No. 5 Villanova beats Tennessee in Bahamas
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 on Thursday in the Battle 4 Atlantis semifinals.
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 had 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).
Grant Williams scored 20 points for Tennessee, which clawed to 79-76 on Admiral Schofield’s 3-pointer with 51.6 seconds left. But that was as close as the Volunteers got, with Villanova hitting four free throws and getting a breakaway dunk from Donte DiVincenzo with 13.2 seconds left.
“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.” WASHINGTON STATE 75, SAINT JOSEPH’S 71 » Malachi Flynn hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 5 seconds remaining, lifting Washington State to a 75-71 victory over Saint Joseph’s after the Cougars rallied from a 20-point first-half deficit in the opening round of the Wooden Legacy on Thursday.
Robert Franks scored 19 points and Viont’e Daniels added 17 points for the Cougars (4-0), who earned their third comeback win of the season.
Shavar Newkirk led Saint Joe’s with 24 points, but he turned the ball over with 2.5 seconds left and he missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
The Cougars made 16 3-pointers, led by Daniels who sank 5 of 6. Flynn and Carter Skaggs had three each.
Saint Joe’s took a 36-16 lead in the first half after a 23-0 run. The Cougars missed 10 straight shots over a 6½-minute stretch and eventually trailed 38-24 at halftime.