Villanova took another step towards a Big Five title while adding a dominant chapter to the history of the Holy War on Saturday with an 81-52 win over rival St. Joe’s at the Finn.
All in all, it was a relatively closely contested first half. The teams played within six points of each other over the first six minutes of the game. Villanova ripped off a 12-0 run over almost five minutes to open a 15-point lead with 7:54 to play in the first half, but St. Joe’s responded with an 11-2 push of its own to close the gap to six with 4:06 to go. Consecutive 3s from Collin Gillespie to close the first-half scoring pushed the lead back to 12 at the break. St. Joe’s head coach Billy Lange lamented that final stretch of the first half after the game.
“We needed to play really, really well and we did for a long portion of time,” Lange said. “You look up and it’s 28-22 and you get consecutive really, really good looks, you don’t make them and then you make two mistakes on Collin Gillespie, and he makes two 3s and now all the sudden you’re down 12. I don’t want to say it’s impossible to come back, it’s not, it’s just very, very hard.”
It was an uncharacteristically sloppy half from ‘Nova. The Wildcats committed seven turnovers, with several resulting from poor decisions. Fortunately for Villanova, St. Joe’s shot just 2-16 from 3-point range in the half, helping the ‘Cats to a +6 margin from beyond the arc. Villanova was also +4 from the free throw line, helping offset the turnovers and allowing ‘Nova to carry a lead into half.
Justin Moore, who was scoreless in the first half, got things started for ‘Nova in the second half. He hit consecutive 3s to open the period, pushing the lead to 18 and forcing a St. Joe’s timeout just two minutes in. From there, the Wildcats simply overwhelmed the Hawks, building a lead as big as 35 before earning a 29-point victory.
After a decent offensive first half that saw Villanova shoot 48% overall and 40% from 3, the Wildcats scorched the nets in the second half, connecting on 57.1% of their shots overall and 60% from 3.
There was a lot to like about the performance. In addition to the quality shooting, ‘Nova dished out 16 assists on 28 made baskets, had a 36-28 advantage on the glass and held St. Joe’s to 36.2% shooting overall and 22.6% from 3 while forcing 15 turnovers.
Gillespie had another great game, leading the ‘Cats with 23 points on 7-12 shooting (5-7) from 3 to go with four rebounds and three assists.
After that scoreless first half, Moore scored 16 second-half points, adding a team-high seven rebounds and a team-high four assists. Jay Wright praised Moore for the way he played defensively and how he persevered through not making shots in the first half. “I’m really proud of this guy,” Wright said as Moore sat to his right at the postgame press conference. “He was dominant in the Penn game not making shots and he just did it again, defensively he was unbelievable.”
“We’re not worried about our shots going in, I’m not worried about my shots going in,” Moore said. “That’s going to take care of itself. As long as I’m rebounding, playing hard, playing team defense and communicating out there everything’s gonna take care of itself.”
Eric Dixon had a nice game, scoring 12 points and knocking down two 3-pointers in three attempts. He added six rebounds, two assists and three steals. He went to the floor going after several loose balls and brought great energy.
Brandon Slater and Jermaine Samuels chipped in 10 points apiece. Slater added five rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block while Samuels had three rebounds, an assist and a steal.
Chris Arcidiacono, serving as sixth man in the absence of Caleb Daniels (non-COVID illness), scored eight points to go with five rebounds and a steal. “Just practicing every day with the guys,” Arcidiacono said about being ready to step into that sixth man role. “We try to make our practices tougher than games, so just getting that continuity with the guys and all the practices help me be ready for any situation.”
“He’s awesome for our team,” Wright said of Arcidiacono. “He’s a valuable member of our team.”
Jordan Longino played 10 minutes and scored two points. Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree added three rebounds and two assists in 10 minutes of action. Trey Patterson dished out an assist in seven minutes of play while Nnanna Njoku grabbed two rebounds in three minutes.
Villanova did a nice job on the Hawks’ two best scorers, in particular Taylor Funk, who was held scoreless. “We put Justin on him (laughing),” Wright said when asked if there was anything special they did defending Funk. “Justin just did an incredible job. He’s our best defender.” Jordan Hall ended up with a respectable 22 points and five assists, but he committed six turnovers and shot 8-20 overall and 3-10 from 3. He had just nine points in the first half.
The Wildcats did commit 13 turnovers, continuing the trend of higher turnover numbers in Big Five play. But that was really the only hiccup in an otherwise excellent showing. The ‘Cats cleaned up some execution on the offensive end and saw their shooting bounce back as a result, they played with great energy and they turned one of their best defensive showings of the season so far. They also hit 12-13 from the free throw line, and encouraging sign after a couple sub-par showings form the line.
Villanova now prepares to head into a tough stretch of schedule with a neutral site game against Syracuse and a trip to Baylor as the next two games on the schedule, followed by the start of Big East play.
