Villanova Quotes | DePaul Quotes | Box Score

By SEAN BRENNAN
Special to BIGEAST.com
 
The game plan for Villanova was simple. Don’t, under any circumstances, lose to DePaul in your tournament opener.
 
Now it’s no secret the brutal season the Blue Demons have endured this year, winning just three times overall and going winless in 20 conference games this season. So admittedly, not much was expected from DePaul in the finale of the opening day tripleheader at Madison Square Garden.
 
So while DePaul was just looking to end this very forgettable season, the Wildcats had plenty to play for. As Villanova rolled into Madison Square Garden for a tournament it used to own - remember the Wildcats won five tourney titles from 2015 to 2022 - they needed to make a deep and spirited run through this year’s tourney if they wanted to solidify their chances of making the NCAA Tournament this season. A win in the opening round followed by a loss in Thursday’s quarterfinals with Marquette still might not be enough to lead to the Wildcats hearing their name called on Selection Sunday.
 
But lose to DePaul? Well, that was about as likely as a meteor striking Central Park. After all, the Wildcats trounced DePaul in both their regular-season meetings this year - winning 84-48 and 94-69 - and they came into Wednesday night’s game favored by 24.5 points. So what could go wrong?
 
Almost everything. But thanks to a clutch three-pointer by Justin Moore with 8.8 seconds to play, Villanova survived the scare of a lifetime by escaping their opening-round game with DePaul with a 58-57 victory.
 
The sixth-seeded Wildcats (18-14) will now face No. 3 Marquette in Thursday’s quarterfinals at 9:30 p.m.
 
“I think we’re a resilient crew. I’m proud of our guys, I thought we just kept coming,” Villanova coach Kyle Neptune said. “But thank God for Justin Moore.”
 
For a long time Wednesday night it looked as though it would be the feisty Blue Demons who would be moving on. DePaul, which lost all 20 conference games this season, was going punch for punch with the heavily-favored Wildcats the entire game. And when the Demons took a 55-52 lead on a three-point play by DaSean Nelson with 1:51 to go, the Wildcats appeared to be stunned and on the ropes. But Eric Dixon (21 points)  answered with a three-pointer to knot the game at 55-55 with 1:34 to play. Once again plucky DePaul would not back down, and when Jalen Terry hit a jumper, the Demons were up 57-55 with just over a minute to play.
 
But DePaul (3-29) would go scoreless the rest of the way and that would just set the stage for Moore, one of the last links, along with Dixon, to Villanova’s dominant teams, and he delivered the biggest basket of the Wildcats’ season, bar none.
 
“That was a tough game and we never gave in, no matter what was going on,” said Moore, who finished with 10 points. “I’m proud to be able to come out with the win.”
 
A loss last night and Villanova’s NCAA chances would have been given last rites. But Moore gave the Wildcats at least one more game in order to sway the NCAA powers that be that they should be in the field of 68 - even if it wasn’t exactly an NCAA Tournament resume building victory over DePaul.
 
“We understand the sports game. Fans are great because they draw interest and they make this game popular. That’s why I have a job,” Neptune said. “That’s why this is here at Madison Square Garden but we have to focus on the next game. We’re happy that we have another game to go to and we’re happy that we get to play in this unbelievable environment and we get to play for the people in our locker room.”