In the rugged Big East, every game presents a unique challenge.
For No. 12 Villanova, it means bouncing back from a 10-point loss at No. 24 Marquette and preparing to face No. 17 UConn on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia.
The Wildcats (16-6, 9-3) started slow and never recovered in an 83-73 defeat Wednesday in Milwaukee. Brandon Slater scored 18 points, Collin Gillespie added 16 and Caleb Daniels 15 for Villanova.
But the Wildcats made just 10 of 34 from 3-point territory and couldn’t overcome an early 20-8 deficit.
“It surprised me a little bit how much their pressure affected us, but it did,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “I saw our guys were tentative and not being aggressive to go at them.”
The Wildcats looked uncharacteristically out of sync at times on offense. When they did launch 3-pointers, they seemed rushed.
“We got into a big hole early. On the road, against a good team like that, you try to battle back,” Wright said. “We battled, but you can’t play five to seven minutes like that to start the game. Those turnovers mean we’re not getting set in our defense, they’re getting open threes. I just think the beginning of that game was the key.”
Villanova has bounced back all season after tough losses to formidable teams such as UCLA, Baylor and Purdue. This is no different.
“It all starts on the defensive end,” said Justin Moore, who eclipsed 1,000 points for his career but shot 0 for 7 on threes. “We know the offense will come. We take the leadership in getting after it on defense, defending and rebounding, pushing up on the ball and contain it.”
UConn, meanwhile, will look to respond after a choppy 59-55 loss to Creighton on Tuesday.
The Huskies (15-5, 6-3) missed 25 of their first 33 shots and shot just 29.9 percent from the field. Yet they only lost by four.
“We didn’t look like a well-coached team today,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “I’m embarrassed. I’m embarrassed how we played today. A UConn team should never look like that.”
Isaiah Whaley led the Huskies with a career-high 20 points.
“That’s the second game in a row where just one guy was good offensively, and eventually you’re going to lose,” Hurley said. “So we lost. We did bizarre (stuff) with the ball. … Hopefully, it’s just a bad stretch, something every team goes through. We didn’t finish at the rim. We didn’t make threes. We didn’t make the free throws down the stretch, missed a couple front ends. Disappointing.”
UConn entered Tuesday’s game averaging 79.4 points. What has to change is the team’s confidence level with a matchup looming against a hungry Villanova team.
“They were giving us jump shots,” Whaley said. “We just weren’t making them. That kind of messed up a lot of people’s rhythm. So when it came to some of the easy shots, like just making layups, people’s confidence was just messed up from missing a lot of jump shots. That has a lot of do with people’s rhythm within the game, when you see a lot of shots go off, shots you know you can make, and you just miss them. That messes with you mentally.”
–Field Level Media