Dick Weiss on NCAA Tournament
BOSTON—Villanova’s Jalen Brunson has that national Player of the Year look about him.
The Wildcats’ 6-2 junior point guard, the most indispensable player on this national championship contender, refused to let his team lose their biggest game so far in this NCAA tournament. He scored 27 points as Villanova dug its way out of a 60-54 deficit with a lightning fast 11-0 run in two minutes and went on to defeat dangerous West Virginia, 90-78, here last night and advance to the East Region finals at the TD Bank Arena.
Brunson shot 8 for 15, made 4 of 7 threes and was 8 of 9 from the line with four assists in 37 minutes but more importantly, he helped the Cats survive the Mountaineers stifling, full court pressure in a physical game between old Big East rivals.
“That was the most physically demanding, mentally demanding 40 minutes we’ve played in a long time,’’ Wright said. “They’re so relentless. They keep coming at you. And to see our guys come out and compete with them physically and mentally, it was impressive to me.’’
Brunson has waited his turn to become the man in this program, letting point guard Ryan Arcidiacono run the offense as a freshman when Villanova won the 2016 national championship and allowing 6-5 first team All American Jason Hart to dominate the spotlight last season.
But he has become the face of this 33-4 team and may well be the most mature player ever to play for coach Jay Wright since he arrived on the Main Line in 2002.
“The last two games, people have tried to make like it’s been Jalen vs. Collin Sexton of Alabama, Jalen vs. Jevon Carter this game’ Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “But he’s ever brought it up. It’s never about him. It’s all about the team.’’
Villanova has had its share of great guards in the Jay Wright era, starting to first team All-America Randy Foye and Kyle Lowry in 2006 and continuing with first team All American Scottie Reynolds on the 2009 Final Four team, Ryan Arch and Hart.
But no one has this kid’s basketball IQ or poise under pressure.
West Virginia’s pressure can swallow you up as Brunson knows all too well. He and West Virginia’s star guard Jevon Carter have been friends since junior high school when they played on the same summer travel team in Chicago and the relentless Carter used to hound Brunson in practice.
“There’s no extra incentive when I’m playing against someone I’ve known growing up If I need to be motivated by that, I’m doing myself an injustice,’’ Brunson said. “I’ve got to play every game like it’s my last. I love to play against old friends. I love great challenges. But it was Villanova vs. West Virginia and it was a great battle between two teams.’’
Brunson and Villanova could have panicked after they fell behind by six after Jevon Carter scored on a breakaway layup with 11:08 left in the second half and Wright called a 30 second timeout. But they never did. “That’s our leadership,’’ Wright said. “I just looked at Jalen, Mikal Bridges and Phil Booth and I could see in their eyes we were good. If I looked in their eyes and saw fear or worry, I might have gone a little crazy, but I didn’t.’’
Brunson, who was playing with three personal fouls and had been quiet offensively, was the catalyst for the comeback. He made one of two free throws, but Villanova grabbed the rebound and then Brunson made an old fashioned three-point play to kick start an offense, which missed nine of its first 10 shots in the second half, pulling the Cats within 60-58 with 10:37 to play. Two possessions later, after forward Eric Paschall made a pair of free throws to tie the game, he found Mikal Bridges on the left baseline for an open three-point jumper to give Villanova a 63-60 lead. Then 6-8 red shirt freshman center Omari Spellman, who stepped up huge with 18 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 assists, punctuated the run with a sledge hammer dunk.
“We had shots,’’ West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. “We didn’t make them. They made theirs. I start telling guys, man this time of year, you need to make open shots. We got way more open shots than they got, we just didn’t make them.’’
Villanova shot 50 percent, made 13 of 24 threes and was 23 for 27 from the line. The Big 12 Mountaineers (26-10) got off 70 shots and made 27. They shot 27. They came into the game shooting 77 percent from the line and made 17 of 23. “Those things come back to bite you,’’ Huggins said.
This is Brunson’s final year in a Villanova uniform and he wants to make the most of it. Brunson will graduate in three years with a degree in communications this May and is expected to declare for the NBA draft.
That has been the personality of this Villanova team, which shot 50 percent and made 13 of 24 threes in this steel cage match. “As soon as I started watching film of West Virginia, I thought man, this is like the old Big East,’’ Wright said. “The new Big East is a really high powered offensive league, a lot of three-point shooters.
“And I think college basketball has changed a lot, too. There weren’t a lot of teams we faced that played that way. We played Tennessee in the Bahamas and I thought they were a physical team, but not like this. I thought this was a tough matchup, and if we survive this, we’re a mentally tough team, and this is going to be an old school, grind it out game.
“But it’s funny how the game has changed. It’s old school, grind out, but the final score but the final score was 90-78. That would have been 58-50 back in the day and there would have been no fouls called.’’
