It’s a dark day on the Main Line. After winning 22 consecutive games against DePaul, Villanova fell to the Blue Demons Tuesday night, 75-65, dropping to 8-9 on the season.
“Hats off to DePaul,” Kyle Neptune said. “They came out, executed their game plan. Thought their kids played hard, made some timely, tough shots.”
The first half was characterized by two things: another slow start and runs. The teams combined to hit just three of their first 10 attempts, with ‘Nova hitting just 3-12 to start. DePaul started to warm first and translated that into a 6-0 run to take an 11-6 lead with 13:04 to play. ‘Nova finally started to warm, hitting 5-of-9 during the course of a 15-6 push to go up 21-17 with 6:48 to go in the half.
DePaul responded with an 11-2 push to retake a 28-23 lead, hitting five straight shots. The Blue Demons were doing a ton of damage inside, scoring 20 points in the paint, led by Da’Sean Nelson with 14 points on 7-8 shooting. Neptune made a nice switch to a zone defense, which was effective in slowing the DePaul offense, and ‘Nova appeared to end the half on an 8-0 run. However, the referees convened after the halftime buzzer, determining not only that a foul was called before the buzzer but also that it was on a shot attempt, awarding DePaul two free throws, which Jalen Terry converted. As a result, ‘Nova took a 31-30 advantage into the break.
“Thought we were resilient in the first half, got some stops down the stretch in the first half,” Neptune said about the run to close the half.
‘Nova ended up shooting 43% to DePaul’s 44% in the half. The Wildcats committed nine turnovers, leading to 11 DePaul points.
It’s pretty clear where things got away from ‘Nova in this one. The ‘Cats pushed the lead to four early in the second half and led by three at the 17:31 mark. It was then that the wheels completely fell off, as Villanova suffered through one of the worst stretches of play it has had in recent memory. Over the course of five minutes, DePaul ripped off a 15-3 run to flip the three-point ‘Nova lead into a nine-point deficit. The play from ‘Nova was poor at both ends of the floor, with turnovers plaguing the offense and several obvious defensive breakdowns haunting the defense. Villanova would never lead again.
The ’Cats got within two at the 5:35 mark, but no closer as Villanova just couldn’t combine stops on defense with someone hitting a key shot on offense. One particularly frustrating possession took place with just under a minute to play. Caleb Daniels hit a three to cut the deficit to five with 55 seconds to go and Villanova forced a DePaul turnover on the ensuing inbounds. After a review, and according to the broadcast a Villanova timeout, Daniels took a highly contested corner three just eight seconds into the possession. It missed, but ‘Nova pulled down the offensive rebound. 13 seconds after the first miss, Daniels again fired a contested three, again missing. Villanova once again secured the offensive rebound, and five seconds later Daniels again launched a contested three, which also missed. DePaul finally got a rebound and would ice the game from the free throw line, taking the 10-point victory.
There’s a lot going on there in that stretch, but most concerning is the first shot. One, there was no need to rush in a two-possession game. Villanova had time to look for a good shot. Second, regardless of circumstance, you’d like to see a better shot out of a stoppage/timeout. Of course, that single stretch isn’t what cost ‘Nova the game.
What did cost ‘Nova the game was poor defense, poor three-point shooting and turnovers.
Let’s start with the defense. DePaul came into the game shooting 45.7% from two-point range (307th in the country) but shot 50% on such attempts Tuesday night. The Blue Demons were shooting 34.9% from three but hit 39% on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, the second half they got it going and we just didn’t get enough stops,” Neptune said.
Villanova, meanwhile, connected on just 28% of its three-point attempts and DePaul was +6 from beyond the arc. Perhaps more concerning, the ‘Cats were having some success inside, hitting 51.6% from two-point range on the night, but went away from the post or attacking the basket for long stretches. To start the second half, six of Villanova’s first nine shots came from three. The ‘Cats hit just two of those six, while hitting all three of their two-point attempts.
Finally, turnovers were again a serious issue. Villanova committed 14 turnovers, leading to 19 DePaul points. Conversely, DePaul had just nine turnovers, which ‘Nova converted into just eight points.
The most frustrating thing, perhaps, is what we saw just wasn’t Villanova basketball. The sloppiness with the ball and the long stretches of virtually nonexistent defense is the opposite of what this program is built on and values. Some nights, your shots aren’t going to fall. That’s basketball. But your defensive commitment and focus and being strong with the ball are things you can control, and that Villanova has prided itself on controlling, and it just wasn’t there Tuesday night.
Adding to the frustration is the fact that DePaul entered the game 0-8 against KenPom top 100 teams, with its best win coming over No. 155 Samford. There’s no way around it, this was simply a bad loss. And with it, any hopes of an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament are essentially gone.
There’s not really much more to say. It’s been over a decade since Villanova has been in such a position, and where the team goes from here the rest of the season, and where the program as a whole goes from here, remains to be seen. For now, the team will look to get back in the win column on Friday when it travels to Butler.
