23 Points From Reynolds Power #11 Villanova Past Host Notre Dame in Second Half, 77-60

To the Wildcat faithful-

On Monday, March 2, #11 Villanova rebounded from its disappointing home loss to Georgetown by winning a significant game on the road at Notre Dame. The Wildcats entered the locker room at halftime, deadlocked with the Fighting Irish at 32 apiece, but took control in the second half to win by a surprisingly resounding margin, 77-60.

The victory was very meaningful, as Notre Dame badly needed a good win to bolster any waning hopes it had of an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. The loss to 'Nova probably destroyed the faintest shred of optimism, as the Irish are now just 7-10 Big East, 16-13 overall, and will not be making a third straight trip to the NCAA tournament without a stunning run in New York City, with no byes to help them.

Notre Dame started the season with a 3-1 Big East mark, 12-3 overall; they have now lost 10 of their 14 games. The only hope for the Irish was to defeat Connecticut on the road on Saturday and to top 'Nova last night, and they were able to defeat neither highly-ranked opponent. Their finale is against St. John's at home, a win that won't help them in the RPI or in the eyes of the Selection Committee.

Villanova improved its record to 12-5 Big East, 24-6 overall, and remained very much in the hunt for one of the four first-ever double-byes in Madison Square Garden. Having only dropped a single spot in the AP poll on Monday, the Wildcats demonstrated why they are ranked so highly. After turning the ball over an appalling 20 times against Georgetown, the Wildcats committed just five in South Bend, Indiana - and forced 15 Notre Dame turnovers.

Six of the eight Wildcats in the rotation had above-average performances. Scottie Reynolds broke out of his recent skid in a major way, with one of his best games of the season. Reynolds dropped 23 points, on an outstanding 6-7 from beyond the arc- and 8-12 shooting overall. And he wasn't just shooting the lights out. He augmented his box score line with half a dozen rebounds, two steals, and five assists - while committing just one turnover and playing all but one minute. The fantastic overall game from Reynolds bodes well for the Wildcats' fortunes later this month, in the NCAA tournament.

Dante Cunningham had a fine game as well, scoring 18 points and collecting eight rebounds. But the spotlight deservedly goes to his fellow senior, Shane Clark, who scored 13 points on 5-7 shooting (including a triple) and doing so while logging just 19 minutes. Reggie Redding continued his solid play of late, as he continues to justify Jay Wright's increase in his minutes. Redding played 38 minutes last night, scoring seven points, adding five rebounds, three assists and two steals while committing two turnovers. Dwayne Anderson struggled through a 2-9 night from the floor (five points) but did contribute in other ways, with half a dozen rebounds, three steals, two assists, and a block in 24 minutes.

Off the bench, Antonio Pena surprised with some significant playing time: six points and three rebounds in just 13 minutes, after he made only a cameo appearance against the Hoyas (and also managed to wind up with four fouls after aggressively pounding the glass...)

The Coreys, regrettably, were the only members of the rotation who had subpar games - and for the second straight game. Fisher and Stokes combined to play 33 minutes, scoring five points on 1-9 shooting, three rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block. Fisher also fell into foul trouble, committing four fouls.

For Notre Dame, the big gun was Ryan Ayers, the local product from Blue Bell, Pa. and Germantown Academy (the alma mater of Villanova great Alvin Williams, one of the mainstays of the mid-'90s teams under Steve Lappas). Ayers, who averages 11.2 pts/game, scored 25 points, including 7-10 shooting from beyond the arc, and added four rebounds and four assists. Luke Harangody finished with 18 points and seven rebounds; they were the only two Notre Dame players to reach double figures.

Looking at the team numbers: Notre Dame actually won the rebounding battle, which is unusual in 17-point defeats - the final margin was 39-36 on the boards. So the explanation lies elsewhere for the lopsided margin. One reason was the Wildcats' torrid shooting from beyond the arc - Reynolds led the team to an outstanding 9-17 from three-point range. Another was ND's dismal showing at the line, making just half of their 20 free throw attempts, while Villanova shot 10-13 (76.9%).

The Wildcats will play their Pavilion finale on Thursday against Providence - although it will be very anticlimactic, since Senior Night was observed against Rutgers, way back on Feb. 19. It made sense to hold the ceremony that night, as the students are away on spring break this week and that was the last pre-spring break Pavilion game, as the Georgetown game was at its frequent location, the Wachovia Center. Villanova will be looking to sweep the season series from the Friars; the Wildcats nearly lost a huge lead up at Providence back on Feb. 4, before surviving with a three-point victory - you can read my recap - #17 Villanova Hangs On for Wild Win at Providence, 94-91 - of that game...

Stop by again for a preview of the regular-season finale...

Various Viewpoints

Also, go get the reactions to the impressive victory over Notre Dame, from the other Villanova sites:

VUHoops.com has the wrapup in its usual scoreboard headline: Villanova 77: :Notre Dame 60...

Pete at Let's Go 'Nova has Villanova Handles Notre Dame...

I Bleed Blue and White justifiably praises Redding's defensive performance in postGame: Villanova 77, Notre Dame 60 ... he writes:

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.

IBBW also has his usual video clips in Highlights: Villanova-Notre Dame...

greyCat at Villanova By the Numbers describes the outcome accurately in Notre Dame Post Game -- Good Enough...

Tim at Nova News puts it thus - Villanova Knocks Out Fighting Irish...

And for a valuable Notre Dame perspective, take a look at Black and Green's recap at the Black and Green Irish Men's Basketball Report, Villanova 77, Notre Dame 60...

Go Wildcats!

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Villanova Rallies in 2nd Half to Top Notre Dame, 65-60, at Wachovia Center

Villanova did not crash after Saturday's historic hosing of unbeaten, then-#2 Kansas. Instead, the Wildcats continued to crest, notching a 65-60 victory over Notre Dame at the Wachovia Center and avenging their loss in South Bend on January 8.

Villanova improved its record to 11-4 overall, 3-3 Big East, as it returned to conference play after the brief foray against the Big XII's Kansas Jayhawks. Notre Dame dropped to 12-5 overall, 4-3 Big East.

After crushing Kansas and narrowly losing at Boston College, both Top 10 teams, Villanova was rewarded with 77 votes in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll - the most of any school not ranked. If the Wildcats manage to prevail at Rutgers on Saturday, they will undoubtedly be ranked in next Monday's poll.

This was an important game for both teams, as both will certainly be on the NCAA bubble right up to Selection Sunday. The Irish placed fourth in the Big East in the preseason coaches' poll and their play thus far has vindicated those assessments. Notre Dame came into the game red-hot, winning eight of its previous ten contests. Central to the Wildcats' efforts this evening would be shutting down ND's featured star, Chris Thomas. Thomas scored 25 points, including a nail-in-the-coffin three from the corner, in Notre Dame's 78-72 victory over 'Nova on January 8 in South Bend - clearly demonstrating why he was named preseason first-team All-Big East. He has never missed a game in his career and played in his 116th career game tonight. In Notre Dame's tough one-point loss to Georgetown on Sunday, Thomas became only the 16th player in ND history to score over 2,000 points.

The Wildcats were reasonably successful in shutting down Thomas, who struggled from the floor, making just four of his 14 attempts. He had a decent game (12 points and eight rebounds while playing all 40 minutes) but not quite good enough to permit the Irish to steal a game on the road against a good team. Torin Francis picked up the slack, having a great game (19 points and 13 rebounds, both team-highs), and he did it while playing just 30 minutes. Chris Quinn also reached double figures with 13 points, four rebounds and four assists.

For Villanova, Allan Ray was awesome, scoring 23 points on 8-16 shooting. Randy Foye also had a solid performance, scoring 20 points but requiring 7-20 shooting to do it. Curtis Sumpter just missed another double-double, finishing with 11 points and nine rebounds. Perhaps most importantly, though, the Wildcats finished with just five turnovers. This feat was what permitted them to win despite shooting just 37% from the floor (although it was also helped by the strong 47% from beyond the arc).

Notre Dame is celebrating its 100th year of basketball this season, and are doing it in grand style. (To put it in context, even Villanova's storied program won't get to do it for another 15 years.) The Irish entered the season nationally ranked for the second straight year, at #20, although it should be noted that they've been out of the polls for two months now. Notre Dame also enjoyed the thrill of beating Indiana - at Indiana - for the first time since 1973, after which Mike Brey observed that the last time that happened he "was 14 years old and listening to the Bee Gees". It was also the first time Notre Dame had beaten Indiana at all since 1994. Brey and Coach J also go back a long way in their personal rivalry, when Brey was at Delaware and Wright was at Hofstra, both then America East schools. Tonight was the 17th time the duo have faced off, and after tonight, Brey holds a 11-6 lead over Wright.

Villanova continues to dominate the series with Notre Dame since the Irish joined the Big East in 1995-96. The Wildcats now lead the overall series by a slim 14-12 margin, but have routinely defeated Notre Dame since conference play began. Villanova has won those games, 9-2. Notre Dame also continues to struggle in the Wachovia Center, as the Irish are just 1-4 there (their sole victory came last season).

Coach Jay Wright had to contend with a short bench tonight, due to the ongoing injury to Jason Fraser and the disciplinary action meted out to Kyle Lowry. Lowry served a mandatory one-game suspension for punching Kansas player Jeff Hawkins, shortly before halftime of Saturday's game. This left Wright with a rotation of simply seven players (Ray, Foye, Nardi, Sumpter, Sheridan, Chris Charles, and Austin). As a result, Wright made heavy demands on the five starters, who played virtually the entire game. Austin played 10 minutes and Charles just three, and neither scored a point, combining for two rebounds and a blocked shot, all from Austin. It would probably be difficult to find a game in recent Villanova history where the bench failed to score a single point, even during all of those phone-card suspension games where the team frequently played shorthanded.

Foye rocked the Wachovia Center in the beginning, scoring nine points in the first eight minutes and leading 'Nova to an early 15-10 advantage, while ND committed six turnovers in the first eight minutes. Back-to-back threes from Allan Ray helped put 'Nova up 23-13 early, however, ND enjoyed a 24-7 run to end the half. With 33.8 seconds, Foye drove to the hole and and-one'd it in, to cut it to 34-30, Notre Dame. That was 'Nova's first free throw of the half - and in doing so, Foye reached the millennial milestone (more about that below). Unfortunately, back at the other end, Torin Francis was fouled by Marcus Austin, and Francis completed a three-point play to make it 37-30 at intermission, reclaiming the momentum. While VU scored 13 points off turnovers to ND's 4 in the first half, ND went 5-10 from the line in half, ten times VU's trips to the line. (Ironically, Villanova would ultimately finish the game with 20 FT attempts to ND's 16.)

Notre Dame still clung to its single digit lead for much of the second half, before Villanova finally erased it at the 9:07 mark, thanks to consecutive threes from Foye and Sumpter. And ND would never retake the lead. The Irish managed just eight points in the final 11:47 of the contest. Some clutch free-throw shooting from 'Nova was enough to keep the Irish at bay and secure Villanova's second straight victory at the Wachovia Center in five days.

With these two triumphs, the Wildcats have a chance to do what no other Villanova team has done since the building opened for the 1996-97 season: win three games there. Only one other squad has managed to go undefeated there: the 2000-01 team, which went 2-0. The Wildcats will attempt to complete the sweep on February 12 against Syracuse.

Foye Hits A Thousand: Foye finally reached 1,000 points tonight, the 47th player in Wildcat history to do so and the second to achieve the mark this season (Allan Ray became the 46th a couple of weeks ago).

Villanova travels up to the RAC at Rutgers, one of the toughest venues for a visitor in America, on Saturday afternoon.