City of Basketball Love

Ian Wenik (@run_IMW)
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NEW YORK — Ultimately, it took a village to replace Daniel Ochefu.

The news that Villanova’s strongest interior presence would be sidelined with a concussion he had suffered in practice emerged in the hours before the No. 6 Wildcats’ matchup with St. John’s and left coach Jay Wright with few options in terms of a replacement.

Wright could easily have chosen to utilize a smaller, speedier lineup against the thin Red Storm, choosing to rely on his team’s usually stellar 3-point shooting ability.

Instead, he decided to trust the remaining big men at his disposal, pushing Darryl Reynolds into the starting lineup alongside Kris Jenkins and giving swingman Mikal Bridges extended minutes in the frontcourt off the bench.

The decision may have saved Villanova from what would have been a devastating upset and instead produced a 68-53 victory.

In the first half, atrocious shooting from medium and long distance placed a hard cap on the Wildcats’ offensive efficiency. Despite a host of open looks, they shot 2-10 from distance and 7-30 from the field.

“We believe, when you have good shooters, you’re gonna have nights where shots don’t go in,” Wright said. “We did try to post up Kris a little bit, post up Darryl a little bit… and then drive the ball a little bit more.

“We didn’t do a great job of that. The second half [was] a little better.”

Ultimately, the ability of Villanova’s big men to draw contact like Ochefu does with regularity helped the team withstand it’s early shooting struggles. Bridges and Reynolds combined to hit six of the seven free throws they attempted in the first half.

More importantly for Reynolds, he was able to stay in the game and log meaningful minutes. He finished with 29, a season high.

“There’s nothing more meaningful than starting and knowing you’re the only big guy, you can’t get in foul trouble,” Wright said of Reynolds. “He did pick up a foul early and he was able to play and only commit one more foul and still be effective.”

Jenkins filled the void in a different way.

Averaging only 3.2 rebounds per game entering Sunday, Jenkins took it upon himself to handle the majority of work on the glass against the Red Storm. He eclipsed his previous season high in rebounds (seven) in the first half alone, finishing with 11.

“Going into every game, I try to focus on rebounding,” Jenkins said. “It’s just today, I was able to get to a lot more because Daniel usually grabs most of the rebounds.”

Jenkins’ shooting helped wake up the Wildcats’ moribund offense as well. He hit a straightaway three with 3:46 to play in the first half that pulled Villanova within one point. After the Wildcats’ pressure forced a steal, Bridges threw down a thunderous dunk with one hand over heavy contact that gave Villanova the lead for good.

Fourteen seconds into the second half, Jenkins hit an open three from the right wing that pushed the Villanova lead back to four and started a back-breaking 22-7 run. Jenkins finished with 14 points — his first career double-double.

“We don’t want to respond by whether a shot’s going in or not, but sometimes players do,” Wright said. “I think that (3-pointer) helped.”

Reynolds and Bridges stepped up their defensive pressure during the Wildcats’ early second-half run. They helped pressure the Red Storm in their own end significantly enough to force six turnovers before the second media timeout alone. St. John’s finished with 21 giveaways.

In a sense, Sunday showed how the Wildcats may have to win games in the absolute worst-case scenario. Ochefu was absent and Ryan Arcidiacono was almost invisible, sitting for stretches in the first half and finishing the afternoon with only two field goals on nine attempts.

No timetable has been set for Ochefu’s return, but Villanova can return home confident in its ability to survive when it’s shorthanded.