Jan. 18, 2002
Click on the .pdf link below for a complete version of the men's basketball game notes for Sunday afternoon's match-up with St. John's. Villanova enters the game 10-4 overall, 3-2 in Big East play. St. John's stands at 12-4 on the year, 3-2 in the Big East. The game will be televised on Comcast SportsNet.
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Villanova Wildcats
(10-4 overall, 3-2 Big East)
Vs.
St. John's Red Storm
(12-4 overall, 3-2 Big East)
Sunday, Jan. 20, 2002
Madison Square Garden~2:00 p.m.
Comcast SportsNet (Bob Picozzi & Bucky Waters)
Villanova Radio Network
(WPEN 950 AM ,WZZD 990 AM)Cats In A Close OneIf nothing else, the Wildcats are becoming a television producer's favorite. Indeed, Villanova has played five Big East games this season. In all but one - a 76-57 win on Jan. 2 over Providence at the Pavilion - the outcome has been in doubt into the final minute.
On Jan. 6, Derrick Snowden's basket and defensive stop on Chris Thomas in the final 30 seconds lifted Villanova past Notre Dame 74-72. Three days later at the Pavilion, the Wildcats and Boston College went to overtime before the Eagles grabbed an 88-81 win. Against Connecticut on Jan. 13, the 'Cats pulled to within three of the Huskies heading into the final minute. And on Tuesday, the pattern continued.
After Virginia Tech's Terry Taylor sank a free throw to tie the game at 75, Villanova called timeout with 34.5 seconds left. Snowden killed some time, then fed Ricky Wright in the post. Wright got off a tough shot that missed but Brooks Sales was waiting under the basket for the miss. Sales put the ball into the net and Villanova left Blacksburg with a two-point win.
"I'm really proud and happy for our guys tonight," said coach Jay Wright in the aftermath. "We're trying to learn to be a tough, gritty team. I think that's what we did tonight. We weren't pretty. We never are but we gutted that out. I was really happy for our guys to experience playing ugly, not making shots, but gutting it out."
As for the final sequence, Sales simply reacted when he saw a pair of defenders surround Ricky Wright. "Ricky got the double team and I just crashed the glass," said Sales. "I guess nobody put a body on me. I got it. I'll take it like that."
Gary's Great Night
He has been Villanova's leading scorer all season long but for Gary Buchanan the 2001-02 season has been about adjustment. Jay Wright and his staff have worked to expand Buchanan's game, asking him to drive the ball towards the basket more than he had in the past and upgrade his defensive effort. Tuesday night all of that seemed to fall into place. Buchanan connected on 10-of-20 from the field, including 6-of-11 in the second half, to put the Wildcats into position to beat Virginia Tech. His 34 points were a career high.
"We've been working so much on Gary becoming a defensive player, rebounding and doing other things, we got away from running offense for him," Jay Wright said. "We've been working on developing Gary into an all-around player. Against Virginia Tech, more out of desperation, we ran some more stuff for him. He really responded. I'm not that dumb."
With 17 minutes to go in the second half on Tuesday, Villanova was staring up at a 51-41 deficit. Over the next six minutes, Buchanan scored 11 points to key a 13-2 Wildcat run. Villanova grabbed the lead 54-53 with 11:26 to go in regulation and the game seesawed back and forth for the rest of the night.
"I have confidence in my shot every night," said Buchanan. "Some nights I don't get the looks. Tonight I got the looks. It's nice to get back to offense. We've been working on our defense, on getting stops, stops, stops."
Buchanan has certainly flourished against the Hokies. In three career games, he has averaged 25.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. The road has been more difficult against today's foe, St. John's. The native of St. Louis has played four career games against the Red Storm, averaging 14 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. At Madison Square Garden, he has averaged 12.3 ppg when facing the Red Storm.
The product of the St. Thomas More prep school in Connecticut leads the Wildcats in minutes (492, 35.1 per game), 3-point field goal percentage (.518), free throw percentage (.950), and scoring (19.3 ppg). In addition, he is third in rebounding at 5.4 rpg, second in steals and is connecting on .506 of his field goal attempts. As for the free throw line, Buchanan has missed only three shots all season long (57-60). He is currently riding a streak of 22 straight consecutive made free throws. Last year he established a new NCAA Division I record with 73 straight.
Earlier this season Buchanan passed the 1,000 point mark for his career. He now has 1,098 points to place him at No. 42 on the all-time list. Next up are John Olive and the man who wore No. 22 immediately prior to Buchanan's arrival, Howard Brown, both of whom are tied for 40th place with 1,122 points.
Wright Moves
Another Villanova junior Ricky Wright has added an element of consistency to his game that wasn't always present in his first two seasons on the Main Line. Despite being limited to 25 minutes by foul difficulty, junior forward Ricky Wright scored 11 points and grabbed three rebounds in the win over Virginia Tech. He has scored in double figures in 12 of the Wildcats 14 games this season and the last seven in a row. In Big East Conference competition Ricky Wright is averaging 16.4 points and 8.0 rebounds per game while connecting on .565 of his field goal attempts.
For the season he is averaging 15.6 points, 8.0 rebounds and connecting on .566 of his field goal attempts. Ricky Wright was honored as co-Philadelphia Big Five Player of the Week for the week of Jan 8th.
Homecoming For Jay
This afternoon's meeting with the Red Storm marks Jay Wright's first return to New York as Villanova head coach. The Churchville, Pa., native spent seven seasons reviving the fortunes of Hofstra, where he posted a 122-85 record and a 72-22 mark over his last three seasons. Madison Square Garden certainly holds its share of fond memories for Villanova's head coach. In December 1998, Hofstra defeated Georgia Tech and Pennsylvania to claim the school's first ECAC Holiday Festival title. The Pride returned to the Garden for the 2000 Holiday Festival where it defeated Rutgers before falling to Penn State in the Festival final. Lifetime Jay Wright is 4-3 (.571) in games played at Madison Square Garden. However, none of those games were against St. John's. Hofstra faced St. John's four times during Wright's tenure, with the Red Storm taking the first three games before Hofstra claimed an 86-80 win in 2000-01. The first three meetings took place at Alumni Hall. Last year's encounter was held at Nassau Coliseum.
On Saturday Jay Wright and assistant coach Brett Gunning returned to Hofstra. The Pride - now coached by former Wright assistant Tom Pecora - were celebrating the 2000-01 America East championship by presenting rings to players and staff in conjunction with the game against William & Mary.
Field Goal Focus
In its first 11 games this year, Villanova converted 50 percent or better of its field goal attempts eight times. In its last three games, it has connected on just 71-of-176 (.403) from the floor, never reaching 50 percent. Its overall field goal percentage has dropped to .499 for the season.
Injury Update
Senior guard B.J. Johnson has been sidelined for the past seven games with a fracture of the third metatarsal bone in his left foot. His status has been upgraded to questionable for today's game.
Jair's Journey
Sophomore center Jair Veldhuis has left the men's basketball team and will transfer to the University of Nevada, it was announced prior to the VMI game on Dec. 22. Veldhuis, a native of Amsterdam, Holland, played in five games this season for a total of 32 minutes. He averaged 1.2 points and 0.4 rebounds. As a freshman in 2000-01 he saw action in six games.
"Jair has made a decision about his future and we respect that," said Jay Wright. "We thank him for his contributions to Villanova basketball."
Boards Weren't As Kind
For only the second time this season, Villanova found itself outrebounded by an opponent on Tuesday night. Ironically, the 35-34 deficit was exactly the same as it was in the other instance where a foe got the better of the 'Cats on the glass. That was against Dayton on Nov. 24. Villanova is outrebounding its opponents by an average of 10 a game, 39.2 to 29.1. Alas, the news isn't as promising on the turnover front. Villanova committed 16 more on Tuesday, bringing the season count to 275. In contrast, its opponents have committed only 187. Recent research has detected that the all-time single game turnover record is 33, not 31 as listed in the media guide. Villanova coughed it up 33 times in a 102-74 win over Providence on Jan. 13, 1990. So let it be known the standard is 33 turnovers in a single game.
The Matchup
Villanova vs. St. John's
All-Time Series: St. John's leads 56-36
Last meeting: Villanova 71, St. John's 55 (Feb. 25, 2001)
Last St. John's win: SJU 82, VU 70 (Jan. 20, 2001)
Wright vs. St. John's: 1-3 Notebook: The Wildcats have not beaten St. John's at Madison Square Garden since Dec. 7, 1996, losing five in a row to the Red Storm in Manhattan ... One of those losses occured in the 2000 Big East Conference Tournament ... The two clubs split a pair of contests last year with the Wildcats winning 71-55 on Feb. 25 before a national television audience on ABC TV ... Ironically, the two teams met in the Garden on this date last year, with the Red Storm prevailing 82-70 ... Derrick Snowden averaged 11 ppg in the two meetings for Villanova last year ... Anthony Glover (16 ppg) and Willie Shaw (14 ppg) did the most damage for the Red Storm against Villanova ...The series began on Jan. 27, 1923 at Villanova.
