Villanova Celebrates First-Round Win
Friday afternoon went exactly how Friday afternoon was supposed to go for Villanova. The script for the No. 2 seed Wildcats had them jumping on No. 15 UNC-Asheville in the first half, building a comfortable lead by halftime and then using the second half to turn their first-round game into little more than a glorified scrimmage. Just get your feet wet in the tournament and give the walk-ons a little tourney time on the court at game’s end.
Check, check and check.
The first round has not been a problem at all for Villanova the past few NCAA Tournaments, and it wasn’t again Friday as five different Wildcats scored in double figures and Nova rolled wire-to-wire for an 86-56 victory over UNC-Asheville in their tournament opener at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The Wildcats, who will face Iowa, a 72-70 overtime winner over Temple, in a second-round game Sunday, sank 13 three-pointers in the game as they shot 46.4% from behind the arc while Daniel Ochefu, looking fully recovered from an ankle injury that hobbled him in the BIG EAST Tournament last week, logged a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
The BIG EAST’s other No. 2 seed, Xavier, never trailed in its 71-53 win over No. 15 seed Weber State in St. Louis, Mo. James Farr led the Musketeers with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Xavier shot 7-of-14 from 3-point range. The league’s NCAA record stands at 4-1 after the first round.
“What the score indicates is we have two seniors that got a bunch of young guys to understand if you don’t bring it 100 percent against a team like that, they’ll beat you,” Villanova head coach Jay Wright said. “They’re good enough to beat us but we played well because we really brought it and we had great leadership.”
Villanova (30-5), which reached 30 wins for the second straight year and third time in Wright’s tenure, was tested just once early when the Wildcats saw their early eight-point lead shaved to 24-22 with 4:23 to play in the first half after UNCA’s Dylan Smith drained a three-pointer. But any visions of an epic upset that may have been dancing in the Bulldogs’ heads were quickly erased thanks to some torrid long-distance shooting by Villanova in the final minutes of the half.
With Villanova up, 28-22, the Wildcats’ pressure defense started to get to UNCA which led to a series of turnovers. Making the most of those turnovers were Ryan Arcidiacono, Jalen Bunson and Mikal Bridges as the trio combined for four three-pointers (two by Arcidiacono) in the final 2:33 and Villanova had that comfortable halftime lead at 40-26.
“Villanova cranked it up in the last three minutes (of the first half),” said UNCA’s Dwayne Sutton, who had 11 points in the loss. “They started pressing us and got some turnovers, which led to easy threes by Ryan in the final minutes. That led to momentum going into halftime.”
“We were just catching and shooting, being aggressive against their zone,” Arcidiacono said. “I think their 1-3-1 (zone), they are really aggressive on it and you can’t be very passive. You have to attack it, look for your open shots. I think we were able to get in the lane and (pass) out for a couple of threes. We were just aggressive against the zone.”
The second half was basically Villanova’s playground as the Wildcats were never threatened by the Bulldogs again as they systematically extended their lead. The Wildcats’ cushion eclipsed 20 points when a three-pointer by Phil Booth upped Villanova’s lead to 62-41, and when Ochefu, who scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half, dropped in a layup with 6:00 to play, the Villanova lead hit 30 points at 76-46. The Bulldogs simply had no answer for Ochefu – or for the rest of the Wildcats for that matter - as Arcidiacono finished with 14 points, Bridges and Kris Jenkins added 12 apiece and Brunson chipped in with 10. But having a healthy Ochefu back certainly gave Villanova a look it didn’t have in the BIG EAST tournament last week.
“He was really good, really efficient,” UNCA head coach Nick McDevitt said. “Seventeen (points) and 10 (assists) on nine shots. We just didn’t have a whole lot for him down there. He looked uncomfortable for a while but like all great players he recognized what we were doing and he had a heck of a game.”
Yes, it was a solid effort all around for the Wildcats, who are used to putting up solid efforts in their first games in the tournament. But now comes the hard part, getting that second victory, the one that has been so elusive the last few years. A victory Sunday vs. Iowa out of the Big 10 would end all the questions that have dogged the Wildcats the past few years concerning their subpar postseason performances.
“It’s really probably what our biggest concern was,” Wright said. “All season, if we would have answered those questions and we lost this game today, we’re idiots. We can’t do anything about that until we get there.”
The Wildcats are there now, second game of the first weekend, the very place where Villanova’s seasons have ended the past two years. But another chance to silence the doubters once and for all.
“We’ve got to do it, that’s the bottom line,” Wright said. “If we don’t do it, it’s failure. But there’s nothing wrong with failure in sports if you give your best effort.