Villanova vanquishes Vols, 85-76
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — Fifth-ranked Villanova walked into the locker room at halftime facing a double-digit deficit against Tennessee and several players battling foul trouble.
The way coach Jay Wright figured, there was at least one positive note: His Wildcats should be fresh and ready to roll out of the break.
Jalen Brunson scored 25 points to help Villanova rally from 15 down and beat Tennessee 85-76 in Thursday’s semifinals at the Battle 4 Atlantis.
The Wildcats (5-0) trailed 44-29 with 1:39 left before roaring out of the break with a dominating run. Villanova scored the first 11 points as part of that 23-2 burst, with the Wildcats playing far more aggressively and getting out in transition.
“I would love to tell you I came up with some great strategy,” Wright said. “It was just we made it through the first half with everybody in foul trouble. … We just said, ‘All right, we’ve got everybody back, let’s go play, let’s do what we were supposed to do.’”
Villanova shot 52 percent after halftime, fueled by Tennessee’s 12 second-half turnovers that helped the Wildcats get loose on the break. The Wildcats also had an aggressive edge that got them to the line 24 times after halftime.
“That’s how we should play, and throughout the whole game,” said Mikal Bridges, who scored 21 points. “You just saw parts of that today, in the beginning of the first half and the beginning of the second half. We practice every day trying to play like that for 40 minutes.”
Villanova built a 15-point lead with 4:40 left before having to hold off a late rally by the Volunteers (3-1), who will play for third place in the tournament today.
Brunson scored 18 of his 25 points after halftime, and he made nine of nine free throws to go with six assists. The Wildcats made 20 of 24 free throws after halftime and 33
of 37 for the game.
Grant Williams scored 20 points for Tennessee, which clawed to within 79-76 on Admiral Schofield’s 3-pointer with 51.6 seconds left. But that was as close as the Vols got, with Villanova hitting four free throws and getting a breakaway dunk from Donte DiVincenzo with 13.2 seconds left to seal it.
“When they get points easily off turnovers, and out in transition, and also they get more possessions on offense, it’s hard when you don’t have those shot opportunities,” Williams said. “I think their pressure really took us out of our offense.
“In the first half we did a good job of getting to what we wanted. In the second half, they just ran us out of what we wanted.”
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said, “We went in (the locker room) and they were feeling pretty good obviously, and they were saying all the right things. But we didn’t come out and do the right things.”