Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Wright: ‘Better team’ lost, ’Nova better learn from it
It wasn’t supposed to be this tough. As the No. 1 overall seed, Villanova was expected to win in a walk, not need a big second-half performance to get past 16th-seeded Mount St. Mary’s, 76-56.
Welcome to the NCAA Tournament where the unexpected is the norm, especially in the first weekend, even though the first day went pretty much to chalk.
Villanova’s victory still showed just how precarious life in the tournament can be. One bad half, even one bad stretch, in a half can mean the difference between advancing or going home for the season.
“They were great,” Jay Wright said of the Mountaineers. “They really outplayed us. We just, at the end, had more size and some more talented players that just made plays, but they were better prepared. Jamion (Christian, the Mount St. Mary’s coach) had them better prepared than I did and they played better. We just had bigger, better athletes, but they were a great team. I thought they were the better team tonight and deserve a lot of credit.”
The Wildcats (32-3) advanced because redshirt freshman Donte DiVincenzo had the first doubledouble of his career with 21 points and a careerhigh 13 rebounds. He also played a career-high 37 minutes. Villanova moved on because Jalen Brunson was his cool self with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists. The Wildcats made it to Round 2 because they physically were the better team.
Yet it wasn’t pretty. For the first half, it was downright brutal.
The Wildcats missed their first eight shots from the field and were held scoreless for the first six minutes of the game. Josh Hart got in early foul trouble and Kris Jenkins missed his first 10 shots before he finally made a basket.
Wright rightly said Mount St. Mary’s was the better team ... at least for about 19 minutes before the Wildcats got their act together, flexed their Big East muscles and used their size advantage to brush away the pesky, yet gritty Mountaineers.
“This is the greatest example of matchups,” Wright said. “Everyone says we’re Guard U, we’re a small, quick team, we’re not a small, quick team. We’ve got good size. We had three guys who couldn’t play in that game: (Eric) Paschall, (Dylan) Painter and (Darryl) Reynolds because they were too big.
“They were small and quick and they were going to get one of those guards matched up against one of our big guys, and it was a great game plan.”
It was similar to what Monmouth did back in 2006 when the Hawks put a scare into the No. 1 Wildcats before Villanova pulled out a 58-45 firstround victory at the Wells Fargo Center.
“In this tournament, you don’t get style points,” Wright said. “You either advance or you don’t. You gut it out.”
So don’t expect the Wildcats to dwell on the performance too long.
“If this was like a home game at the beginning of the year, it would be a big issue,” Wright said. “But we have to forget about it and get ready for our next game because we’re not going to be playing three little guards anymore.”
No, the Wildcats get either Virginia Tech or Wisconsin, and their guards are considerably bigger than the three guards the Mountaineers put on the floor Thursday night.
Still, it wasn’t just a matchup issue against a smaller team. Those Mountaineers had more energy to start the game, probably because they had nothing to lose. They were able to play free and loose, while the Wildcats appeared to be tight to start the game.
That is a concern, and not something you expect from a team that won a national championship a year ago by playing with more energy and by outtoughing its opponent.
“This is our 35th game and I didn’t think we were capable of that,” Wright said. “I thought we were capable of coming out and missing some shots, coming out and making some mistakes. But the level of energy we started with, I just didn’t think we were capable of that. I’m in a little bit of shock myself.”
The Wildcats finally got their act together in the second half to turn in the game into what appeared to be a cakewalk, which it was not.
“Every game this time of year is going to be tough,” Hart said. “None of them are going to be easy. The trick is to advance and not look back. We have to put this behind us and move on.”
But what if this happens again? Can the Wildcats survive another lackluster performance against a bigger, stronger and more talented team and hope to stay alive?
“No,” Wright said. “No, and I think they know that, but that’s not an excuse for not coming to play. But that’s on all of us. It’s our leadership. It’s on me … We’re lucky to advance.”