On the day of Super Bowl XLIII between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers, #21 Villanova put on its own version of a pre-game show against Cincinnati at noon. The game was undoubtedly scheduled for a noon tip-off, in order to allow the 6,500 fans (give or take) at the Pavilion to make it home or to the various Main Line establishments in plenty of time for the festivities. (It was a particularly welcome diversion, in light of the fact that the Eagles came remarkably close to participating in the Super Bowl themselves.) And those fans were not disappointed, as the Wildcats won their 25th consecutive game in the Pavilion.
The Wildcats also helped out with the pre-game entertainment, by providing an interesting game in the first half, before taking control and obliterating the Bearcats in the second half. Villanova triumphed easily, 71-50, although the contest was considerably more competitive than that final score would indicate. Cincinnati actually led by six in the first half and trailed by just six with 13:13 to play. After the Bearcats had successfully crawled back to 45-39, ‘Nova won the rest of the game 26-11.
Villanova improved its record to 5-3 Big East, 17-4 overall – the Wildcats are now Cincinnati fell to 4-5 Big East, 14-8 overall, as the Bearcats failed to sustain their momentum by defeating another ranked BE opponent, after upsetting Georgetown earlier in the week. Villanova extended its perfect streak against unranked opponents to 16-0.
Looking at the numbers:
The Villanova victory was powered by suffocating defensive intensity. The Bearcats managed to shoot just 29% from the floor and 26% from three-point range. They also committed 18 turnovers – and all of this futility is why they managed only 50 points. Conversely, the Wildcats shot 51% from the floor and thus were able to overcome a poor afternoon from beyond the arc: 2-12 for the day and 0-6 in the first half. Quality foul shooting also helped – ‘Nova had 24 free throws and converted 19 of them (79%).
The big star for ‘Nova was Dante Cunningham, who had a fine day - 21 points on 8-11 shooting. He also had eight rebounds, three blocks, and two steals (although he did turn the ball over half a dozen times, and that’s why it wasn’t a great day for him). Also in double figures for ‘Nova were Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher. Reynolds had 11 points in 30 minutes, as he did not have his best shooting touch – he shot just 2-8 from the floor and a majority of his points came from the line, where he was a near-perfect 7-8. In contrast, Fisher’s performance was far more encouraging. Fisher came off the bench for 20 minutes of action: he scored 11 points on 4-6 shooting, plus two steals, two assists and one rebound.
As for the game action:
Cincinnati looked very good in the first half. They posted a strong 6-0 run, triggering a Jay Wright timeout with the score UC 23 - VU 18, at the 6:01 mark. They were sinking into foul trouble, though, as UC committed enough fouls for VU to be in the double bonus with under six minutes to go in the first half.
Cincinnati’s Yancy Gates converted a traditional 3-pt play to make it 26-19. After he missed his initial free throw, there was a lane violation on DC, and Gates got another shot and made it this time… it was a 9-1 run ….
Fisher, off a steal, drove on a breakaway, and with a fine move (coming into the basket from the left and laying it up from the right side of the backboard), cut the UC lead to 26-19…
Dwayne Anderson knocked the ball out of 34’s hands in the corner – fine defense from DA and Antonio Pena – triggered the under-4 timeout with it still 26-21… This came on the heels of Anderson emerging from a scrum with the ball on the previous possession – although the save by Anderson did not lead to a Villanova basket (SR had to shoot immediately to avoid a shot-clock violation), it was a great play….
3:05 alley-ooped dunk from DC to make it 26-23, with a great cheer from the crowd…
Fisher makes 2 FTs to make it 26-25…..but picked up his 2nd foul on the next possession, sending him to the bench.
Pena followed up a missed layup from SR to put Nova up 27-26…at 2;17 – the 10th lead change ….
VU forced a turnover from the sideline trap, with Vaughn picking up his 3rd foul on Anderson, after Reynolds fed him trailing…. VU now 28-26 after 1 of 2 Fts.
After a three, UC led at the 1:15 mark, 29-28.
VU turned the ball over with 13.7 seconds left- but UC’s Miller missed the front end of a 1_1. It turned out that ‘Nova did not pay for the mistake (given that they could have held the ball for the last shot….) Reynolds laid it in with the waning seconds of the first half – VU took a 30-29 lead into intermission. It was the 12th lead change of the half, which featured four ties as well.
11-3 run to end the first half for ‘Nova…
Halftime numbers:
VU was 0-6 from beyond the arc – 5-15 for UC –
The Wildcats held a small advantage from the floor, with a 46% to 42% margin. They also reached the line far more often, going 10-13 against just 2-3 for the Bearcats. UC kept it close by relying on its bench, which scored a majority (18) of its 29 first-half points, compared to just seven for ‘Nova’s bench. (Cunningham had taken six of ‘Nova’s first seven shots and scored the Wildcats’ first eight points.) Each team had nine turnovers. Seven points from Gates at halftime…
DC alley-oop from Fisher - 9 pts, 3 rebounds for DC at halftime…
Jay Wright in a charcoal VU jumpsuit and sneakers… Mick Cronyn had him outclassed in black… one of the rare occasions when Wright will be outdone by an opposing coach when it comes to clothes.
Fisher gave VU its biggest lead at that point, 34-29; ‘Nova had trailed by as many as seven. Vaughn hit a 3 to make it 34-32 at17:07…
16:49 Anderson hit Villanova’s first 3 to make it 37-32.. Mitchum responded with another 3. Vaughn was in the game with 3 fouls..
At 15:41, Fisher committed his 3rd foul and had to head to the bench, with the TV timeout resulting – it was 37-35 ‘Nova, Fisher replaced by Stokes.
VU had a great play in transition, from Reggie Redding on a follow-up of a ‘Nova miss. 41-35…but then picked up his 3rd foul and was replaced by Shane Clark…
DC hit 2 FTs with 13:59 to go 43-37 – now with 15 pts…
Dish from DC to Clark, 45-37 – the biggest lead for either squad….
A called timeout from Wright with 13:13 to go, after a basket from UC 45-39…
Fisher breakaway off steal from Wilkes (pickpocket steal) 47-39 – Wilkes recovered well enough to defend the resulting layup, but Fisher managed to maneuver it in… Wright had been using the opportunity to get both DC and SR some time on the bench, and VU responded…
At this point, 25 of UC’s 39 pts were from the bench… Reynolds and DC were back in the game after the timeout… Fisher hit a 2 to 11:14 to extend the lead to 49-39… the Wildcats clearly had the momentum at this point, as UC then committed its fourth TO in six possessions… on an offensive foul. Gates also then committed an offensive foul on the next possession – another UC offensive foul on back to back possessions – its fifth turnover of the second half, against just 10 points. Stokes 51- 39 DC put back made it 53-39, with 9:01 to go, forcing Cronin to call a timeout (although I think at that point it was too late…) Villanova now led by 14… a 16-4 run… a UC shot clock violation with 8:32…
UC while absorbing a 12-0 run, missed all six of its shots and committed four turnovers… UC called another timeout at 7:17 to hold the lead, now down 57-39… at the under 8 at 6:39, ‘Nova held a commanding lead at 57-42… at this point, VU had scored 19 points off 16 UC turnovers…
With six minutes to go, UC fumbled the pass because it was so hard, had the ball almost go in, but it was rebounded with ‘Nova… it was that kind of day for ‘Nova. Villanova was only 1-11 from beyond the arc at this piint but had a 15 point lead, nonetheless…
Dish on to Cunningham for a dunk from Anderson…59-43…5:06…
Anderson 3 from top of arc, from SR…at 4:29 to gp…62-43…
VU was called for a three-second violation in each half…. The secondh-half one triggered the under 4- timeout at 3:59 and the 62-43 lead…
An intentional foul on SR on a breakaway on Mitchell (SR was annoyed about turning the ball over and grabbed him from behind), it’s extremely unusual to have an intentional foul called with a 19 point lead; Mitchell made both FTs, but UC did not score on the ensuing possession…
Stokes converted a traditional 3-pt play at the other end…65-47…2:46…
The game grew choppy at the end, with a sequence of fouls, with Villanova committing five quickly…
With 42.2 seconds to play, the deep reserves and walk-ons came into the game….unfortunately, they just ran out the clock rather than running a set, as it would have been cool to see one of them score. Nevertheless, the final ended up 71-50, VU. I have to say that I think that Wright should have put them in a lot sooner than the final minute, because Villanova had secured a virtually insurmountable lead far earlier, and the game had not been competitive for a while.
The Wildcats return to action on Wednesday, February 3, 2009, against the Providence Friars, one of their traditional Big East rivals. Villanova has historically struggled at Providence, and it is likely to be yet another tough one at the Dunkin’ Donuts Arena (nee Providence Civic Center).
Go Wildcats!
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Tuesday’s Arizin
4 years ago
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