Jan. 18, 2009

Recap | Box Score | Quotes

PAVILION WINNING STREAK
With today's victory, Villanova established a new team record for consecutive wins in The Pavilion. This was the 24th straight win in the building for the Wildcats, breaking the previous mark of 23 straight wins that lasted from January 18, 1995 through January 8, 1997. The current win streak began with a 102-87 victory over Notre Dame on January 17, 2007 and followed a 73-65 loss to DePaul, 11 days earlier. Of the 24 wins, nine have come in Big East games and 15 have been against non-conference opponents. Villanova's all-time record in its on-campus home is 208-54 (.794).

SERIES HISTORY 101
Villanova has played more games against St. John's than any other opponent in its history. Today was the 101st meeting in the all-time series, which the Red Storm still lead by a 58-43 margin. The Wildcats have now won the last five meetings and seven of the last eight in the series. The longest winning streak for Villanova in the series was seven games from January, 1994 through February, 1997. In addition, the Wildcats have won nine straight games against St. John's in The Pavilion since a 65-62 loss on February 27, 1993.

FAST START
The Wildcats scored the first seven points of this afternoon's game and pulled out to a commanding 19-3 lead in the first six minutes. Five different players scored during the opening spurt, including five points apiece from junior guard Scottie Reynolds and senior guard/forward Dwayne Anderson. The hot start set a tone for the opening period, in which Villanova shot 57 percent (17-30) from the field and maintained a lead between 11-19 points for the remainder of the half after the hot start.

TWO YEAR COMPARISON
The run by Villanova to begin today's game (19-3 in the first six minutes) was a familiar sight for the Wildcats in a game against St. John's. In last season's meeting between the teams at Madison Square Garden, the first half was almost completely controlled by Villanova, which led 31-13 at halftime and went on to a 60-42 victory.

POINTS IN THE PAINT
Villanova dominated St. John's in the paint throughout today's game. In the first half, the Wildcats outscored the Red Storm 22-2 in the lane en route to a 44-27 lead at the half. Villanova went 13-of-22 (59.1%) inside during the period and senior forward Dante Cunningham scored 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the field to pace the team. The trend continued in the second half and the Wildcats wound up with a 40-12 edge for the game in scoring in the paint.

ST. JOHN'S RUN
Although the Wildcats controlled the game throughout today's contest, the Red Storm made a run to get within eight points, 44-36, with 17:39 to play in the game. St. John's scored the first nine points of the second half, part of a larger 15-4 run that spanned both halves and brought the team back from a 40-21 deficit late in the opening period. The run was broken up on a three-pointer by senior guard/forward Dwayne Anderson with 17:07 remaining that stretched the margin back to double digits for good.

MAJOR MINUTES
Both teams played primarily a seven-man rotation and relied heavily on their starters in today's game. All 10 starters from both teams played at least 20 minutes and nine of the starters played 25 or more minutes. The five starters for St. John's combined to score all but three of the team's points, while Villanova received 65 points from its starters and 11 points from the bench. Four of the five starters for the Red Storm played at least 32 minutes and the Wildcats used seven players that played at least 20 minutes.