Daly’s career best not enough as ’Cats survive Saint Joe’s rally
PHILADELPHIA >> You could see the disappointment on Ryan Daly’s face after No.
23 Villanova held on to beat Saint Joseph’s, 78-66, in what started as a blowout but turned into a Big 5 thriller at a raucous Hagan Arena Saturday.
His letdown was evident in his voice, too.
Daly, a 6-foot-5 redshirt junior guard from Archbishop Carroll, rubbed his head and face several times as he answered questions from the media. A transfer from Delaware, he was playing in his first City Series game, had just scored a career-high 32 points,
22 in the second half, and helped the Hawks whittle a
16-point deficit to three. Yet it wasn’t enough to keep the Hawks from seeing their losing streak stretch to seven games, the last four by double digits.
“I’d give the 32 up if we came out with a win,” Daly said.
Like his team, which missed 14 of its first 15 shots, Daly started slow. The 2016 Daily Times Player of the Year missed his first four shots, including a pair of 3-pointers before finally scoring his first bucket with
12:05 to play in the first half. “He’s the leading scorer,” Villanova head coach Jay Wright said. “He can get a bucket any time, but he’s also the top assist guy and that’s what makes him so difficult. Some people watch him and say, ‘Why don’t you just go double-team him?’ When you double-team him he finds the open guy and they hit threes. He’s a really good college basketball player, an outstanding college basketball player.”
Daly wasn’t the only one who struggled. The Hawks
(2-8 overall, 0-1 Big 5) shot
10-for-37 from the field overall in the first half and
0-for-13 from 3-point range. Much of that had to do with Villanova’s defense. The Wildcats (7-2, 3-0) contested every shot and were determined to take away the 3-pointer. Against Daly, Villanova used 6-8 Saddiq Bey as the primary defender to slow down Daly and double him every chance they could.
“They guard really well,” Daly said of the Wildcats. “That was probably the hardest team we faced defensively. They move their feet very well. Every time I seemed to get a little separation in the first half they cut me off. I was off balance.”
Eventually, though, Daly got into a rhythm and so did the Hawks. Daly hit three of his last six shots in the first half and was 8-for12 in the second half to finish 11-for-22 from the field overall and 10-for-11 from the free throw line.
But he was 0-for-5 from
3-point land.
“I need to shoot better than 0-for-5,” Daly said. “Some of them were rushed. I should have only shot two or three of those.”
As he warmed up, however, so did the Hawks and the crowd. With most of the crowd of 3,456 urging them on the Hawks roared back and cut the deficit to three twice, 63-60 and 67-64.
“I think once we got stops, we got the ball in transition and we got easy shots,” Daly said. “Cam (Cameron Brown) has some big buckets. Lorenzo (Edwards) hit the top of the key shot on what we call a rugby action, but just getting the ball in transition.”
Daly’s effort wasn’t enough to give the Hawks their first win over the Wildcats since 2011, but it did elicit high praise from Wright.
“He’s great,” Wright said. “… He reminds me a lot of (A.J.) Brodeur of Penn in his importance to their team. Going into the game I think Daly had 43 assists and I think Brodeur had the same.”