No. 2 Villanova runs over Seton Hall to clinch share of Big East title

Share

BOX SCORE

NEWARK, N.J. -- In the moments leading up to Saturday afternoon’s Big East tilt at the Prudential Center between No. 2 Villanova and host Seton Hall, the lights in the arena dimmed and the raucous crowd of 16,733 began to cheer as the Seton Hall production crew played a hype video that featured mostly highlights of the Pirates’ upset of the Wildcats in last season’s Big East Tournament championship game.

“What? I didn’t know about that. See, I don’t know about all that stuff,” Wildcats head coach Jay Wright said during his postgame press conference.

It was typical Jay Wright. Forget about the outside noise and just focus on the game at hand.

That’s how his Wildcats operate, and that’s how they how took care of business Saturday to earn at a share of a record fourth straight Big East regular-season title.

Jalen Brunson shined with 22 points on a perfect 7 for 7 shooting and 10 assists for the first double-double of his college career, as he guided the Wildcats to a 92-70 thrashing of the Pirates en route to clinching that share of the conference title (see Instant Replay).

With some help from other teams, the Wildcats could have sole possession of that title by the end of the weekend.

Kris Jenkins also finished with 22 for the Wildcats while National Player of the Year candidate Josh Hart poured in 19 of his own. Mikal Bridges added 15 to give the ‘Cats some impressive scoring balance.

Villanova is now 26-2 overall and 13-2 in conference play. Seton Hall, which was led by Khadeen Carrington’s 22 points Saturday, is now 16-10 overall and 6-8 in conference play as its NCAA Tournament bubble hopes took a hit with Saturday’s defeat.

After the game, Wright was glowing with praise for what his sophomore point guard did Saturday.

“He just controlled the game,” Wright said of Brunson. “When he sees that we need scoring from that position, he does it. When he sees we need him to organize us, he does it. That’s the beauty of a great point guard.

“Some guys see it. They see they need to score but they can’t score. Or some guys are scorers and they know they’ve got to run the offense but they struggle with it. He’s great at both and I thought that was really apparent today.

“I wouldn’t trade him for anybody in the country at the point guard spot.”

With his near-flawless performance Saturday, Brunson became the first player in the last 20 seasons to score at least 20 points and record 10 assists without missing a shot in a game.

The only smudge on the day for Brunson? A miss from the free-throw line, where he went 6 for 7 during the game. So, counting all the shots he took on the day, Brunson was 13 for 14 shooting (92.8 percent).

“I’ve never been the fastest or the guy who has the explosive game. But I’ve always been able to start and stop and change speeds,” Brunson said. “That’s something I’ve always had in my game and that’s what my dad (former Temple great Rick Brunson) always taught me. I’m capable of doing all that.”

In many ways, the ‘Cats needed Brunson to do “all that” in the first half Saturday.

Led by big man Angel Delgado, the nation’s leading rebounder with 13.2 boards per game entering Saturday’s contest, Seton Hall was making Villanova sweat late in the first half. Delgado had a favorable matchup as Wildcats senior big man Darryl Reynolds missed his third straight game with a rib injury. And he took advantage of it with 11 points and six boards in the first half. Delgado finished with 19 points and 12 boards.

A Desi Rodriguez trey with 2:47 left in the first half cut Villanova’s lead to 31-30. That would be Seton Hall’s last gasp at the upset.

Keyed by two clutch Brunson three-pointers, the ‘Cats reeled off an 11-1 run to close the half and take a 42-31 lead into the break. That all came with leading scorer Hart on the bench with two fouls and shooting just 3 of 8 from the field for six points. Brunson finished the half with 18 points to guide Villanova.

“In the first half, he really kept us there just by being a playmaker,” Hart said of Brunson. “He did a great job today. He was able to get into the lane and get his own shots and get shots for other guys.”

But that run was clearly what tipped the scales in Villanova’s favor.

“That was big because it was a close game and we had Josh in foul trouble,” Wright said. “We got some good defensive stops, we got out in transition. … The way we closed the half was really important.”

The Wildcats added nine straight points coming out of the half to make it a 20-1 run and kick some more dirt over top of the Pirates.

Needless to say, Villanova found its shooting stroke.

The ‘Cats finished the game 33 of 49 from the field, a sky-high 67.3 percent, their best percentage from the field for a game this season. It always helps when a team follows up shooting 60 percent in the first half by shooting 75 percent (18 for 24) in the second half. The 92 points were the third-most Villanova has scored this season, trailing only the 96 the ‘Cats put up on Wake Forest in November and the 93 they dropped on Marquette in January.

“We haven’t shot the ball that well in a while and I think that was the big difference in the game,” Wright said. “That was one of our best offensive performances, definitely.”

And in finding that shooting stroke under Brunson’s guidance, the ‘Cats locked up at least a share of their record fourth straight Big East title.

But in typical Villanova fashion under Wright, the outside noise didn’t get in.

“Oh, did we clinch it? Oh, we did? Oh, wow. That’s good. I didn’t even know.” said Hart, who, along with fellow seniors Jenkins and Reynolds, has won the Big East regular-season crown in all of his college seasons.

“But it’s a great accomplishment for this program. It shows just the hard work and the pushing through this program’s been doing.”

Reynolds update
Wright is very optimistic Reynolds will return to action on Wednesday when Butler visits The Pavilion for a revenge game stemming from the Wildcats' first loss of the year, a 66-58 loss in Indianapolis on Jan. 4.

"I think much better for Wednesday," Wright said of Reynolds availability.

Wright noted the feeling was Villanova didn't want to risk playing Reynolds on Saturday and have him re-aggravate the rib injury going against the Pirates and their physical style.

Reynolds is averaging 5.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in 25 games this season for the 'Cats.

Contact Us