I Bleed Blue and White

I spent some time thinking last night about that game, because for a while I couldn’t really understand why that win felt so different from the win over Syracuse. It was a very similar result on the final scoreboard, and they were both home games (although The Pavilion games just feel more special). It wasn’t the fact that Marquette was ranked higher, or the fact that Marquette had already beaten us once this year. And I finally, decided that it was the way that that game went.

Against Syracuse, Villanova just came out and blitzed them from the start and never really looked back. And thinking back to that game, I kind of, sort of, expected that to happen. I certainly didn’t expect us to hit the century mark, but I kind of envisioned a blowout while we were tailgating in the parking lot. And while I didn’t expect us to run Marquette out of the building, it wasn’t so much that we did it that hit home with me, but how we got there.

The game started out very quickly with both teams exchanging 3’s in the opening minutes. And while the teams continued on a torrid scoring pace, Villanova began to creep out to a bit of a lead. Then the unthinkable happened as Marquette roared right past Villanova and built what looked like a comfortable 5-8 point lead with just under 8 minutes remaining in the half. Earlier this year, a sequence like that would have shut the fans up and Villanova would probably never regain that lead. But last night was different.

Corey Fisher led a charge, starting with a huge 3 pointer, that sent Villanova into halftime with a 5 point lead, leaving The Pavilion in a frenzy as the teams headed for the locker room. That was the 1st point in the game where I realize that I was watching a different team than the one that went quietly into the night against Texas and Marquette earlier in the year. Villanova took a few punches and came right back throwing haymakers. It was really impressive.

The next thing that happened was awful. Dwayne Anderson went down grabbing his leg. Marquette continued play up the court, but I’m almost certain that all Villanova eyes remained on Anderson, who was in obvious discomfort. My initial thought was the worst. I thought his season was over. And with it, Villanova’s chance at a victory over Marquette. Here was their emotional leader lying on the ground. The place was in stunned silence. Dwayne Anderson sat on the bench quietly for two years, helping the team, and when he got his shot he never looked back. He’s been the heart of this team since the Seton Hall win last year. Losing him was going to crush the momentum that ‘Nova had.

But it didn’t. Anderson got up and with some help walked off the court to deafening cheers from the crowd. Everyone seemed to rally around that moment. From that point on Villanova never looked back. They absolutely buried the Golden Eagles en route to a blowout win. Dare I say it, their confidence rose after Anderson went down. It was incredible at the time, and now that I think back on it, even more incredible.

And from then on, it was a party. Scottie Reynolds decided to take over and dazzle the crowd. Shane Clark grabbed every big rebound, and then preceded to stuff Lazar Hayward when he tried to step back for a jumper (which incidentally drew one of the loudest cheers that I can remember in any game I’ve been to there). And he capped it off by willing a 3 from the corner into the hoop to eclipse the 100 point mark and letting out a monster yell as he ran back towards the students.

So it wasn’t the fact that Villanova ran the train on Marquette last night to extend The Pavilion winning streak to 26 games, prompting “This Is Our House!” cheers from the students, it was the way they fought through adversity to get there. Teams that have that quality are the teams that make noise in March and April, and those teams are becoming the norm in the Jay Wright era.