Villanova Basketball

Tough Tests Ahead For Kansas, Villanova, Kentucky Stars

... stretch beginning Tuesday against West Virginia (7 p.m. ET, ESPN 2), Kentucky and Baylor. The first two are on the road, and all three opponents are top five in the Ken Pom ratings. Conquering three top-15 defenses (per adjusted efficiency) in succession could launch Mason into firm control of the Naismith race. If he — and the Jayhawks — stumble, however, the closest contenders are in position to pass him. Kansas, which has the nation’s fourth best offense, has played five teams who have top-40 defenses: Duke, Georgia, TCU, Iowa State and Texas. Even against the best, Mason has been productive. Rest assured all three coaches will try to make Mason beat them with 2-pointers (he’s 18-of-30 on 3 s vs. Big 12 opponents). Josh Hart, Villanova (19.2 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 3.6 apg). The Wildcats are 19-1 and 7-1 in the Big East, leading Butler and Creighton by one game in the loss column. The defending national champs have a challenging pair of games ...

No. 1 Villanova Overcoming 'constant Challenge' Of Championship Hangover

... skied and tipped the ball in as the buzzer sounded and the crowd roared. After the refs watched the replay to make sure the ball left Di Vincenzo's hand before the buzzer, the packed house at the Wells Fargo Center went nuts for a second time in a minute. Villanova shot 4 for 22 in the first half and 13 for 18 in the second half. The Wildcats stayed in the game with 20 for 24 shooting from the foul line. What it means. With the win, Villanova improved to 20-2 overall and 14-0 over the last four years in games immediately following losses. The last time Villanova lost back-to-back games was the last two games of 2013, to Louisville in the Big East Tournament and to North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Virginia, which had won five straight since an overtime loss at Pitt, fell to 16-4. Stat of the day. Jenkins, who missed his last three against Providence and all six against Marquette, missed his first six vs. Virginia before finally hitting one in the second ...

Jenkins, Brunson, Lead No. 1 Villanova Past Seton Hall 76-46

... sellout crowd. Villanova's rare blemish on its national championship season was losing to the Pirates in the Big East Tournament title game. The Wildcats took care of this one with ease. Darryl Reynolds threw down a monster dunk and Jenkins followed with a 3-pointer for a 20-7 lead. Brunson hit a 3 and Josh Hart quickly turned a steal into a dunk for a 20-point edge early in the second half. The Wildcats made 12 of 26 3-pointers and held Seton Hall to just 16 field goals. But look beyond the box score to find what impressed Wright more than building a 36-point lead. The Wildcats were sluggish and played perhaps their worst game of the season - 20 turnovers - in a win last Saturday at St. John's. Wright gave the Wildcats a day off and just watched film, fully expecting seniors like ...

Nba Scouts Dish On Nation's Best

... several of them, speaking on the condition of anonymity, to discuss the five players on the Wooden Watch this week. Here's a sampling of what they said. Josh Hart , Villanova Wildcats. Hart is a 6-foot-6 guard, but he shoots a higher percentage of 2-point shots than some post players (63.4 percent). Providence had no answer for Hart on Jan. 21, as he converted eight of 14 attempts inside the arc and finished with 25 points. Scout's take: "He knows how to play and plays hard. He's kind of similar to a Malcolm Brogdon. Not great at anything in particular but good. Everything for Josh Hart comes hard. He's not the natural, elite-level athlete. He's blue-collar.". Lonzo Ball , UCLA Bruins. Ball flirted with a triple-double in UCLA's 102-80 win over Arizona State on Jan. 19, with 10 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds. He couldn't lift the Bruins past Arizona in their 96-85 loss on ...

Butler Hands Villanova Its First Loss, What It Means For Wildcats

...  “It wasn’t one of our best nights,” Wright said of the defense. How taxing has it been, out on tour as the national champion and No. 1. The players claim to see no real difference. “I don’t think so,” Hart said. “We’ve been Big East champions the last three years in a row so we just know that we’re going to get other teams’ best shots. Nothing really feels like it’s been added.”. Jalen Brunson added: “It started before I even got here. This program’s always had a target on its back. You have to credit the players before us.”. Jalen Brunson with 17 pts to lead all scorers #NOVAvs BUTLER #Road Attitude __link__/Nay Hsmlv AN. — Villanova MBB (@Nova MBB) January 5, 2017. Their coach thinks otherwise. “You can feel it when you come into town,” Wright said. “Players are different. Players are coming to play the next game. But you can sense ...

Sportswriters Banquet Will Salute Villanova, Lindros, Ali

... Barber will sign free autographs after the event, as will Eagles defensive end Marcus Smith. The Flyers Wives Fight for Lives organization will receive the Ed Snider Lifetime Humanitarian award. Lindy Snider, the daughter of the late Flyers owner, will present the award. Other winners: WBA super-featherweight champion Jason Sosa, a South Jersey native who attended Sterling High, will receive the Native Son award; Scott Franzke and Larry Andersen, the radio voices of the Phillies, will accept the Bill Campbell Broadcast award; and The Inquirer's Jeff Mc Lane will be honored with the Stan Hochman award for the year's best story. Oliver Chamberlain will accept a special achievement award on behalf of his late uncle, Wilt Chamberlain, who led the 76 ers to a 68-13 record and the NBA title 50 years ago. St. Joseph's men's basketball coach Phil Martelli will accept the Good Guy award, and Villanova's former track and field and cross-country coach, Hall of Famer Marty Stern, will receive a special-achievement award. Villanova track and ...

Villanova Stuns Virginia With Comeback, Tip-in At Buzzer

... against the Cavs 10 months ago. Virginia led last year’s Elite Eight game by 16 early in the second half. On that night, the Cavaliers didn’t necessarily let up; Syracuse, though, went on a seemingly inexorable run and won the last 10 minutes by 20 points to secure a trip to Houston. Sunday followed a similar script. Devon Hall’s three put Virginia up 13 with 13 minutes to play. Once Hart and Jenkins hit their threes, though, Villanova’s offense began to click. But before they did, the game was all about Virginia’s stifling defense. Coming off arguably its worst performance of the season in an upset loss at Marquette , Villanova came into Sunday in search of an antidote for its ailing shooting stroke. The Wildcats had hit just six of 34 three-point attempts on Tuesday, and their offense had faltered down the stretch. They quickly realized, though, that the matchup with ...

Tbt January 26th

... had, and I think everyone would like to see that happen. Highlighted Game: 2013 vs Syracuse (W in OT, 75-71). This is my favorite regular season Villanova game I’ve ever attended. Some context is required. Today is my Birthday, and Jan. 26 th, 2013 was a Saturday game at the Wells Fargo Center, and the team I loved to hate the most was coming to town. The Wildcats were unranked and coming off a home win against #5 Louisville when #3 Syracuse came rolling in. I may have showed up a little early to wet my whistle with a few friends in the parking lot before heading into the game, but watching this one was magical. By the end tears of joy (clearly brought on by libations) were running down my cheeks, a moment my friends have never let me forget. Please enjoy some highlights of my favorite Villanova ...

Villanova, Kansas Stay 1-2, Gonzaga Up To 3rd

... had the worst drops. West Virginia, which lost to Oklahoma and Kansas State, fell 11 spots while Creighton, which lost to Marquette in its first game since point guard Maurice Watson Jr. suffered a season-ending knee injury, dropped nine places. Kansas has quite a week coming up. The Jayhawks are at West Virginia on Tuesday and then visit Kentucky on Saturday. Virginia will also face two ranked opponents on the road: at Notre Dame on Tuesday and at Villanova on Sunday. The other double-ranked game has Xavier at Cincinnati in their annual crosstown meeting on Thursday. AP College Basketball Poll. The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 12, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25 th-place vote, and previous ranking. Others receiving votes: Kansas St. 41, SMU 33, Northwestern 28, UNC Wilmington 14, Iowa St. 12, Virginia Tech 7, Dayton 6, Southern Cal 6, Akron 1, Illinois St. 1, Middle Tennessee 1, Utah 1. Gian Clavell scores with 3.8 left; Colorado State edges ...

Vs #1 Villanova Wildcats

... teams when they shoot the ball, and one of the ways they can best combat that is by forcing turnovers. If Marquette’s not going to force turnovers at a meaningful rate, they’re going to have to do things like shoot 85% e FG% in a half to beat teams. That’s a bad plan. The weird part about the whole thing is that Marquette’s defensive pressure was almost non-existent in the second half when they were putting the clamps on the Wildcats in the shooting department. VU turned the ball over on just 9% of their possessions after halftime. That’s partly responsible for Villanova still managing 0.96 points per possession in the final 20 minutes since they very rarely came away from a possession without at least getting one shot up. On the offensive side of the court, it kind of looks like Marquette had a rough night keeping track of the ball, and for the full 40 minutes, that’s true. However, the problem was really only in the first half. MU coughed it ...

Hart Scores 25, No. 1 Villanova Beats Providence 78-68

... Mikal Bridges got it started with a layup and jumper, Jenkins hit a jumper and Hart made another layup. 'Villanova took advantage of every mistake we made,' Friars coach Ed Cooley said. 'The game was lost on the first five possessions of the second half.'. Jalen Brunson and Jenkins nailed consecutive 3 s from almost the same spot to extend it to 60-43 midway through the second half and the Wildcats led by 20 at one point. But Providence wouldn't go away. Lindsey hit three straight 3 s to cap a 13-2 run that got the Friars within 66-57 with 5:05 left. Then Villanova scored the next three baskets, including a nifty, driving layup by Brunson to put it away. 'They have a great defensive team, they're gritty and tough,' Cooley said. Hart hit a 3-pointer to start the scoring and Villanova never trailed. The Friars tied it at 12 midway through the first half before Villanova went on a 10-0 run capped by Bridges' 3-pointer. BIG PICTURE. Providence: G Kyron Cartwright scored 12 points before he left the game with a stomach bug in the second half. Isaiah Jackson also scored 12. The Friars are 2-14 all-time against the top-ranked team. They are 38-60 vs. Villanova. The teams meet ...