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NCAA Tournament: Nova defense hopes to slow down Bama and Sexton

03/17/2018, 1:00am EDT
By Chris Mueller

Villanova coach Jay Wright (above) and the Wildcats take on Alabama on Saturday with a Sweet 16 trip on the line. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Chris Mueller (@hooplove215)
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PITTSBURGH – There was an instance in late February where Villanova received a harsh reality check in its purest form – even as the No. 3 ranked team in the country. 

Creighton, whom Villanova had beaten by 20 points 23 days prior, stole an 89-83 overtime win after crawling back from an eight-point deficit with 4:32 remaining in regulation. The 'Cats  missed eight of their final nine shots of the second half – going 0-5 on 3-point attempts – and finished with a season-low 41.1 field goal percentage for the game. On the other end, a defensive meltdown enabled the Blue Jays to end the game on 26-12 run. 

In November and December, Villanova didn’t approach its defensive principles with an equal focus to the offensive end. The wins came by wide margins, but largely because of outscoring their opponents. Their offensive output was consistently high, but the opposite facet had become an underlying issue. 

A 101-93 loss to Butler on Dec. 30 marked the first time in Jay Wright’s Villanova tenure that his team had allowed 100 points, while six of its first 14 opponents on the season totaled 70 points or more. Wright repeatedly preached to the group that they couldn’t rely on offensive prowess alone. There’d eventually come a time when their shots wouldn’t fall, and an unequal focus to both ends of the floor would come back to haunt them. 

“He had been telling us the whole year that we were just winning off of talent,” said Mikal Bridges. “We were outscoring people, but not defending people. The message was about getting our defensive habits down. It was about playing harder on that end, playing for each other and actually relying on our defense instead of scoring.” 

The Creighton debacle proved Wright's point to be true, and in its aftermath, one of the most cohesive teams among Division I basketball took a long, hard look at itself. 

The message had finally hit home. 

“When we lost that game, we kind of got out of ourselves and into one another,” sophomore guard Donte DiVincenzo said. “That’s when we started to focus on one another. I think as players we finally realized that he was right. It finally hit us. We watched the film and we weren’t satisfied with how we were playing for one another.”

Villanova's defensive effort took a turn for the better. A newfound understanding formed among them centered around the fact that a second national championship in three years couldn't be accomplished without defense being a priority. 

“I think it was just an acknowledgement of what was going on,” DiVincenzo said. “I think we were just saying, ‘We’re winning games so we don’t really address it.’ But coach addressed it as we were just making shots. We needed to start defending because our offense wasn’t going to get us there in the end.” 

The ‘Cats buckled down, holding their final six opponents to a 69.0 points per game average with three solid performances against Marquette, Butler and Providence in the Big East tournament. They entered the NCAA tournament 22nd in KenPom's adjusted defensive efficiency rankings while limiting opponents to 96 points per 100 possessions. The team is 15-0 this season when holding its opponents below 70 points. 

It's certainly been a work in progress, albeit one of which appears to be peaking at the right time with a matchup against Alabama in the second round of the NCAA tournament on the immediate horizon. 

Alabama features one of the top guards in the country in freshman Collin Sexton, a savvy scorer who’s taken the country by storm over the last month; thriving off streaky shooting and dribble-drive penetration. He salvaged the Tide’s season with a buzzer-beating floater to knock off Texas A&M in the SEC tournament – widely considered a key factor in their at-large berth – and registered 22 of his 25 points in the second half to secure a first round win over eighth-seeded Virginia Tech on Thursday night. He’s averaging 26.3 points over his last four contests. 

Sexton has combined with fellow freshman John Petty, who posted 20 points on six treys against the Hokies, to create a dynamic one-two punch. Prioritize one, and the other will hurt you. Prioritize both, and several of Alabama’s role players can hurt you. 

“(Alabama) is a very, very unique team in that they do a great job of defining everybody’s roles and staying consistent in what they do no matter what you do defensively,” said Wright. “Sexton’s making plays, Petty’s there to shoot. They’ve got a great inside-out game.

“They keep great spacing, they’ve always got guys – two bigs around the basket, two guys on the offensive glass.” 

For as much as the matchup has drawn labels as Sexton versus Jalen Brunson, Saturday will actually be anything but that. Villanova has failed to advance out of the round of 32 four times as a No. 2 seed under Wright with losses to St. Mary's, Connecticut, N.C. State and Wisconsin. 

"In our world, the seedings don’t matter," said Eric Paschall. "Anybody can beat anybody." 

With that being said, there's a lot more on the line Saturday than Brunson or Sexton proving themselves to be the best point guard in the country.

“(Sexton) is a great player. He’s the whole package for that team, but I mean, it’s not just him," said Brunson. "They have great pieces around him. ...It's really about Villanova versus Alabama. The individual matchups are great and all, but we're just worried about playing Villanova basketball for 40 minutes. ” 

From Phil Booth’s perspective, the Tide resemble a hybrid of Providence and Tennessee with their distinct combination of length, speed and athleticism. For the ‘Cats, collective team-wide defense – a trait they’ve continued to develop since the Creighton loss – is high on their priority list entering the contest. 

“It’s not going to be a 1-on-1 matchup with (Sexton),” said Collin Gillespie. “One person isn’t going to guard him. Everyone’s going to guard him eventually at some point in the game. He’s gonna get shots off, but it’s not one guy’s assignment to stop him. It’s a group assignment.

“You’re not going to stop him with his dribble penetration. He’s not somebody that you can stop, but we just need to make it difficult for him. If we can do that and limit the other guys’ opportunities, then I think we’ll be fine.” 


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