’Nova needs OT to survive DePaul surge
RADNOR >> The numbers indicated that Villanova should have had no trouble with DePaul Tuesday night at the Pavilion.
DePaul was winless in the Big East and had lost 18 straight to the 14th-ranked Wildcats.
Jay Wright, though, knew better. This DePaul team was better than its predecessors. Its three league losses were by a total of 16 points, so Wright expected a dogfight. He turned out to be on the mark.
The Wildcats overcame a slow start and a double-digit deficit, to extend its winning streak to three games with a 79-75 victory over the Blue Demons Tuesday night in overtime.
Collin Gillespie, Saddiq Bey, Jeremiah RobinsonEarl and Jermaine Samuels led the way for the Wildcats (13-3, 4-1 Big East).
Gillespie tallied 13 of his team-high 21 points in the second half and overtime to help the Wildcats pull take care of DePaul (12-5, 0-4). He was 9-for-10 from the free throw line, including 4-for-4 in the extra period. He also handed out four assists.
Bey pitched in with 18 points and four assists. Robinson-Earl collected 13 points and 13 rebounds for the third double-double of his career. Samuels pitched in with 15 points.
Guard Charlie Moore topped DePaul with 29 points. Paul Reed collected
18 points and 15 rebounds for his Big East-leading 12th double-double of the season. Jaylen Butz added 16 points to help the Blue Demons win the battle of the paint, 38-28.
The Wildcats were lucky to have a 30-28 lead at halftime. They trailed by as many as 13 points largely because of DePaul’s defense.
The Blue Demons contested every shot inside the
3-point arc and a few outside of it. Villanova’s offense did not come to life until Gillespie got going. The 6-3 guard scored all eight of his points in a 64-second stretch that was part of a 12-0 run to close the first half.
Gillespie sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around two free throws to cut DePaul’s lead to 28-26. Cole Swider hit both ends of a one-and-one to tie it. Bey dropped in a layup with 33 seconds left to give the Wildcats their first lead since 5-4.
Robinson-Earl blocked a dunk attempt by DePaul’s
Butz to preserve the lead.
DePaul held Villanova to
31 percent shooting overall and from 3-point range, but the Blue Demons could not sustain that defensive intensity over 40 minutes. The Wildcats picked up the offensive pace to slowly pull away in the second half.
Jermaine Samuels and Swider sandwiched buckets around a Gillespie 3-pointer to stretch Villanova’s lead to 37-30. Yet Villanova’s shooting percentage improved, its interior defense did not. Butz and Reed got inside for four points each as the Blue Demons went on a 10-3 run.
After Bey and Moore traded 3-pointers, Gillespie hit a triple and RobinsonEarl dropped in a reverse layup off a beautiful feed from Bey to give the Wildcats a five-point cushion.
Villanova extended that lead to 61-49, but the Blue Demons did not go quietly. DePaul tallied 16 of the next
21 points to cut the deficit to
67-65 and got a huge break when Robinson-Earl turned it over with 27.5 seconds left. Moore hit a driving layup to tie it and Bey’s 3-pointer with the clock running down was off the mark.
Gillespie, though, came through in the extra session. He hit four free throws in the first 71 seconds of overtime to give the Wildcats a 71-67 lead, and then knocked down two more foul shots with 3.3 seconds left to give Villanova a 77-74 cushion.
Villanova fouled Moore before he could attempt a game-tying 3-pointer. Moore made the first foul shot and deliberately missed the second. Samuels came up with the rebound and was fouled with six-tenths of a second left in the game. Samuels made both free throws to ice it.
• • • All-time greats Kyle Lowry and Ryan Arcidiacono will have their numbers retired in separate ceremonies in February.
Lowry will have his No.
1 retired when the Wildcats host St. John’s at the Finneran Pavilion Feb. 26.
The Cardinal Dougherty grad was part of 52 wins and two deep NCAA tournament runs in his short time on the Main Line. The Wildcats reached the Sweet 16 in
2005 and the Elite Eight in
2006.
The five-time NBA AllStar guided the Toronto Raptors to their first NBA title last season. He also earned a gold medal representing the United States at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Arcidiacono’s No. 15 will be retired during a ceremony against Marquette on Feb.
12. Arcidiacono was a fouryear starter and guided the Wildcats to the 2016 NCAA title. The 6-3 guard was the co-Big East Player of the Year as a junior and won 117 games and two Big East titles (2014, 2016) in his career. He is fourth on the alltime assist list with 535. His last help led to Kris Jenkins’ game winner in Villanova’s
77-74 victory over North Carolina in the national championship game.
••• director Mark
Athletic
Jackson has added a new title. He was named vice president by university president the Rev. Peter M. Donahue, OSA. Jackson will stay on as athletic director and will be a member of the President’s Cabinet and also serve as a direct liaison between the department of athletics and the broader campus community.
Jackson was appointed as athletic director on Aug. 25, 2015.
•••
NOTES >> Bey was named Big
5 men’s Player of the Week for the second time this season. The 6-8 sophomore forward averaged 22 points to lead the Wildcats to a pair of victories. He scored a career-high 33 points on 10for-15 shooting and 8-for-10 from 3-point range in an 8066 victory over Georgetown Saturday. Robinson-Earl was named Big East Freshman of the Week. The 6-9 rookie averaged 10.5 points and
10.5 rebounds as the Wildcats topped Creighton and Georgetown. It’s the second time Robinson-Earl has received the honor.