a certain indication of the game’s blowout potential. The second half was more of the same for ‘Nova as they extended their lead to 71-29 by the second media timeout (11:18).

Senior forward Malte Ziegenhagen was Northwood’s leading scorer in the loss with 13 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field, 2-of-6 from three.

Hilliard, a 6-6 senior, was the clear standout of the night for Villanova, scoring a game-high 20 points in the Wildcats’ rout of Massimino’s Northwood squad. Along with Arcidiacono, ‘Nova will look to Hilliard to provide a majority of the team’s backcourt production this season.

If tonight’s performance was any indication, Hilliard could be poised for the best individual season of his career.

While Hilliard is expected to lead the team in scoring, redshirt senior forward JayVaughn Pinkston will be tasked with setting the tone for ‘Nova this season.

“JP’s been here for four years now and he knows everything coach wants,” Ennis said. “He’s the aggressor; he gets on us if we’re not doing something right, but he’s our captain and we listen to him.

“He’s been through the good times and the bad times here, so who better to get advice from than someone that experienced it.”

Pinkston chipped in with eight points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals in the victory.

The reigning Big East regular season champions play one more exhibition game this Sunday against Nyack before opening up their regular season in a matchup with Lehigh on Nov. 14.


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