Villanova’s second loss to UConn is more of a teaching moment than a letdown

By Jake Copestick (@JakeCopestick)

PHILADELPHIA — Kevin Willard’s young Villanova Wildcats found out what it was like to play against a veteran opponent for the second time in the round robin format of the Big East.

Villanova trailed by just two points going into halftime. Just minutes into the second half, that deficit had ballooned to double digits. Then, a veteran UConn group that has played way more basketball together than Villanova has took over, and controlled the second half.

A 13-2 run in the opening minutes of the second half gave the Huskies a lead they would never relinquish, and one Villanova never really cut into en route to a 73-63 UConn win. 

Villanova has had a better mentality on the road as opposed to playing at home in front of its own fans, who filled every seat at Xfinity Mobile Arena Saturday night. Willard just hasn’t seen the same urgency that his team has shown walking into someone else’s building. 

“On the road, we have a much different mentality,” he said. “We’ve really struggled at home at times, just playing well for good stretches. Some of it is a little bit of youth.”

The last time the Wildcats played at Xfinity Mobile Arena, the game followed the same script. A little over a month ago, Villanova trailed St. John’s by one point at the half. Then Rick Pitino’s squad used a 20-4 run to dig Villanova a hole it could never climb out of. In the St. John’s game, and on Saturday night, it was a veteran team that came out of the halftime break with more intensity, throwing the first punch that ultimately led to a win. 

“The way we came out in the second half was kind of disappointing,” Willard said. “That’s both times that we’ve played here that we’ve come out that way. St. John’s kind of jumped us at the beginning of the second half, and UConn did the same thing. Give them a lot of credit, they came out and were really physical with us. They got into us and had us on our heels a little bit offensively. They’re an older team, they can impose their will on you at times.”

After committing just three turnovers in the first half, Villanova committed four in the first four minutes of the second half to help spark UConn’s 13-2 run. It’s hard to beat UConn when you hand the Huskies ten points off of giveaways, on a night where Dan Hurley’s crew shot over 50 percent from the field in both halves. All nine Huskies that checked into Saturday evening’s contest scored. A very good offensive team like the one UConn has is even more of a headache to deal with when everyone is a threat to score.

“You’re so worried about (Braylon) Mullins and (Alex) Karaban, and then, oh, by the way, you got Solo Ball,” Willard explained. “They’re a veteran team, they’ve been together. You’ve gotta give Mullins a lot of credit for going into this group and really complementing that group. That’s a group that’s been together. (Silas) Demary, I just think he runs their offense really well. He just doesn’t try to do too much, makes the plays.”

Willard was pleased with the intensity that his team came out with for part of the first half, forcing eight UConn turnovers that turned into ten points for the Wildcats. That kept them within a possession of UConn at the half despite the Huskies shooting nearly 58 percent from the field. With about four-and-a-half minutes left in the first half, UConn’s Silas Demary, Jr. committed his fifth turnover of the first half. That turned into two Villanova points after Matt Hodge tipped in a missed layup by the Wildcats’ Malachi Palmer. Villanova led 30-27, and Hurley called a timeout. The sellout crowd got loud and rose to its feet. Villanova just never gave the fans too much to cheer about the rest of the game. Willard’s team just couldn’t capitalize on the environment. 

“I think Matt had a three in the corner and missed,” the coach lamented. “We had a couple shots, (Devin Askew) had an open shot that he missed that, you gotta make against a UConn. You’ve gotta take advantage of the building, and the students were unbelievable. We just couldn’t take advantage of that, which kind of put us in a hole.”

Willard has been through the rigors of the Big East plenty of times before. He knows what the second game of a round robin looks like. They’re far from a beauty contest, especially when you have a veteran team like UConn that played an overtime game against you, and a coaching staff that has eyes on you every night.

“Every once in a while, you get your ass kicked,” Willard conceded. “Since we play round robin, the second time around, it’s going to be brutal. I think that’s why veteran teams really kind of excel in this league, because you play true round robin.”

Willard doesn’t want his young team to hang its head after a loss like the one his Wildcats took Saturday evening, but he knows they won’t. They’ve bounced back before. They went to Ann Arbor to play an undefeated Michigan team back in December and got trounced by 28 points by the Wolverines, who were pulverizing every opponent in front of them. Villanova responded by winning five straight. His team has been here before.

“We’ve been through it before, when we played at Michigan and got our ass kicked,” said Hodge. We’ve been through it. We just gotta stick together. We still got a long season left.”