Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Senior duo Hart and Jenkins lead Villanova
Senior duo helps top-ranked Wildcats thump Providence
PHILADELPHIA >> Pretty soon, Jay Wright won’t have seniors Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins to lean on when things get tough for Villanova.
Their collegiate careers are quickly coming to an end and their leadership role will be passed down to the likes of Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Phil Booth — whenever the injured guard returns to the lineup.
But while Hart and Jenkins are still wearing Villanova blue and white, the top-ranked Wildcats will rely on their skill, experience and leadership skills as they did in Saturday’s 78-68 Big East victory over Providence in front of 18,731 onlookers.
“I think the two of them are two of the best players in college basketball,” Wright said. “We’re lucky to have them on our team because they can do everything. They defend. They rebound. They’re leaders. They score. They pass, they’re just complete players. We’re very, very fortunate to have them.”
“I think the two of them are two of the best players in college basketball,” Wright said. “We’re lucky to have them on our team because they can do everything. They defend. They rebound. They’re leaders. They score. They pass, they’re just complete players.” – Villanova coach Jay Wright
You won’t get any argument from Providence coach Ed Cooley. He knows a little something about coaching a team with experienced players. He had two-time Big East Player of the Year Kris Dunn and Ben Bentil before they jumped to the NBA last year. Dunn and Bentil led the Friars to back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
“They have two game changers in Jenkins and Hart,” Cooley said. “When you have two of the better players on the floor, every game you’re going to have a chance to win and those two guys played great today.”
It wasn’t just that Hart scored a game-high 25 points and handed out six assists or that Jenkins finished with 19 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals. It was when they produced those numbers that mattered.
Hart saved 15 of his points and four of his assists for the second half. Jenkins had nine points, two rebounds and two assists after the break to help the top-ranked Wildcats (19-1 overall, 7-1 Big East)
pull away from the Friars.
The Wildcats needed the spark after Providence (138, 3-5) scored 10 of the final 15 points of the first half to cut Villanova’s lead to 35-31. Hart, Jenkins and Bridges triggered an 8-0 run at the start of the second half that turned the tide in Villanova’s favor.
Bridges dropped in a layup, blocked a shot by Alpha Diallo and then buried a jumper in the lane, all in 48 seconds. Then Jenkins and Hart took over. Jenkins buried a turnaround jumper off a feed from Hart and Hart followed with a layup to extend Villanova’s lead to 43-31.
“I think the game was lost in the first five possessions of the second half,” Cooley. “We had wide open shots, missed layups and turnovers and they capitalized on every turnover. Early on it was their second shots that got us and then we turned the ball over and they capitalized on it.”
Hart and Jenkins did not set out to take control of the situation. It just worked out that way.
“When we come out at halftime we want to make sure that we’re focused and we’re concentrating on the adjustments that we made. So we make it a point to go out and executive.”
With Providence bent on taking away the 3-pointer, Villanova’s strategy was to attack the rim in the second half. Of the 17 field goals the Wildcats made in the second half, nine were layups and five were mid-range jumpers. Only three were 3-pointers.
Hart was the one in attack mode. Of his 10 made field goals, seven were layups and five of those buckets came in the second half.
“I was just being aggressive,” Hart said. “That’s something that coach always preaches, everybody be aggressive and go from there. If they step up, make the right pass. If they don’t, go to score.”
Hart does that with the best of them.
“He is as relentless attacking the rim as anyone I’ve ever seen,” Wright said. “Kyle Lowry used to do that, but Josh is bigger and so Josh can get in there against bigger players. A lot of the shots Josh takes going to the rim you would tell another player not to take, but he’s just good at that. He’s just good at finding the contact, like Kyle used to, and still finishing.”
The Wildcats needed the combined 44-point effort from Hart and Jenkins, as well as 15 points and four assists from Bridges, and 13 points and six helpers from Brunson because the bench did not contribute much and their defense, especially from long distance, had an off day.
The only points from the bench came on a layup by Donte DiVincenzo with 12 minutes, 39 seconds to play in the game. Eric Paschall only played 10 minutes because of foul trouble.
Villanova came into the game leading the Big East in 3-point field goal percentage defense. However, that did not keep the Friars from shooting 13-for26 from beyond the arc, including 8-for-14 in the second half.
“I was mostly disappointed in our zone defense,” Wright said. “We gave up a lot of threes in our zone defense.”
Good thing the Wildcats still have Hart and Jenkins to lean on when things got tough.
“The seniors come out and they take control,” Wright said. “That’s what we have and we’re very fortunate. They’ve been in a lot of games like this. We broke down a little bit defensively at the end of the first half and in the second half we came out and got big stops and turnovers and then we got out. Kris got it going a little bit. That’s what we talk about when say you have two seniors like this.”