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.
Vinnie
Kevin
login77
Brian
NovaNation2001
Bro Girardi
January 27, 2010
Another win, I have a feeling we could be #1 by Monday. Very exciting game and you just had that feeling we will not be denied. Notre Dame’s defense sucks both in football and basketball.
I think soon it will be time for Scottie to pass this team over to Corey Fisher. What a move in the 2nd half even Bilas was like wow. This team can get scary good. Go Nova!!!!