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NCAA Tournament: Spellman helps Villanova advance to Elite Eight

03/24/2018, 1:00am EDT
By Owen McCue

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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BOSTON--As Villanova struggled with Wisconsin big men Ethan Happ and Nigel Hayes in the second round of last year’s NCAA Tournament, one had to wonder if a certain 6-foot-9 freshman forward sitting on the bench might have helped the Wildcats avoid the eventual season-ending loss.

Omari Spellman came to the Wildcats before last season as a five-star forward out of Ohio who appeared ready to make an immediate impact for a team hoping to make another NCAA title run.

Instead, the NCAA deemed Spellman ineligible for the season in September, and he watched all 36 of the Wildcats’ games, including two NCAA tournament contests.

When Spellman and the Wildcats learned their NCAA path earlier this month, he was more than ready for his opportunity to contribute to a deep tourney run.

“Now my time is here,” Spellman said on Selection Sunday. “I just want to seize every moment that I can.”

After totaling 17 combined points in his first two NCAA appearances last weekend, Spellman left his mark on the top-seeded Wildcats' 90-78 win against No. 4 seed West Virginia on Friday night at TD Garden.

Junior guard Jalen Brunson led the Wildcats with 27 points, but it was Spellman who stole the show, putting together a few highlight plays during a critical stretch in the second half to go along with an overall impressive performance.

Spellman scored 18 points, grabbed eight rebounds and picked up three assists, three blocks and two steals on Friday

His performance, helped the Wildcats overcome a six-point second half deficit--their largest of the tournament--to take down the Mountaineers and advance to the Elite Eight, where they will play Texas Tech on Sunday.

“To be honest I don’t know,” Brunson said. “After the game Allie LaForce asked me, ‘How do you think Omari played?’ And I just said, we’re used to that. Omari can shoot. He can make plays. He can do all that. He’s a great defender. It’s nothing that we’re not already used to.”

Even with the team’s top two scorers from its second round win against Alabama, redshirt-sophomore guard Donte DiVincenzo and redshirt-junior wing Mikal Bridges, in foul trouble in the first half, Villanova led West Virginia 44-42 at the halftime break. Brunson scored 16 for Villanova, while Daxter Miles, who finished with a team-high 16 points, led West Virginia with 11.

Wildcats’ redshirt-junior forward Eric Paschall opened the second half scoring with a three to put Villanova up five, but It was all West Virginia after that. The Mountaineers reeled off a 10-0 run to go up 52-47 with 14:56 left. Spellman ended the run with a three and tied the game with two free throws.

The Mountaineers had another response of their own to go up 60-54 with 11:08 left on a score by senior guard Javon Carter, who was one of five Mountaineers in double figures with 12 points. The deficit marked Villanova’s largest of the NCAA Tournament. Villanova coach Jay Wright called timeout after Carter’s bucket. He was not worried though.

“I just looked at Jalen, Mikal and Phil (Booth), and I could see in their eyes we were good,” Wright said.

Brunson scored four points in a row. Paschall, who finished with 14, added two free throws to tie the game and Bridges, who finished with 16, drilled a three to put the Wildcats up 63-60 with 9:39 left. Then came Spellman, who swung the momentum completely toward the Wildcats with two plays, one right after the other.

It started when West Virginia guard James Bolden drove into the paint and was stopped by Brunson. As Bolden tried to get off an awkward shot attempt, Spellman came over and emphatically spiked the ball right into the floor before collecting the rebound.

He then passed the ball up to Booth for a potential transition bucket. Booth’s layup attempt was too strong, bouncing hard off the glass, but there behind him was Spellman, who after sprinting the length of the court was rewarded with a two-handed putback slam over West Virginia forward Routt Logan.

“I just saw him put his head down,” Spellman said of the block. “(Brunson) had him chested pretty well. I just saw the opportunity for the block. I came over and got the rebound and tried to outlet it. And I saw Phil going to the hoop, and I was just thinking to myself, if he misses this, I got to go get it.”

The plays capped an 11-0 run for the Wildcats that helped them turn a six-point deficit into a five-point advantage in a little more than two minutes. Villanova now led 65-60 with 9:03 remaining.

West Virginia ended the run with a Teddy Allen bucket to cut the lead to three, but after a three by DiVincenzo, the Wildcats kept at least a two-possession cushion for the rest of the contest.

It’s a moment Wright said the team will take into its next game against Texas Tech as it tries to make it to the Final Four for the second time in three years.

“In this tournament, to be down six against a team like that in the second half and battle back, you know in the next game that’s going to happen,” Wright said. “So you don’t want it to happen the first time in a final eight game.”

Throughout the game, Spellman battled inside with Mountaineers 6-foot-8, 260-pound forward Sagaba Konate. Konate finished with 12 points and nine rebounds, but Wright said Spellman helped neutralize him, so other Wildcats could attack the glass.

The opposing big men exchanged heated words on multiple times throughout the contest, though in the end Spellman turned in the better individual and team outing.

"It was just two guys competing," Spellman said. "That's really all it was. He's a great player. It was definitely a challenge to go up against him. We were just competing at the highest level."

The Wildcats knocked down 13 3-point shots as a team. Spellman knocked down four of his eight 3-point attempts, including two down the stretch as Villanova closed out the win. It was the fifth time this year he knocked down four-or-more threes. His season-high was six against Seton Hall on Feb. 24.

He’s averaging 10.6 points and 7.9 rebounds per game for the Wildcats and shooting the ball nearly 44 percent from behind the 3-point line on the season.

While Spellman certainly announced himself to a national audience in the Sweet 16 win, Brunson made sure to note to those who didn’t already know that he’s been doing it all season.

“When he makes shots, it’s not special to us,” Brunson said. “We’re thankful for it though.”


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