‘Nova puts clamps on North Texas
Villanova had a game plan to stop or at least contain North Texas guard Javion Hamlet. It just wasn’t working in the early going Sunday night.
The Conference USA Player of the Year and conference tournament Most Valuable Player sliced up the Wildcats pretty good. He had five points and three assists as the Mean Green opened up an eight-point lead less than nine minutes into the game.
Something had to be done or the Wildcats would end up as the Mean Green’s second victim of the NCAA Tournament.
And so Villanova coach Jay Wright turned to junior Cole Swider, who has gained praise for his improvement on defense, to slow Hamlet and the Mean Green down.
The move shifted the momentum in Villanova’s favor.
Hamlet and 13th-seeded North Texas cooled off; the fifth-seeded Wildcats heated up, especially from deep, and rolled to an 8461 victory over the Mean Green in the second round of the South Regional at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
“We knew we just might have to adjust,” Wright said. “We didn’t think we’d have to adjust that early. But we changed our ball-screen coverage, put Cole in there and Cole did a great job doubling him and getting back to his man. And then we got a couple of stops and hit some threes in transition. And I thought that made a big difference.”
Hamlet finished the half with 11 points and tallied a game-high 25 points to pace the Mean Green (1810), but those points came later in the half and could not equal the offensive display the Wildcats put on after falling behind early.
Once it got its defense right, Villanova went on a 34-6 tear over the final 11 minutes of the first half to turn a 21-13 deficit into a commanding 47-27 halftime lead and storm into the Sweet 16 for the ninth time since the tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1985, the seventh time under Jay Wright and the third time in their last five tournament appearances.
Villanova (18-6) gets topseeded Baylor (24-2), which knocked off No. 9 Wisconsin, 76-63. That game will be Saturday. The site and time has not been determined.
“We were pretty good defensively,” Wright said. “I think our guys are getting comfortable, our young guys are getting experience. And I think them coming off the bench — like we had a session when Bryan Antoine came in, Cole Swider came in. And we brought Chris
Arch back in and made a good run. And I think that helped. And I think it was a really good offensive effort. We made shots. That always helps.”
The Wildcats shot 55 percent overall (31-for56) and 50 percent from 3-point range (15-for-30). It’s the first time Villanova shot 50 percent or better overall and from deep in the same game since a 9664 romp over Marquette on Feb. 10.
And everyone got into the act. Villanova had eight players make a 3-point field goal to tie an NCAA Tournament record. Swider was 3-for-4 from deep and finished with nine points. Caleb Daniels was 3-for-6 and tallied 11 points. Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (18 points), Justin Moore (15) and Chris Arcidiacono (career-high six) drilled two triples each. Jermaine Samuels (15), Bryan Antoine and Eric Dixon added one apiece.
That efficiency came from sharing the basketball. The Wildcats had 19 assists on
31 baskets. Robinson-Earl tied his career-high with six helpers. Moore had five assists and Samuels pitched in with four. Villanova also committed just six turnovers in the game.
“It felt great,” Samuels said of the offensive explosion. “I was more excited about just proving it to each other on the defensive end, making extra plays for each other, making extra passes. Shots are always nice, but that togetherness on the floor is more than just making shots.”
“Everything looks great when the shots are going in, man,” Wright added. “And I think our guys have learned to play through some games when our shots weren’t going in. And I think that’s important for us, you know? And so when this happens - I think we played well enough defensively that if we weren’t shooting like that we still would have had a shot at this game because I thought we were pretty good defensively. But it sure is nice when they’re going in.”