City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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Daniel Ochefu missed his second consecutive game with a concussion on Wednesday. But with Villanova shooting the way it did against Creighton, the lack of its usual starting big man did not matter.

The Wildcats nailed 16 of their 29 (55.2 percent) 3-pointers in an 83-58 rout of Creighton on Wednesday night, easing to their ninth Big East win in 10 tries. The triples accounted for 57.8 percent of Villanova’s points and of the six players to attempt a triple against the Bluejays, five of them made at least half of those shots.

“It’s nice to be home in the Pavilion,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “We’ve been out of sync a little bit. And if you’re a good shooting team and you’re not making shots, it’s not just because you’re off, you’re not getting the right shots, you’re not in rhythm. We just moved the ball well, we took the right shots, we made the extra pass tonight. The last four of five games we were not doing that well. Tonight we really did.”

Kris Jenkins led the way for Villanova with 22 points and he hit four of his six 3-point attempts. Jalen Brunson also connected on a quartet of long balls and finished with 16 as six Wildcats scored at least nine points.

The 16 made threes was a huge boost from the Wildcats usual average of 8.2 3-pointers per game. And in their last two contests they had combined to only make 15 treys on 44 attempts.

“I didn’t think defensively we competed at a level we’re capable at competing at,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “Villanova can make you feel that way because you can defend them pretty well for 20 or 23 seconds and they get loose late in the shot clock. Of the seven guys that played a majority of the minutes, I think six of them hit a three. We didn’t have an answer for any one of them.”

Jenkins, who posted his first career double-double on Sunday at St. John’s with 14 points and 11 rebounds, again helped filled any scoring void left by Ochefu. Jenkins was 7-for-11 from the field, 4-for-4 from the foul line and hit the 20-point barrier for the third time in his career, falling just one point shy of his career-high.

Darryl Reynolds also played a big role in providing the Ochefu-less Wildcats a lift in the post. Reynolds, a junior forward, only had five points, but he grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds – the biggest reason Villanova held a 38-27 advantage over Creighton on the glass.

Reynolds also helped clog the lane defensively, which made a big difference in slowing Creighton point guard Maurice Watson Jr. as the game went along.

Watson Jr., a Philadelphia native and former Boys Latin standout, put on a first-half show in front of some friends and family. He hit three 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes (he entered the game with just 10 made threes on the season) and went to the locker room with 14 points. However, he was limited to just two points after the break, and Villanova ran away with the game in the second half.

“They hit some tough shots, Watson banked one in and he hit a couple of tough ones,” Wright said. “We know they’re capable of that, but I liked the way we stayed consistent. Toward the end of the first half we kept defending, we rushed their shots a little bit. And in the second half, I thought we did a really good job of containing Watson and not over-helping on him.”

It was the 12th time in 22 games Villanova has limited its opponent to less than 60 points, and the Wildcats will face a tough test defensively in their next game. They travel to face No. 11 Providence on Saturday looking to avenge their only Big East loss, which came on Jan. 24 at the Wells Fargo Center.

If they shoot like they did Wednesday, it should be another Big East win.