Dec. 13, 2011
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - On a night when its offense struggled to get started, Villanova relied on an old friend to pull it through to a 68-43 victory over Boston University on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
"We couldn't make a basket in the first half," stated Wildcats head coach Jay Wright, "but I thought we played good defense. It kept us in the game."
Indeed, the Wildcats' first half numbers were stark. Villanova missed its last 16 shots of the period and was just 6-of-33 (.182) from the field, including 2-of-12 from outside the 3-point arc. Yet the deficit at intermission was just 26-23.
"We just had to keep grinding," stated junior guard Maalik Wayns, who finished the night with 10 points on 3-of-14 from the field. "We were confident that we could have a better second half."
Villanova did just that.
The Wildcats scored 23 of the second half's first 30 points and were never threatened again. Junior Dominic Cheek, who led VU with 14 points while also contributing seven rebounds, was a catalyst as was sophomore James Bell. Bell (nine points, seven rebounds, and four assists) also helped ignite the second half push that saw the `Cats outscore the Terriers 45-17.
"I thought Villanova really picked up the intensity level and extended a little bit defensively in the second half," stated Boston University head coach Joe Jones. "I thought we played a good first half but they really hurt us on the offensive glass in the second half."
The `Cats collected 21 offensive caroms on the night and owned a 53-35 overall edge on the glass. Junior Mouphtaou Yarou led VU with 13 rebounds to go with his 13 points.
"It wasn't pretty, we know that," stated Wright. "But even at halftime we talked about needing to go through a game like this, where we couldn't make shots. This team needed to go through that and learn from it."
Wright referenced a game played in this very building in March 2009 in speaking to his troops at the break.
"We played American here with one of our best teams and were down by 14 at the half," Wright stated of the Wildcats first round game in the 2009 NCAA Tournament. "We talked about that - staying positive and grinding even when the shots weren't falling."
That Villanova team went on to post an 80-67 win over the Eagles and later moved on the Final Four. This bunch of Wildcats fought through their struggles and persevered to post a 68-43 triumph and improve to 6-4.
"We still have a long ways to go," stated Wright. "But to able to fight through this was good for us."
Villanova visits the campus of Saint Joseph's University for the first time in the long history of that series on Saturday at 8 p.m. (CBS College Sports Network/950 ESPN Radio).
