City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Villanova won its sixth straight game to start the season for the third consecutive year, downing Georgia Tech 69-52 to win the NIT Season Tip-Off championship.

At First…
The first 10 minutes of the game had each team land a few jabs, though all that resulted in was a 19-19 tie. Georgia Tech then went cold, missing eight shots in a seven-minute span while committing three turnovers that allowed Villanova to go on an 11-0 spurt. But the Yellow Jackets responded with an 11-0 run of their own spanning halftime, making it a 30-30 game with 18 minutes remaining after a Charles Mitchell three-point play.

Turning Point…
After ‘Nova’s offense was quiet for six minutes, it suddenly woke back up. A big three-point play from backup big man Darryl Reynolds helped kick-start a 10-0 run, part of a 20-7 stretch that gave Villanova its biggest lead of the game to that point, 50-37, on a Josh Hart layup with 8:39 remaining.

Standout Stars…
Hart, a junior wing, scored all 13 of his points in the second half, one major reason why the Wildcats were able to pull away over the final 15 minutes of the game. He joined Jalen Brunson to lead the team in scoring; that's the second game in a row the freshman point guard led the team in scoring after dropping a career-high 19 points against Stanford the day before. Junior wing Kris Jenkins was 3-of-10 from the floor, all 3-point attempts, to help get him to his 12 points.

Brunson was named the tournament MVP, while Hart earned all-tournament honors after putting up 10 points and nine rebounds in the semifinals.

Noteworthy Numbers…
Despite an 8-of-27 (29.6 percent) mark from the 3-point arc, the Wildcats shot 27-of-51 (52.9 percent) overall for the game. Stanford was 20-of-56 (35.7 percent), including a 1-of-9 performance from Adam Smith, who came into the game averaging 13.0 ppg for the Yellow Jackets.

Georgia Tech won the rebounding battle 39-28; Villanova forced 14 turnovers and gave it away 10 times.

Up Next…
Villanova (6-0) @ Saint Joseph’s (4-1) (Dec. 1, Hagan Arena)
Georgia Tech (4-2) vs. Wofford (1-3) (Dec. 1, Atlanta, Ga.)