Dec. 22, 2008

Recap | Box Score | Quotes

PAVILION WINNING STREAK
Villanova moved to within one home victory of tying its longest winning streak ever inside the Pavilion. The Wildcats have now won 22 straight games in their on campus home in a streak that begin with a 102-87 win over Notre Dame on January 17, 2007. Villanova's longest-ever win streak in the Pavilion is 23 games from January 18, 1995 through January 8, 1997. The Wildcats have not been beaten in the building since a 73-65 loss to DePaul on January 6, 2007. The team will have a chance to tie the 23-game mark on December 29 when it hosts Temple at 7 p.m.

CUNNINGHAM BACK IN DOUBLE FIGURES
Senior forward Dante Cunningham scored 24 points in tonight's game, reaching double figures for the 11th time in 12 games this season. Cunningham had reached double figures in a career-best 10 straight games to begin the year before recording nine points last Sunday evening in a win over La Salle. In 35 minutes, Cunningham shot 11-of-18 from the field and 2-of-5 from the foul line. Cunningham is now shooting .580 (83-of-143) from the field this season to average a team-best 17.3 points per contest.

FIRST HALF THREE-POINTERS
Villanova scored the first eight points of the game and pulled out to a 17-6 lead in the first 5:09 of the contest. Navy stayed in the game thanks to making eight three-pointers in the opening period, however. The Midshipmen drew as close as three points when it made the score 29-26 but got no closer than that in the opening 20 minutes. For the half, Navy went 8-of-14 (57.1%) from three-point range and 2-of-13 (15.4%) on two-pointers.

SECOND HALF THREE-POINTERS
Navy continued its three-point shooting in the second half and wound up 14-of-28 from behind the arc in the contest. Meanwhile, the Midshipmen were just 6-of-26 (23.1%) on two-point shots. Although the three-pointers kept Navy in the game, the Midshipmen never got closer than three points after the 8-0 run by Villanova opened the game.

NAVY'S CHRIS HARRIS
With eight three-pointers made in tonight's game, Navy junior guard Chris Harris tied the individual record for most three-pointers made against Villanova. The total had been reached twice before, both in Big East games. Delray Brooks (Providence) was the first to do it on January 10, 1987 and Jason Maile (Pittsburgh) matched the effort on Feb. 12, 1997.

REYNOLDS AND CUNNINGHAM SCORE 20
In tonight's game senior forward Dante Cunningham reached the 20-point plateau for the fourth time this season and junior guard Scottie Reynolds scored at least 20 points for the second time this year. It is the second time in their respective careers that Cunningham and Reynolds have eclipsed 20 points in the same game. The first time it happened came on March 2, 2007 at the Wachovia Center in a 78-75 win over Syracuse. Reynolds scored 22 points in that contest and Cunningham added 21 points. In tonight's game, Cunningham had a team-high 24 points and Reynolds had 23 points.