Hold on, I’m giving Luke Harangody a tissue. He might need a hug too.
Redding negated McAlarney for 40 straight minutes.
Okay, now we can talk. In case you missed the game here in the official recap and the box score.
I knew it was going to be a good night when I saw the impeccable crew of Bill Raftery, Jay Bilas and Sean McDonough. Raftery was even sporting the Villanova tie! Early onions for Raf!
So I’m just going to come out and say it, because I don’t know how else to put it. Villanova was awesome tonight. That was vintage ‘Villanova Basketball’ as we so often refer to it.While they played a tight 1st half, they had a plan and stuck to it and completely overpowered Notre Dame after the break.
It’s interesting that we talked earlier today about how Villanova lacked the ‘bail-out’ guy that could consistently put a team on their back. We talked about how both Scottie Reynolds and Dante Cunningham were the closest thing Villanova had, but for one reason or another they just weren’t that guy. So much for that theory.
Reynolds finished with 23 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists (and juts 1 turnover) and was a blistering 6-7 from downtown. He was unstoppable all night and the Irish had no answer for him. Great to watch. His running mate Cunningham had 18 and 8 in yet another solid performance. He was especially great in the 2nd half, at one point going on a personal 8-0 run.
But the player of the game? That’s Reggie Redding, who single handedly (okay, he had a little help) took sharpshooter Kyle McAlarney out of the game. He had just 5 points on 2-7 shooting (just 1-3 from beyond the arc) with most of his shots coming in garbage time. That was a defensive performance for the ages. I can’t say enough about the game that Redding had tonight. He had 7 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Vintage Redding.
Shane Clark turned it on in the 2nd half, including back to back possessions where he made Harangody look foolish. He finished with 13 points. Even the struggling Antonio Pena had a great bounceback effort. He was in foul trouble for most of the night but had some good offensive possessions and finished with 6 points and 3 rebounds in just 13 minutes. Oddly enough, Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes had little impact on the game, combining for just 5 points.
Going into the game I was really worried about going to Notre Dame. They are typically very tough at home, but I really overestimated just how bad they are. Maybe I remember McAlarney’s 30 point outburst last year, maybe I watched them give UConn a tough battle, but they just aren’t very good.
Ryan Ayers was the big story tonight, finishing with 25 points on 7 3’s. Villanova continually left him open and he was hot and knocked them down. Credit him. The aforementioned Harangody finished with 18 and 7, and that was it for the Irish.
Speaking of Harangody, what a baby. I’ve never seen any who is supposedly the leader of a team bitch and whine like he did tonight. He acts like he is the best player on the court and he deserves the Michael Jordan treatment. Every time he was touched he flopped and screamed. It was actually embarrassing to watch. I’m telling you now, if he wins Big East Player of the Year again, it’s a crime. Good thing he won’t. I always thought he was a high character guy who worked hard and kept his mouth shut. Boy, was I wrong.
Anyways, great win for the Wildcats tonight. They really needed that. More importantly though, they appear back to playing good ball. That’s important with a desparate Providence team coming to town on Thursday.
Enjoy your night everyone.
