Villanova Advances With 21 Points From Jenkins
By SEAN BRENNAN
BIGEAST.com
NEW YORK -- There was still almost 10 minutes remaining in Friday night’s semifinal between Villanova and Providence when a foul – one of the 43 called in the game – spelled the end of the night for Friars’ stud sophomore Ben Bentil.
Villanova was already holding an 11-point lead, reigning BIG EAST Player of the Year Kris Dunn was having a brutal time solving the Wildcats defense, with just six points up to that point, and now Bentil, the conference’s leading scorer was done.
You would think Villanova could waltz through the final minutes of the game to an easy victory and a second straight trip BIG EAST Tournament Championship Game with all that going against Providence, no? A reasonable assumption, but you’d be dead wrong as the left-for-dead Friars nearly pulled off the greatest comeback since Lazarus as they pulled within two points with just under 7:00 to play before Kris Jenkins, Ryan Arcidiacono and Josh Hart righted the Wildcats’ ship and pulled out a 76-68 victory in the opener of the semifinal doubleheader in the BIG EAST Tournament Presented by Jeep Brand.
The top-seeded Wildcats (29-4) will face either No. 3 Seton Hall or second-seeded Xavier in Saturday night’s championship game. Villanova swept the season series from the Pirates while splitting with the Musketeers.
“I’m an old-school guy but that was old-school BIG EAST. That was fun, man,” Villanova head coach Jay Wright said. “That was a great game. Providence is a really tough team. And Bentil and Dunn, those guys are really, really good (and) we did the best job we’ve done, I think, on two great players. That was a team effort.”
After Villanova built a modest 32-27 lead at the half, the Friars started to see some early signs that it might not be their night when Bentil, who was coming off a monster 38-point performance in Providence’s quarterfinal-round win over Butler Thursday afternoon, picked up his third foul just a half minute into the second half. That hole Providence was falling into got a little deeper still when Bentil picked up his fourth foul with 16:00 to play.
With Bentil now on the bench, and Dunn having no fun with the Villanova defense – he finished with just one field goal on the night – Villanova built its largest lead of the game at 50-36 after a thunderous reverse jam by Jenkins.
Time to start the bus up for the ride home for the Friars? Not quite. Instead Providence’s supporting cast got in on the action and picked up the slack for an idle Bentil and cold Dunn. Kyron Cartwright nailed a pair of three-balls and added a layup, Jalen Lindsey tossed in a three-pointer and Dunn sank four free throws to help ignite a 17-5 Friars run and suddenly the Villanova lead was just 55-53 with 6:58 to play.
But the Friars’ understudies could do no more to support the comeback effort as Villanova went to work to secure a second straight trip to the championship game. Daniel Ochefu and Jenkins had back-to-back three-point plays, Ochefu then converted two straight buckets off feeds from Jenkins and when the Wildcats 12-6 run was over after a free throw by Arcidiacono, Villanova was back in command at 67-59 with 1:47 to go. Hart then closed out the ‘Cats scoring by logging their final nine points.
Jenkins finished with 21 points, Arcidiacono added 15 with seven assists and Hart finished with 12 points. Even more impressive was that the Wildcats held the duo of Bentil and Dunn to a combined 12 points on 2-for-13 shooting. Bentil’s three point were a season low for the conference’s leading scorer.
“(We) do what we do. Do what was on the scouting report,” Arcidiacono said. “We’ve played them many times the last three or four years; we know what to expect. We had to defend them with five guys.”
The loss was a tough one for the Friars (23-10) to swallow. After their impressive win over Butler Providence had high hopes of reaching the title game and maybe coming away with some championship hardware to tote back to Rhode Island. But the road to the title still goes through Villanova.
“(It’s) very emotional in our locker room right now,” Providence coach Ed Cooley said. “Guys are very disappointed. We had opportunities. I think the difference between the two teams was veteran composure, especially down the stretch.”
While Providence will get ready to watch the Selection Show on Sunday to find out where its season will continue, Cooley thought regardless of what happens in Saturday night’s title game, Villanova deserves a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
“Villanova arguably should be the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament, regardless of the outcome (Saturday),” Cooley said. “Their body of work shown throughout the whole year, how disciplined they are. And if we can compete like that in our league against them, hopefully we have a run in us.”
The game also marked the final appearance for Dunn at the Garden in a Providence uniform. Not that Wright is all that upset of not having to have to face him again.
“We’re happy about that,” Wright said jokingly. “I’ve talked to a number of NBA friends that have asked me (about Dunn). I really believe this. I said if you want to get a player to run your team and build your team around at the point guard position, there’s nobody better. And if you want to get a guy to represent your organization in terms of character and being a great teammate and great guy off the court, you can’t get a better guy. We really believe that. All our players, (our) team, we have great respect for him.”