Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
’Nova title hopes alive as season winds down at Georgetown
RADNOR » Saddiq Bey, Collin Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels all stayed after practice Friday to work on their freethrow shooting.
Considering that Villanova is 28-for49 from the line in its last three games (57.1 percent) and saw its foul-shooting percentage drop a full two points in that span (77.8 to 75.8), a little extra work was warranted. But it’s not a sign that the 14th-ranked Wildcats have hit the panic button heading into Saturday’s regularseason finale at Georgetown (12 o’clock, FOX29).
“You work on it all you can,” Samuels said. “If you make ‘em, you make ‘em. If you miss ‘em, you miss ‘em. You’ve just got to live with the results.”
The poor free throw shooting did prove costly in a 58-54 loss to Providence, but not in a gritty 79-77 victory over No. 8 Seton Hall, which kept the Wildcats (23-7 overall, 12-5 Big East) in the hunt to grab of a share of what would be a sixth Big East regular-season title in seven years.
Villanova needs to beat Georgetown and hope Creighton knocks off Seton Hall, which would create a three-way tie for the title.
“That would be great, but we’ve got to try to control our own destiny and play our next game, so that’s what our mindset is,” Bey said.
Villanova’s sole focus is on the Hoyas (15-15, 5-12), who are playing for their postseason lives. Georgetown’s only hope of making the NCAA tournament is to win the Big East tournament next week in New York. It needs a .500 record to qualify for the NIT and that makes the Hoyas dangerous.
“Oh yeah,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “They’re playing their last home game. They’ve got nothing to lose. They always play great against us, so all we can do is be concerned with how other teams play us.”
Georgetown is one of the top offensive teams in the conference. The Hoyas are third in scoring offense (75.3), first in free-throw percentage (77.6) and second in assists per game (15). The big question is the status of 7-0 center Omer Yurtseven and guard Mac McClung, Georgetown’s top two scorers.
Yurtseven has appeared in one game since Feb. 8 because of an ankle injury. McClung has missed nine games with an injured foot. He last played in Georgetown’s loss to Providence on Feb. 19. Yurtseven is averaging 15.8 points per game and McClung 15.7.
“You don’t know if Yurtseven is going to play,” Wright said. “You don’t know if McClung is going to play because they’ve been popping in there once in a while so we’ve got to be prepared for everybody. It’s not an easy preparation game and they’re really explosive offensively.”
Villanova did a good job defensively against the pair in an 80-66 win over the Hoyas at the Wells Fargo Center on Jan. 11. ‘Nova held Yurtseven to 10 points and McClung to eight.
“They’re just a tough team, really scrappy,” Bey said of the Hoyas. “Everybody can score. They have dynamic guards and a great big. So every position is tough to guard.”
• • • NOTES » Villanova can’t be the No. 1 seed in the Big East tournament, which begins next Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. The best the Wildcats can hope for is the No. 2. … Gillespie needs 26 points to become the next member of the 1,000-point club. … This is a homecoming for Bey and freshman guard Justin Moore. Bey hails from Largo, Md. and attended Sidwell Friends. Moore is from For Washington, Md. and went to DeMatha.