Feb. 28, 2003
The Wildcats (15-11, 8-5) and the Hokies (10-16, 3-10) will battle in a key Big East match-up, March 1st. Villanova defeated Virginia Tech January 8th at the Pavilion in an overtime thriller, 92-81. Click on the .pdf link below for complete game notes.
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Villanova Wildcats (15-10 overall, 8-4 Big East) vs. Virginia Tech Hokies (10-16 overall, 3-10 Big East)
Saturday, March 1, 2003~12:00 noon Cassell Coliseum WB TV 17 WFIL (560 AM) ESPN Radio (920 AM)
The Top Stories
38 Hours: A shade over 38 hours after absorbing a heartbreaking 57-56 loss at Seton Hall, Villanova will take the court against Virginia Tech. This will be Villanova's third game in five days, two of which take place away from the friendly confines of Philadelphia. A blizzard that forced postponement of VU's scheduled game at the Hall on Feb. 17 created the logjam.
March On: Villanova won't lament the fact that we flip the page on the calendar to March today. The Wildcats were 3-5 in February but hope to close with a March flurry as they did in 2001-02 (4-2 in the month).
Compass Points North: The Wildcats complete their rugged ride through the final ten days of Big East play when they travel to meet East Division rival Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Mass., on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. This game was originally slated for March 3. WZZD and ESPN Radio will carry the game live in Philadelphia and DirecTV's Full Court package will televise.
Allen's Shot Lifted the Hall: Thanks to the fact it was re-scheduled due to a Feb. 17 northeastern blizzard, there was no live television coverage of Thursday night's 57-56 Villanova loss at Seton Hall. As it turned out, that was an unfortunate turn of events. For this game was, in a very real sense, a throwback. "Just a classic old-style Big East basketball battle," summarized Villanova head coach Jay Wright in the aftermath. There was little to separate the two squads in this pivotal contest. Villanova collected 37 rebounds to Seton Hall's 36. The Wildcats had 21 field goals, the Pirates 19. VU sank six 3-point field goals, the Hall hit five. In the end it came down to this: the Hall made its final field goal attempt while Villanova's final toss at the basket - a Derrick Snowden free throw attempt with 10 seconds left - rimmed out. "It was," said Wright, "a great college basketball game. We just came out on the wrong side of it. They did a good job of being physical with us and disrupting our offense." Indeed, Villanova built a 46-38 advantage with 12:04 left. It led 54-47 with 5:29 remaining in regulation yet could not forestall that hard charging Pirates, who entered the game on a seven-game winning streak. Most telling is the fact that the Wildcats last made field goal attempt came with 7:43 to go when Ricky Wright scored. The 'Cats remaining five points came from the free throw line. Derrick Snowden's two free throws with 1:10 left gave Villanova a 56-53 edge but a basket by Andre Sweet with 1:02 left cut the margin to 56-55. An empty Wildcat possession gave the Pirates the basketball with 24 seconds left but a Snowden steal gave VU the ball back. He was fouled by Kelly Whitney and missed the front end of a one-and-one. Following a timeout, the Hall found Allen, who drove into the lane and made a short jumper with 2.0 seconds on the clock. The Wildcats then could not generate a shot in the final two seconds. "Seton Hall knew who its go-to guy was and found him," Jay Wright stated. "John Allen did a great job of making the big shot. "This is tough for our guys. We played hard but we didn't execute as well as we needed to at the end of the game. We just have to keep working at it."
A Sumpter Breeze: In the early stages of 2002-03, Curtis Sumpter seemed to have fallen a few steps behind the pace of his celebrated freshman classmates. Randy Foye and Jason Fraser were members of the starting lineup by the third game of the season. Allan Ray emerged as an instant offensive threat who averaged double figures in scoring by the middle of December. Sumpter, though, found the transition more complicated. "Coming to Villanova, Curtis had a difficult transition converting from a 4-man in high school to a 3-man here," stated Jay Wright. "It's taken him some time but he appears more and more comfortable out there with each passing game." In the first seven games of the campaign, Sumpter averaged 8.6 minutes and 2.4 points per game. Following a loss to Pennsylvania on Dec. 10, however, Jay Wright made a conscious decision to create more playing time for him. From that point forward, Sumpter has made steady progress. Lately, he has been one of Villanova's most effective players. Sumpter's minutes have spiked dramatically of late, including a career high 34 in the 57-56 loss at Seton Hall. Over the course of the past three outings, Sumpter has averaged 30 minutes per game after averaging just under 15 per contest prior to this stretch. "Curt has really stepped his game up for us," noted Jay Wright. "He is very active and brings great energy to the floor." With his first career start on Thursday, Sumpter became the final member of the freshman class to earn a starting nod as a rookie. Randy Foye has 24 starts to his credit, Jason Fraser 22 and Allan Ray a pair. In his new duties Sumpter has responded with production. He has averaged 11.6 ppg in this stretch and 5.3 rpg, including a career-high 21 points in a 75-56 win at Miami on Feb. 25.
Defensive Roots: After enduring a stretch from Jan. 18-Feb. 3 where they surrendered an average of 85 points per game, the Wildcats have returned to the defensive foundation favored by Jay Wright of late. In the six games since that point in the campaign, Villanova has allowed an average of just 62 ppg. After climbing as high as 74 points allowed per game early in February, Villanova is now permitting an average of 70.0 ppg. Villanova held Seton Hall to .404 shooting from the floor on Thursday evening.
Down Goes Fraser: Freshman forward Jason Fraser, who battled tendinitis in both knees for much of February, encountered a new health woe on Feb. 21. He began experiencing pain in his left foot. An MRI conducted under the supervision of Villanova team orthopedist Dr. Rob Good diagnosed a stress reaction to the left foot on Feb. 24. It is expected Fraser will be sidelined for 2-4 weeks. "We're disappointed for Jason," stated Jay Wright. "He's battled tendinitis for the last month and now has to deal with this. He just needs to concentrate on getting his body healthy." Fraser averages 7.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. He leads Villanova in field goal percentage (.515) and blocked shots (30) and started 22 consecutive games before the injury was diagnosed.
Buchanan Builds His Resume: When Gary Buchanan is on target from deep, Villanova's offensive attack is usually operating in high gear. VU is 21-8 in his career when he notches 20 or more points in a contest. Buchanan now boasts a career scoring total of 1,772 points, which puts him in 8th place on the all-time VU scoring list. His next target is 1985 Final Four Most Valuable Player Ed Pinckney, who closed his career on the Main Line with 1,865 career points. Buchanan is averaging 15.5 ppg this season, tops on the club. In addition he is connecting on .410 of his 3-point field goal attempts. His 81 3-point field goals made are tops in the Big East and Buchanan (331) has obliterated the Villanova school record in that department previously held by Kerry Kittles of the New Jersey Nets (278). He also is only 187field goals shy of the all-time Big East record for triples made of 178, held by former Miami standout Steve Edwards (1992-96). Early in the season, Buchanan was slowed by a series of injuries that caused him to miss virtually all of the preseason and the first two regular season games. The most serious of those was an injury to his left knee that require arthoscopic surgery on Nov. 18. The St. Thomas More (Conn.) product was back in the lineup ten days later but endured an uneven December as he rounded back into game shape. Of course, Buchanan's excellence at the free throw line has been another trademark of his career on the Main Line. In the Feb. 15 win over Connecticut he was a perfect 6-of-6 from the stripe. It was the 66th time in his Villanova career that Buchanan was perfect from the line. Over the course of his career Buchanan is 321-of-350 (.919) at the charity stripe. Ironically, this is the only season of his four in which he has shot below .900 - he currently is 43-of-50 (.860) from the line this season. On Feb. 22 in Providence Buchanan got to meet the man who owned most of Villanova's free throw records before he arrived in 1999, Tom Sienkewicz. Sienkewicz held the consecutive made free throw streak at VU (33) before Buchanan made 45 in a row as a freshman and posted a career mark of .891 that Buchanan is on pace to better.
