BOSTON – Jay Wright was happy for more reasons than just the fact that his team won, and in convincing fashion. It even had little to do with the fact that they beat Duke, a team whose brand spreads far and wide among college basketball fans and has had the kind of success most programs – even one like Villanova that has a lot of success in its history – would love to have.
The big deal is that his Wildcat team is getting better each time out. Players and coaches talk about getting better all the time, and while many teams do it, it’s hard to think of a better example of it right now than Villanova.
“We’re getting better this late in the year, which is really exciting,” Wright said after Villanova’s 77-54 win. “What’s really exciting for our staff is that these guys just keep improving. We actually had two or three practices before this where we can see guys improving and our team improving, and that’s exciting.”
Last weekend, Villanova manhandled UCLA, a team whose veterans have been to three straight Final Fours. Sure, this isn’t the UCLA team of a couple of years ago that was in the national title game, but last year’s team wasn’t that team, either, and they still made it to the Final Four. They did that two days after they had some trouble against American in the first round, although once they started playing with some aggressiveness in the second half of that game they had all the momentum.
Thursday night, they held Duke to a season-low 26.7 percent shooting from the field. Headlining that effort among players was holding Gerald Henderson and Jon Scheyer to a combined 4-32 from the field, including 3-15 from long range. Foul trouble didn’t help Henderson, but all night long he was hounded by Wildcat defenders who did a great job of helping so that neither got much chance one-on-one against a defender.
Villanova also had a big edge on the glass, out-rebounding Duke 49-34. For good measure, they had 13 offensive rebounds on 39 misses, turning them into 25 second-chance points. They allowed Duke just eight offensive rebounds on 44 misses, making the second-chance edge (25-7) a big one. That’s also an area where Duke wins its fair share of games with the extra possessions they get out of the offensive boards.
As a team, the Wildcats’ improvement is clear. But look up and down the roster, and you can see it as well. The development of seniors Dante Cunningham and Dwayne Anderson has been well-documented and was on display again last night. Anderson was a key to the offense early on before he got into foul trouble, and in the early going the Wildcats didn’t get a lot going there. Cunningham, a key role player the last time the Wildcats got this far in the tournament when he was a freshman, epitomized the way they thoroughly out-played Duke in the second half, as he was all over the boards and had more energy en route to a 14-point, 11-rebound effort.
On Thursday night, Reggie Redding had a lot to do with this as well. Known more for his defense, the junior wing contributed 11 points and nine rebounds, finding ways to score in between being his usual active self at both ends.
Maybe the best sign of this team’s development has been the way they are winning without getting big games from Scottie Reynolds. The junior guard had not been playing well in the postseason ever since his 21-point outing in their first Big East Tournament game. Last weekend, he scored 19 points in the two games on 6-16 shooting, making just two of his nine three-point attempts. If the second half is any indication, he might be ready to come around, as he had 11 of his 16 points after intermission. He still struggled shooting, but if we look at it as baby steps, it’s a good sign.
“We’re not at our peak, and like (Wright) just said, we can continue to get better,” said Reynolds.
Wright feels like the Wildcats have played 40 minutes of defense the last two games. That’s a big reason they are where they are now, as they aren’t a team that can just out-score teams, especially when Reynolds isn’t shooting well. They have plenty of players who can score, as has been evident thus far in the NCAA Tournament, but they don’t always get all of them clicking in the same game.
“We knew we could put points on the board, but it’s going to be those times where we’re not going to be able to score and we have to do it on the defensive end,” said Reynolds.
As often happens, once a team gets going defensively, the offense follows. In the second half, Villanova shot over 48 percent from the field and scored 51 points.
The Wildcats have won their last two games in convincing fashion, thanks to their defense. With the way they are playing and getting better, their coach has a lot of reason to be happy, and if it continues for another game, he certainly won’t be alone in feeling that way.
