Watching the Villanova vs. Pitt game on Saturday, I felt like I had gone back in time (ok, not that far , but maybe this far). Without Corey Stokes in the lineup (injured hamstring on Thursday), Jay Wright had the Wildcats offense slow the game down so that the Panthers wouldn't run all over them. Wright's strategy involved wasting over 25 seconds off the shot clock each possesion and then using the remaining ten seconds to try to get a shot off over Pitt's much larger frontcourt. The result of the constant weaving 30 feet from the basket? Nova only trailed by four and the two teams combined for a total of 40 points in the half, yes 40 points. I thought that with the halftime score being 22-18, we'd be on pace to break some kind of record for lowest scoring games, but who could forget the defensive battle between Pittsburgh 26-UNC 20, in 1941. (The lowest score in the shot-clock era was in 2005 when Monmouth beat Princeton 40-21.)
Fortunately for the national audience, the game pace quickened in the second half. With Corey Fisher in foul trouble, Maalik Wayns took over the offense (dropping 23 points in the second half) and was the only Wildcat to score double digits. Wayns scored 27 points and shot 6-12 from beyond the arc.
With the 60-50 loss, the Wildcats ended the season in tenth place (8-8 in the conference; they were predicted to finish second at the beginning of the season) in the difficult Big East and will take on No. 15 USF Tuesday. Even if Stokes is not cleared to play, Nova should be able to get past the Bulls and then face No. 7 Cincinatti on Wednesday. The Wildcats beat Cincinatti at home earlier in the season, but with a 4-6 record in the last ten games, Nova might be in for a tough battle.
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