City of Basketball Love

Ari Rosenfeld (@realA_rosenfeld) &
Teddy Bailey (@TheTeddyBailey)
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In a Big 5 clash at The Pavilion, Villanova jumped out to a 30-5 lead to cruise past Penn, 77-57 on Monday night. Freshman guard Jalen Brunson scored a career-high 22 points, lifting the Wildcats to the blowout victory in their last game of the non-conference schedule.

Here’s a quick report from The Pavilion:

At first…
Villanova jumped out to a 14-0 lead as Daniel Ochefu scored nine of Nova’s first 11 points. Ochefu hit a pair of 18-foot jumpers to open his night before finishing a 3-point play to spark a huge run to open the game. Guards Phil Booth and Ryan Arcidiacono scored the only other points during the early Villanova spurt.

Turning point…
Penn’s Sam Jones knocked down a three-pointer to put the Quakers on the board 14:49 mark of the first half, snapping a 14-0 Villanova run to start the game. Villanova immediately regained control from that point, responding with a 16-0 run highlighted by Ochefu running a fast break before hitting Arcidiacono for a reverse layup. Villanova’s lead reached 30-3 before Penn would score its second bucket, and the game was all but over by the middle of the first half.

Standout stars…
For Villanova, freshman guard Jalen Brunson led the Wildcats with 22 points, scoring all but two points in the second half. Villanova struggled from the free-throw line in the first half, but Brunson converted nine of his ten free-throws on the night in arguably his best collegiate game thus far.

Freshman Jackson Donahue got his first career start for the Quakers and responded incredibly well, pouring in all 18 of his points in the second half and knocking down five threes.

Noteworthy numbers…
Villanova entered the game scoring 38.7 percent of its points from beyond the arc, but got out to its massive lead without making a single three-pointer; the Wildcats were 0-for-6 from deep in the first half, but converted 16-for-25 (64 percent) from two-point range.

Despite the lopsided score, Villanova struggled from the foul line throughout the game. Normally a strong free-throw shooting team (75.4 percent), the Wildcats went just 26-for-41 (63 percent) tonight. They also struggled in that department in a road loss to Virginia, and it could hurt them in Big East competition.

Up next…
Villanova (10-2) vs. #6 Xavier (12-0) (Dec. 31, 12:00 p.m.)
Penn (5-7) vs. Binghamton (2-9) (Jan. 2, 1:00 p.m.)