‘Exhausted’ ’Cats used defensive energy wisely

Two years ago the scene was wild as Villanova rolled over Xavier to win its first Big East Tournament title in 20 years.

The scene was a lot more subdued Saturday after the second-ranked Wildcats topped Creighton, 74-60, to claim their second conference tournament championship in three years.

Guess when you’ve been to the mountain top it’s hard to get excited about reaching the base camp.

“I think part of it was just exhaustion,” senior Josh Hart said. “We just played hard as we could for 40 minutes.”

It was the kind of effort you have come to expect from the second-ranked Wildcats (31-3), especially on the defensive end. Villanova forced 17 turnovers, and held the Blue Jays to 41.4 percent shooting overall (24-for-58) and 25 percent shooting from 3-point range (6-for-24), and did so without fouling. The Wildcats were whistled for 12 personal fouls in the final and just 29 in the tournament. That’s less than 10 fouls per game. “We might have played our best defensive game of the year,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said.

You won’t get any argument from Creighton coach Greg McDermott. His team came into the final on a roll offensively, but became a turnover machine against the Wildcats. Villanova enjoyed a 21-7 advantage in points off turnovers. To no one’s surprise, the difference in the final score was 14 points, too.

“That’s too much to overcome against a team like Villanova,” McDermott said. “If you’re going to be successful, you have to value the ball. You have to take care of the basketball and not allow them to have those easy scoring opportunities.”

••• Hart made history twice Saturday, once early in the game and then after the contest was over. With his third rebound he became the first guard in Villanova history to grab 800 boards in a career. He finished with 29 points, six rebounds and two assists to join Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing (1984 and 1985) and Louisville’s Peyton Siva (2012 and 2013) as the only two-time winners of the Dave Gavitt Award as the Most Outstanding Player in the Big East Tournament.

Villanova’s Kris Jenkins and Jalen Brunson also earned all-tournament honors, as did Creighton’s Marcus Foster, Angel Delgado of Seton Hall and Trevon Bluiett from Xavier.