Villanova is looking more and more like the team we have come to know the past few years. While it would be a bit much to translate that into them looking like a national title contender once again, they are ruling the Big East the way they have ever since the conference split to form its current group and the American Athletic Conference.
Friday night was just one more example. Xavier got close, even within one, but Villanova had answers and made the Musketeers look like a team that ran out of gas in an 85-75 win at the Wells Fargo Center.
While the recent national title teams just won, a lot of that came from a well-run offense and solid defense. Both elements were present on Friday night, but especially the former as the Wildcats shot 50 percent from the field, including 15-34 from long range, and assisted on 21 of their 30 made field goals.
Defensively, the Wildcats clamped down on Xavier star Naji Marshall, holding him to 5-16 shooting. Marshall was relentless and still finished with 15 points, but he had to work hard for them. He played every second for the fifth straight game and has only sat for nine minutes in seven Big East games. Villanova made guys like Tyrique Jones (21 points, 12 rebounds), Zach Hankins and Quentin Goodin (12 points each) be the guys who were going to beat them, and that wasn’t going to happen.
The news is not all great for Villanova, who is now 5-0 in Big East. The Wildcats announced last night that freshman Cole Swider fractured a bone in his right (shooting) hand in practice on Thursday and will be out indefinitely. One of their prize freshmen, Swider appeared to be turning a corner, so the timing is bad (not that there is ever a good time for this).
The Wildcats have had to battle plenty to get this far. There were plenty of questions when they were blown out by Michigan and subsequently lost to Furman. Their most prized recruit, Jahvon Quinerly, has had serious growing pains, and as such averages under 11 minutes a night and did not play at all in four of their 18 games thus far. But this is a team with plenty of talent, and Jay Wright has built a program. You could even see it last night, and the prior game, when a guy like Jermaine Samuels plays a key role. Samuels was plenty talented and viewed as a great get, but he never got untracked last season with an injury and having to wait his turn. But he had 13 points and six rebounds in their win at Creighton, and last night started and played a career-high 28 minutes. More importantly, he had a couple of baskets during a key stretch where the Wildcats were able to fend off a Xavier rally and pull away.
Villanova is the last undefeated team left in Big East play. They look like a team that has grown from the challenges they faced in non-conference play. The Big East is down a bit from last year, but overall very even – except, apparently, for the team that has ruled the conference of late. They are still ruling the roost right now.
Side Dishes
The only thing close to a surprise on a light night of action was Maryland going to Ohio State and knocking off the Buckeyes 75-61 behind a double-double from Bruno Fernando (13 points, 15 rebounds). Saint Louis moved to 5-0 in Atlantic 10 play with their sixth straight win, a 68-57 win over visiting Saint Joseph’s, while the only road team to win besides Maryland also came in the Big Ten as Northwestern won 65-57 at Rutgers.
The latest in the saga at UConn from Kevin Ollie’s tenure came on Friday as the school announced self-imposed penalties in hopes of leniency from the NCAA. UConn will reduce the number of scholarships by one in the 2019-20 season, enforce a one-week ban on unofficial visits during this academic year, enforce a one-week ban on recruiting communications during this academic year, lose one official visit this year, lose four allowable recruiting days, pay $5,000 to the NCAA, and prohibit student managers from attending allowable pickup games involving current players. In all, this is not a very harsh penalty – there is no postseason ban included, although the Huskies appear to be a longshot for the NCAA Tournament – yet the school fired Ollie for cause and has continued to hammer him as this has gone on. This is not to defend Ollie if the allegations from the NCAA are true, and the legal proceedings still appear to have a long way to go at this point.
Miami is still hoping that big man Dewan Hernandez will play this season, and on Friday, head coach Jim Larranaga spoke about this matter in some detail to the media. The NCAA has on three occasions determined that Hernandez, known previously as Dewan Huell, had entered into an agreement with Christian Dawkins even though he had no written contract. Dawkins, of course, was one of three defendants found guilty of fraud in the corruption trial that concluded in October. While noting the sacrifices Hernandez has made, Larranaga noted that Jordan Fair, an AAU coach who later became an assistant at Louisville, had duped Hernandez and had even talked to him while a college assistant. Fair was fired once the FBI investigation broke. Hernandez declared for the NBA Draft but opted to return, only to have to sit the first 16 games thus far, with the Hurricanes set to host North Carolina on Saturday.
Speaking of North Carolina, they will be without Sterling Manley once again as his left knee is still too sore to play on in the aforementioned visit to Miami. Head coach Roy Williams ruled the sophomore big man out on Friday.
Surprising news last night as Princeton guard Devin Cannady was arrested and subsequently suspended after an incident at a convenience store in the wee hours of Friday morninng. The senior, a two-time All-Ivy selection and the Tigers’ leading scorer, allegedly threw a punch at an officer and faces charges of aggravated assault on a police officer, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. Cannady is the program’s fifth all-time leading scorer, and losing him for a significant period of time will hurt after the Tigers started off with consecutive wins over arch-rival Penn, who along with Harvard was one of the preseason favorites.
Some sad news also came out last night as former Penn State and Arizona State guard Jermaine Marshall died at the way-too-young age of 28. Marshall spent just one season in Tempe after transferring, but he made the most of it as he led the Sun Devils to the NCAA Tournament. He had been playing in the second division in France this season. We send our thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of Jermaine Marshall.
Tonight’s Menu
Another busy Saturday is in front of us, with a few big matchups along the way.
- ACC play gets going with North Carolina traveling to Miami (noon), then old Big East rivals meet as Syracuse hosts Pittsburgh (2 p.m.), Virginia Tech hosts Wake Forest and Louisville visits Georgia Tech (both at 4 p.m.), then the game of the day is Duke hosting Virginia (6 p.m.)
- Big 12 play starts with a challenge for 0-5 West Virginia as they host Kansas (2 p.m.), then Kansas State tries to stay hot as they host TCU (4 p.m.) and Texas Tech tries to bounce back from their first conference loss at Baylor while Iowa State hosts Oklahoma State (both at 6 p.m.) Closing out the day is Texas hosting Oklahoma (8 p.m.)
- An important game in the Big East is on tap as St. John’s travels to Butler (4:30 p.m.), while Seton Hall hosts DePaul later on (8 p.m.)
- Big Sky leaders clash as Weber State hosts Northern Colorado (9 p.m.)
- In the Big Ten, slumping Wisconsin hosts white-hot Michigan (noon), then arch rivals meet as Purdue hosts Indiana (2 p.m.) and Minnesota tries to bounce back from a shellacking as they host winless Penn State (8:30 p.m.)
- In the Horizon League, two top teams battle as Detroit Mercy hosts Oakland (2 p.m.)
- In the Pac-12, the battle of Los Angeles takes place as UCLA goes to USC (4 p.m.), while Washington tries to stay undefeated as they host Cal (5 p.m.) and two teams try to bounce back from a Thursday night loss as Arizona hosts Oregon State (7 p.m.) Later, Arizona State hosts Oregon (10:30 p.m.)
- A Patriot League showdown is on tap early on as Lehigh hosts Bucknell (noon)
- In the SEC, Arkansas travels to Ole Miss (1 p.m.), then Alabama has a big challenge as they go to Tennessee (2 p.m.), Texas A&M hosts Missouri (3:30 p.m.) and the big matchup of the day is Auburn hosting Kentucky (4 p.m.) A little later is another good matchup as LSU hosts South Carolina (6 p.m.), then Vanderbilt hosts Mississippi State (8:30 p.m.)
- The Southern Conference has two good ones on tap as UNC Greensboro goes to East Tennessee State (4 p.m.) and Wofford hosts Furman (7 p.m.)
- A good one in the West Coast Conference that is unfortunately not on any national TV is Saint Mary’s hosting San Diego (9 p.m.), then an even better one closes out the night as San Francisco hosts BYU (11 p.m.)
- In a non-conference game of note, Temple hosts Penn in a Big Five matchup (5 p.m.)
