On a rare Saturday where Villanova didn’t play, the Wildcats needed help from another group of Wildcats to make history. With Kentucky losing to South Carolina on Tuesday night, Villanova had a chance to become #1 in the nation for the first time in school history. The Kansas Jayhawks downed the Kansas State Wildcats in a nailbiter though, so in all likelihood, Kansas will be #1 and Villanova #2 when the new polls come out on Monday.
Not really a big deal if you ask me. It would be cool to hold the top spot, but being #1 in the very last poll is all that matters.
Game just ended at 9:09 p.m. ET. Villanova defeats Notre Dame 90-72 to move to 19-1, which is the best start in school history! Villanova overcame a sloppy 1st half where they were constantly letting the Irish stick around to absolutely destroy Mike Brey’s boys in a 2nd half where the Wildcats truly imposed their will.
I’m going to say right now, I didn’t get in until late in the 1st half, so I can’t really comment on what went on (please let me know in the comments), but from what I was hearing from Jay Bilas and Sean McDonough, we played incredibly sloppy and couldn’t slow down Luke Harangody, who had 16 points in the opening 20 minutes.
I will say this about the 2nd half though – it was phenomenal. After a sluggish star to the half the team really turned up the defensive pressure and got back to what they do best – run, and run some more. Notre Dame had no chance once this game plan fell into place. Some more thoughts:
We ended the game on a 30-something to 15-ish run. It was beautiful to watch.
The students really wanted Scottie Reynolds to hit 2,000 tonight. They were going nuts at the end when he went on a personal 7-0 run. He finished 7 points shy. On the bright side, he’ll get that in The Pavilion, which I think makes it more special.
Corey Fisher was outstanding. At one point, he left an ND defender 5 feet behind him with a simple head fake, that drew roars (and laughter) from the crowd, and Jay Bilas.
Antonio Peña was a friggan beast tonight. A double-double with 14 and 11, and he neutralized Harangody in the 2nd half. One of the best games of his career.
Wayns, Redding and Stokes were all solid. Stokes is getting his shooting touch back I think. Redding was great defending Harangody and had some “old-man” plays as Bilas described him where he simply out-thought everyone else to get an easy hoop.
Taylor King hit a couple of deeeeeep 3’s, and played his usual tough defense and drew some great charges on the Irish.
Ben Hansbrough fouling out early in the 2nd half was huge. Brey is an idiot though. It was a 5 point game and he put him in with 4 fouls. Talk about mismanaging one of your best players. On the bright side for Ben though, I don’t hate him like I did his brother.
Quiet games from Armwood, Cheek and Yarou. Who knows?
Vilalnova returns to action next Tuesday when they host Seton Hall at The Pavilion. Corey Fisher has a shot at 1,000 points for his career, and Scottie Reynolds looks to make it 2,000 for his sensational career at ‘Nova.
The Game: #3 Villanova (18-1, 7-0) vs. Notre Dame (15-5, 4-3)
Location: The Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, PA
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Broadcast: ESPN
Brief Rundown: IBBW was in the building to see Villanova overcome a poor 1st half and put away a pesky St. John’s bunch in Madison Square Garden on Saturday. It was weird, but even when we were down by double-digits, I never really felt we were in danger. I guess that’s the mark of a good team. The fantastic trio of Wayns, Fisher and Reynolds combining for 53 points doesn’t hurt either.
The Fighting Irish are an interesting group, as always. Luke Harangody is one of the best offensive players the conference has had in recent memory, but he plays virtually no defense, so in the grand scheme of things his impact is neutralized every night in my eyes. They scored an impressive home win against West Virginia, but also lost to Loyola-Marymount and Northwestern this season. If they’re shooting it well, they’re dangerous. If not, they probably won’t put up too much of a fight as they are an awful defensive group.
What I Want To See: A complete game and suffocating defense. They don’t have the athletes to run with us, but I don’t want us to win this game in the 80s because they are shooting well. Shut them down from the start and don’t let them and Harangody get going. This is only a dangerous game if we allow it to become one.
…Lets Go Nova!…any thoughts on how many times Luke bitches to the stripes tomorrow night about somebody touching him?…
My apologies for the lack of posts. Being in New York City really took a lot out of me, and the Jets lost, so I’m not in the greatest mood. Anyways, here are some links to get the week started.
UPDATE: Sean says all the credit should go to Andrew Keefe, so that’s where it’s going. Great job Andrew! Sean, thanks for nothing…
Thanks to Sean Donovan we can relive this great piece from CBS at last year’s Final Four on Scottie Reynolds. I’d never seen this before since I attended the Final Four last year, so this was great to see. Thanks Sean!
Villanova DID beat St. John’s yesterday, by the score of 81-71 at Madison Square Garden. We had a rare breakdown in coverage, mainly due to the fact that Brian, Jamie and I all attended the game. I had hoped Mark may fill in, but when you get a text mid-game that says “F*ck, I missed pick’em again. How we doin?”, you realize that nobody is manning the fort. Anyways, it was a great day that I’ll briefly recap now, before my attempts to forget it are successful.
The day started off at The Ainsworth in Manhattan, where the VUAA had organized a pre-game reception. Jamie, 2 of our non-’Nova friends, my father and I were some of the first people there, causing my friends proceed with jokes for the next 10 minutes about ‘Nova Nation. Real wise guys, those two. Eventually, the place did fill up nicely, and it was a good few hours of seeing old friends and meeting some new ones.
From there, we went to the game and watched the Wildcats overcome some tremendous shooting and their own poor play in the 1st half to make it 7-straight to start the conference season as they dispatched the Red Storm behind the tremendous trio of Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher and Maalik Wayns.
Following the game, their was the mandatory McSorley’s trek and then an “incident” which nearly saw Jamie have the cops called on him by the Metro-North conductor. We’ll leave that be. Some other random thoughts from what I saw yesterday:
Was it just me or did our team do a great job of blocking shots yesterday? It’s hard to rely on box scores, but they’re listing 10. That sounds about right, and is a rarity for our team. Let’s enjoy that.
As I mentioned up top, Reynolds, Fisher and Wayns were outstanding. Not just their ability to get to the hoop, but their ability to finish while drawing the foul was incredible. They were instrumental in turning that game around.
Isaiah Armwood had just 2 baskets, but they were the 2 loudest of the game. The first dunk especially was something out of a video game. He’s an athletic specimen, and I love his ability to finish on the break.
I thought Jay Wright mismanaged the game early on, rotating guys too quickly and not allowing the team to hit a rhythm. I love the 11-man rotation, but for a good portion of the 1st half it was happening too fast.
Dominic Cheek had a rough first few minutes of burn, and then was relegated to the bench. A shame coming off the best game of his career. Oh well, he’ll bounce back.
Loved how Jay Wright was still going offense/defense up 15 late in the game. As my Dad said, it’s about discipline, and it will pay off later this year when we really need it.
Hopefully that’s the worst shooting performance we’ll ever see out of Taylor King. Yikes.
I continue to think Mouph Yarou is looking stronger and stronger every game. Seems like the game is finally coming to him. That breakout game is coming…
Thought Antonio Peña had a solid game down low, and thought Reggie Redding, like Cheek, was just off. Can’t be great every night, unless you’re Scottie Reynolds. At least that’s the way it feels.
Villanova is off until Wednesday when they host Notre Dame at The Wachovia Center. Wednesday night Wac game? Thanks schedulers. I’ve now missed the first two of the year. Feels like a sin.
Since we don’t really have time for the usual pregame post, here are a few links from the Red Storm website you can take a look at to catch up on St. John’s and what they think about the game against Villanova.
Dave Pasch and Doris Burke are calling the game on ESPN. Thankfully, I will not have to deal with that duo. I believe my seats are in section 120 or 121. I plan on getting into the city around 1030 and hopefully hitting up Ainsworth (24th and 6th Ave.) quickly before the game for some drinks and food. Hope to see all you Wildcat faithful out in full force tomorrow.
