Feb. 8, 2010

Recap | Box Score | AP Photo Gallery

BATTLE OF TOP FIVE TEAMS
Tonight's game was the first Division I contest of the season featuring two teams ranked in the top five of the Associated Press poll. More than 4,000 games between D-I teams had been played prior to tonight's contest. This was also just the sixth time in Villanova history that the Wildcats played in a game where both teams were ranked in the top five. Villanova is 3-3 in such games, with four of the contests coming in the last five years.

Villanova Games Between Two Top Five Teams
Dec. 4, 1982 - No. 3 Kentucky 93, No. 4 Villanova 79 (Rupp Arena, Lexington, Ky.)
Feb. 25, 1996 - No. 3 Connecticut 70, No. 4 Villanova 59 (Wachovia Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pa.)
Dec. 3, 2005 - No. 4 Villanova 85, No. 5 Oklahoma 74 (The Pavilion, Villanova, Pa.)
Feb. 13, 2006 - No. 4 Villanova 69, No. 1 Connecticut 64 (Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, Pa.)
Feb. 26, 2006 - No. 3 Connecticut 89, No. 2 Villanova 75 (Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, Conn.)
Feb. 8, 2010 - No. 4 Villanova 82, No. 5 West Virginia 75

MORE NOTES ON THE TOP 25
Villanova has an all-time record of 55-55 in games where both the Wildcats and their opponent are ranked, including a 21-13 (.618) mark in such games under ninth-year head coach Jay Wright. The Wildcats are 39-7 (.848) when ranked in the top five since Wright became head coach, including a perfect 18-0 record as the No. 4 team in the country. Villanova is 59-16 (.787) all-time as a top five team.

BIG MONDAY
The Wildcats are undefeated in ESPN Big Monday games over the last two seasons, with a 3-0 record in these games. Last season, Villanova defeated Notre Dame (77-60) on March 2 in its only Big Monday appearance of the season. This year, the Wildcats have a win over Louisville (92-84) on January 11 in addition to tonight's victory over West Virginia.

BOUNCING BACK
Following a loss to No. 7 Georgetown on Saturday afternoon, Villanova bounced back with tonight's victory against the Mountaineers. The Wildcats have not lost back-to-back games at any point in the last two seasons and have played 68 straight games since they last had two straight losses, which was back on February 25 and March 2 of 2008 (at home to Marquette and on the road at Louisville).

Tonight's bounce-back win for Villanova might not have been a surprise if compared to the team's response to its previous trip to play Georgetown at the Verizon Center. On February 11, 2008, a young Wildcats team was defeated 55-53 by the Hoyas, their sixth loss in a span of seven games. Villanova won three straight after that contest and went 8-4 the rest of the 2007-08 season along the way to reaching the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. In fact, the Wildcats are 59-14 (.808) overall since that loss to the Hoyas two years ago.

MEETING THE MOUNTAINEERS
Villanova improved to 21-18 (.538) all-time against West Virginia, although the Wildcats have won just four of the last 10 meetings. This was also the team's first win at the WVU Coliseum since January 23, 1999 when Villanova posted a 73-62 win in Morgantown. Prior to tonight's contest, four of the last five regular season meetings between the teams had been decided by 11 or more points, including three games in that stretch decided by 20 or more points.

KEY POINTS IN THE GAME
With more than six minutes gone by at the start of the second half, Villanova had not made a field goal in the second period and senior guard Scottie Reynolds had just two points in the contest. Following a missed free throw by West Virginia, Reynolds raced down court and drilled a fast-break three-pointer that stretched the Wildcats lead to 50-41 with 13:18 remaining. One possession later, Reynolds answered a basket by the Mountaineers with a three-point play at the other end for a 10-point lead.

After leading 44-33 at halftime, the Wildcats went 0-for-4 from the field and committed six turnovers in the first 6:42 of the second half. Despite this cold stretch, the closest West Virginia could get was five points, 45-40. After a Mountaineers basket made the score 45-40 with 17:31 left, there were no points scored by either team until two free throws by junior guard Corey Fisher made the score 47-40 with 14:54 remaining.

Later in the second half, West Virginia twice cut the Wildcats lead to just three points, at 62-59 and 64-61, the latter score coming with 7:17 remaining. The Mountaineers made a three-pointer with 5:52 left to get within 68-64, but then did not make another field goal until Casey Mitchell converted a four-point play with 1:59 left. By that point, however, Villanova had built its lead back to nine points with a modest 6-1 run. Mitchell's four-point play made the score 74-69 but five points was the closest West Virginia could get down the stretch.

REYNOLDS MOVES INTO FOURTH PLACE
Senior guard Scottie Reynolds moved into fourth place on Villanova's career scoring list in tonight's game, passing current assistant coach Doug West in the process. Reynolds now has 2,053 points in his career after scoring 21 points in tonight's game. He is 41 points behind Bob Schafer (1951-55), who is in third place with 2,094 points.

REYNOLDS VERSUS WEST VIRGINIA
In his first three games against the Mountaineers while at Villanova, senior guard Scottie Reynolds had scored a total of just 28 points (9.3/game) while shooting 32 percent (7-of-22) from the field and committing 11 turnovers. In tonight's game, Reynolds scored 21 points while shooting 5-of-10 from the field and committing four turnovers. He also dished out five assists in tonight's contest. His career scoring average in 129 games as a Wildcat is 15.9 points per game.

FREE THROW FODDER
Villanova helped secure tonight's victory by making 19-of-22 (86.4 percent) free throws in the game. The Wildcats were 8-of-10 at the line in the last five minutes of the game, including 6-of-8 in the final two minutes. Senior guard Scottie Reynolds went 6-of-6 from the line in the last 3:11 of the contest and 10-of-10 for the game.

DEFENDING DE'SEAN
In a 93-72 loss to West Virginia last season, Villanova allowed 43 points to Mountaineer forward Da'Sean Butler, who is also leading his team in scoring this season. Butler entered the game averaging 17.3 points on the season but was held to 13 points on 2-of-12 shooting. After netting 12 points in the first half, Butler scored just one in the second half.

BIG EAST STANDINGS
Villanova moved back into a tie for first place in the BIG EAST standings with Syracuse, as both teams are 10-1 in conference play. The Wildcats have now posted double figures in wins in league games for the second straight year. This season is guaranteed to be the team's sixth straight with at least a .500 record in BIG EAST games, matching the longest streak in school history. Villanova had at least a .500 record in the league in its first six years in the conference, from 1980-81 through the 1985-86 seasons.