Dick Weiss on College Basketball
VILLANOVA, Pa.—Last spring, when Villanova played Michigan for the national championship in San Antonio, the Wolverines had no answers for guard Donte DiVincenzo and Wildcats’ dynamic, three-point offense. DiVincenzo scored 31 points and was selected the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player during a 79-62 victory that lifted the Cats to their second NCAA title in three years.
Last night, in a rematch between the two programs that was part of the Dave Gavitt Tipoff Games here at the Finneran Pavilion, Villanova—which had four starters, including All American point guard and national Player of the Year Jalen Brunson, selected in the first round of the 2018 NBA draft– had no answers for Michigan.
The 18th-ranked Wolverines (3-0) gave Nova a harsh reality check, burying the young Cats, 73-46, with a suffocating defense that sucked the air out of Villanova’s normally efficient offense before a stunned sellout crowd of 6,600, who came to enjoy the bells and whistles of this newly renovated on campus arena but found themselves sitting through a painful meltdown that was punctuated when Bill Finneran, the Villanova alum who donated $22 million for reconstruction of the building, added his own critique of the performance at halftime of the official opening.
“If you’re lucky, you’re seeing the worst game you’re going to see,’’ he told the fans.
Villanova coach Jay Wright all but echoed those sentiments afterwards. “Whatever the final score was, it wasn’t that close,’’ Wright said. “The players know that. You play in that game, you know that.’’
Nobody, least of all the Villanova players, saw this coming. “I thought we could be down, but I didn’t think it would be like this,’’ Wright admitted.
When eighth-ranked Villanova (2-1) defeated Morgan State, 100-77, and Quinnipiac, 86-55, last week, Wright was able to play 11 of his scholarship players. But this was a blow to their psyche and it is obvious, after the team went off the rails against a well-coached Big Ten contender, he needs to cut down his rotation if he wants to build chemistry before the start of the Big East regular season.
“I’m very impressed with Michigan,’’ Wright said. “Really like their team, great togetherness, great execution. It’s my fault I’m running a lot of guys out there. We’re not as organized as we want to be. We’re trying to figure out a lineup early in the season. We didn’t have to cohesiveness to play a good team like that.’’
The Cats had none against Michigan, shooting 14 for 44 and only getting off 15 three-point attempts, committing 21 turnovers that led to 25 Michigan points and getting minimal success from their press, which forced just eight turnovers and only one in the first half when the Wolverines—who lost three of their top four scorers including star center Moe Wagner– roared to a 44-17 lead. After Michigan’s guards used their first step quickness to blow by the Cats’ initial defense, they turned the game into a layup drill, scoring 44 points in the paint and shooting 50.1 percent.
“They executed way better than we were prepared to play defense,’’ Booth admitted.
Michigan’s 6-6 wing Charles Matthews scored 19 points and used his length to limit Villanova’s red shirt junior guard and leading scorer Phil Booth to just nine points on 2- for- 8 shooting. Matthews set the tone for the route in the first 90 seconds when he slammed home a dunk and then flexed to the crowd. “I don’t think when I’m out there,’’ Matthews said. “It was a fun, exciting game. I got the dunk and I screamed.’’
The Wolverines also neutralized Villanova’s 6-8 senior forward Eric Paschall, a first team pre-season All Big East selection, limiting him to 10 points on 3-for-14 shooting. The five Villanova starters only scored a combined eight field goals. “Villanova is a young team and they’ve lost of lot of people,’’ Michigan coach John Beilein said. “It was easier for us to determine our rotation. We had seven players coming back, plus Iggy.’’
Iggy is Ignas Brazdeikis, a physical 6-7 freshman wing from Ontario, Canada who finished with 18 points on 7 for 11 shooting, grabbed seven rebounds and outplayed Paschall. “He’s like a mean pit bull,’’ Michigan point guard Zavier Simpson said.
Villanova’s frustration was evident after Simpson was whistled for a flagrant foul that led to a brief scuffle with 6-9 sophomore forward Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree near mid-court with 13 minutes remaining and the Wolverines ahead, 52-24.
This one is going to sting for a while as one of the worst losses in the Jay Wright era. Wright will have to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to get more offense when opposing teams zero in on stopping Booth and Paschall.
Wright has built an elite program on the Main Line and he has an sparkling on campus arena that pays appropriate homage to its proud tradition. But this is not 2016 or 2018 and it could take longer than usual for the Cats, who will have a huge target on their back whenever they play a good team, to get ready for prime time.
