Recap: Villanova
Jan. 1, 2009
I had literally just pointed out to my esteemed boss, Garry D. Howard, right around the midpoint of the second half that Wesley Matthews had scored just three points when the senior guard suddenly caught fire.
First, a three-pointer from the right wing. Then a layup, which ultimately gave MU a 54-52 lead with 8:27 left it wouldn't relinquish the rest of the way. Then a couple of free throws. Then a jumper.
By the time it was all said and done, Matthews had scored 16 of his 19 points in the final 9:22 of the second half, and the Golden Eagles had beaten Villanova for the third consecutive time.
It was a big rally by a clutch player in a crucial situation, and one that Wildcats coach Jay Wright brought up almost immediately in his recap afterward.
"We were really waiting for him to get going," said Jerel McNeal of Matthews. "He was a beast tonight. He was a little bit quiet and then after he hit that first and second shot I knew he was rolling. It took a lot of pressure off the rest of us when he started making shots."
Matthews, meanwhile, said it was just a matter of picking and choosing his spots.
"I was just letting the game come," he said. "Took longer than I thought it would but it came, and I tried to make the most of it. Jerel and Dominic got it going early. They had the matchups, and we were playing in the flow of the game and I was just playing my part.
"I tried to play defense, rebound, try to get the team involved and whenever that little outburst took place I was playing just playing my spot, playing my position and the shots were falling."
Matthews leads MU at 19.2 points per game while chipping in 5.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He's also shooting 51.7% -- tops among regulars -- and 40.0% from three-point range.
-- Not surprisingly, Dante Cunningham was a focus heading into the game for MU.
As it turned out, the Golden Eagles did a nice job on him. Cunningham wound up right around his season averages with 16 points and eight rebounds, but he never really seemed to get it going or be much of a factor in the proceedings.
While they'll see better big men than the 6-foot-8, 230-pound senior, it was nonetheless a good start and a good confidence-builder for the likes of Dwight Burke and Pat Hazel, both of whom shared the defensive responsibility on Cunningham.
"You can call it front, side, top, behind," said coach Buzz Williams when asked if MU was concentrating on fronting Cunningham. "What it really is, is a fight. Because when you’re facing a player as good as he is, you just fight like you can and try to not let him touch the ball. So if it was a coaching clinic, yeah, we’d call it fronting. But since it’s the Big East, we’ll call it a fight."
-- Speaking of defense, how about the job Dominic James did on Scottie Reynolds?
From what I remember, he drew at least three charges on Reynolds -- considered one of the better guards in the league -- which went a long way toward fouling him out in the game's final minute. Just the fact he was able to continually get in front of the very quick Reynolds time and time again spoke volumes about his hustle and determination.
Reynolds did finish with 15 points thanks in large part to 3 threes, but he also had four turnovers compared to just one assist in 35 minutes.
"I think only God can do it. He’s phenomenal," said Williams, referring to James' foot speed. "I don’t know anything about football, but you know the shuttle run? I’d like to see somebody beat him. And then do a vertical, ultra-special physical specimen, he is ultra-, ultra-special. And when you grow mentally, and you already have the attributes that God gave him physically, that’s a great combination."
James also added 17 points and six rebounds. He went 4 for 10 from three-point range, and had three assists to go with five turnovers -- a season high for him.
-- MU tied a season high with 19 turnovers, a number of which were caused by carelessness or poor hands.
James committed what could have been a killer with the clock winding down in the first half when Scottie Reynolds picked off his pass and coasted in for a layup, but McNeal saved his bacon with a pretty fallaway jumper at the buzzer that sent the Golden Eagles into halftime with a 36-32 lead.
"I think there’s room to improve as it relates to our team. We had a season-high 19 turnovers," Williams said. "Part of that was our fault. Most of that was because of how good Villanova is. But that’s out of character for us. I thought we created some extra possessions defensively, but we gave them right back to them at different stretches in the game offensively."
-- Credit to Jimmy Butler.
For a guy who scored over 18 points a game last year in JUCO, he's been a non-factor offensively for MU but nonetheless has found ways to impact the game. On Sunday he led the team with seven rebounds -- the second time he's beaten out Lazar Hayward for those honors this season -- in just 15 minutes.
"Jimmy’s turned into the first guy off the bench because of his versatility, and he has seven rebounds tonight," said Williams. "That’s critical for our team because of the possession-number game that we’ve got to play."
-- It appeared as though MU was on its way to another frustrating game from the free-throw line when it went just 7 for 13 in the first half.
The team rebounded in a big way in the second, however, and wound up putting the game out of reach with a 13-for-14 performance in the game's final 2:40.
"It’s mental," said Matthews, who was 8 for 10 himself. "We’ve been shooting them forever, and it’s all rhythm, muscle memory, whatever scientifically you want to say. It’s just getting up there and knocking them down."
James had another forgettable day, going 1 for 4. As a team, MU once again made more free throws (23) than its opponents attempted (21), but clearly that number was inflated when Villanova began fouling to stop the clock late.
-- McNeal played 37 minutes, Matthews 36 and Hayward and James 35.
It's now to the point where Williams picks and chooses his spots anywhere from 30-45 seconds prior to a scheduled media time out to pull one of the four out to get them a little extra rest, then they're right back in at the next horn.
Expect that to continue for the forseeable future.
-- MU out-rebounded Villanova, 32-30. It was just the third time this season the Wildcats were beaten on the boards...Villanova scored 24 second-chance points compared to MU's five...Villanova also got 27 points off its bench compared to MU's 2...The game featured 10 ties and nine lead changes.
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http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/36986259.html
Quote from: rosiak
-- McNeal played 37 minutes, Matthews 36 and Hayward and James 35.
It's now to the point where Williams picks and chooses his spots anywhere from 30-45 seconds prior to a scheduled media time out to pull one of the four out to get them a little extra rest, then they're right back in at the next horn.
Expect that to continue for the forseeable future.
It's this fatigue that concerns me. I think I and some other Scoopers have stated it before.
Fatigue = increased chance of injury. The bench needs to pick up the slack to rest these starting 4.
And it doesn't help when you have 4 games in 12 days to start the BE season.
It also doesn't help when Buzz refuses to play Otule and Fulce. He has to get them some playing time for two reasons, rest our starters and get them ready for late season/tournament time.