January 4, 2040
@#1 Villanova 95, #17 Syracuse 64
26 points from
Zayden Calhoun and 20 more from
Tony Flaherty power us to a victory in our Big East lid-lifter.
John Cannon scores 15 off the bench.
Zak Marshall (7p/11r/3b) and backup
Forrest Curl (10r) play well against the Orange big men.
Record: 14-1 (1-0).
January 7, 2040
Code:
#1 Villanova 82, Connecticut 42
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Connecticut (5-11, 0-2):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Tony Craighead C 27 2-10 1-5 3 5 0 4 5
Daniel Brown PF 28 1-5 6-6 4 14 2 3 8
Ellis Torres SF 26 3-8 1-4 0 7 1 2 7
Norris Dawkins SG 16 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 4 2
Edmond Aaron SG 12 2-4 0-0 1 2 0 4 6
Marco D'Alessio SG 34 0-3 1-3 2 4 3 1 1
Michael Voss C 21 2-3 0-0 0 2 1 1 4
N. Bazemore PG 22 2-6 0-1 1 1 1 1 4
George Diaz SF 14 1-3 3-4 1 4 1 1 5
Turnovers: 29 (T.Craighead 4, D.Brown 4, E.Torres 6,
N.Dawkins 4, M.D'Alessio 4, M.Voss 1, N.Bazemore 4,
G.Diaz 2)
Blocked Shots: 5 (E.Torres 1, M.D'Alessio 2, M.Voss 2)
Steals: 6 (T.Craighead 1, D.Brown 1, E.Aaron 1, M.Voss
1, G.Diaz 2)
3P FGs: 2-10 (N.Dawkins 0-1, E.Aaron 2-3, M.D'Alessio
0-3, N.Bazemore 0-2, G.Diaz 0-1)
Villanova (15-1, 2-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Zak Marshall C 30 3-6 1-2 2 6 0 4 7
Chris Wilson PF 31 5-10 6-9 4 9 1 3 16
Tony Flaherty SF 30 6-12 1-3 5 12 6 3 13
Zayden Calhoun SG 29 6-15 0-2 2 3 3 2 14
Nick Spencer PG 31 5-15 0-0 2 2 5 0 11
Kai Smith PG 9 0-2 0-0 0 0 2 2 0
John Cannon SG 16 5-8 1-1 2 3 1 4 13
DeAndre Brown SG 5 1-2 2-2 0 1 0 0 4
Jordi Ballester PF 10 1-1 0-0 0 5 0 4 2
Forrest Curl C 9 1-1 0-0 2 4 0 2 2
Turnovers: 12 (Z.Marshall 2, T.Flaherty 1, Z.Calhoun 4,
N.Spencer 1, J.Cannon 2, D.Brown 1, F.Curl 1)
Blocked Shots: 9 (Z.Marshall 3, C.Wilson 3, T.Flaherty
1, J.Ballester 1, F.Curl 1)
Steals: 15 (Z.Marshall 5, C.Wilson 1, T.Flaherty 2,
Z.Calhoun 2, N.Spencer 1, K.Smith 1, J.Cannon 1,
D.Brown 2)
3P FGs: 5-24 (T.Flaherty 0-4, Z.Calhoun 2-8, N.Spencer
1-6, K.Smith 0-1, J.Cannon 2-4, D.Brown 0-1)
Player of Game: C Chris Wilson (VLNV)
What a delightfully weird, weirdly delightful team this year's Villanova Wildcats are!
We can't shoot threes, which our teams usually do very well. Our .315 percentage from behind the arc is ranked #257 in the nation.
Graham Sims, at age 60, could probably shoot that well.
But boy, can we play defense! UConn isn't a great offensive team, but they usually score 20 points more than they do against us tonight.
And we're good at making two-point shots: 28-for-48 tonight. Someone must have told this year's team that it's 1990, not 2040, and the mid-range game is back in vogue.
I like the balanced scoring, and the disruptive defense of
Zak Marshall with his steals and blocks.
Record: 15-1 (2-0).
January 9, 2040
Code:
#1 Villanova 76, #3 Georgetown 66
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Villanova (16-1, 3-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Zak Marshall C 31 3-4 2-3 2 12 1 1 8
Chris Wilson PF 32 5-10 2-4 0 9 2 1 12
Tony Flaherty SF 30 5-13 2-2 2 6 2 1 12
Zayden Calhoun SG 32 7-13 0-0 4 7 5 3 15
Nick Spencer PG 19 2-7 6-6 0 1 4 4 10
Kai Smith PG 18 1-7 0-0 0 0 6 1 2
John Cannon SG 15 3-9 0-0 1 2 2 2 9
DeAndre Brown SG 6 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0
Jordi Ballester PF 9 3-4 2-2 0 2 0 0 8
Forrest Curl C 8 0-0 0-0 0 3 0 0 0
Turnovers: 16 (Z.Marshall 3, C.Wilson 2, T.Flaherty 2,
Z.Calhoun 3, N.Spencer 1, K.Smith 3, D.Brown 2)
Blocked Shots: 5 (Z.Marshall 2, C.Wilson 2, T.Flaherty
1)
Steals: 11 (T.Flaherty 3, N.Spencer 2, K.Smith 5,
J.Ballester 1)
3P FGs: 4-15 (T.Flaherty 0-3, Z.Calhoun 1-3, N.Spencer
0-1, K.Smith 0-4, J.Cannon 3-4)
Georgetown (16-1, 2-1):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Adam Webb C 26 1-5 1-2 2 13 2 2 4
J. Sanders, Jr. PF 23 5-8 0-0 2 4 4 4 10
Tadgh Phelan SF 28 5-11 0-0 0 2 3 2 13
Josh Medley SG 29 8-12 0-0 0 4 5 0 19
Gus Dean PG 25 2-5 1-1 0 0 1 0 5
Jerry King C 23 1-7 0-0 0 7 1 4 2
Edgar Beck SF 23 2-10 1-4 0 1 1 1 6
Phoenix Underwood PF 7 2-5 0-0 3 3 0 1 4
Gregory Mendez PG 15 1-2 0-0 0 3 2 2 3
Turnovers: 20 (A.Webb 3, J.Sanders, Jr. 1, T.Phelan 3,
J.Medley 5, G.Dean 1, E.Beck 4, G.Mendez 3)
Blocked Shots: 7 (J.Sanders, Jr. 3, J.King 3, E.Beck 1)
Steals: 7 (J.Sanders, Jr. 1, T.Phelan 2, G.Dean 2,
J.King 1, G.Mendez 1)
3P FGs: 9-23 (A.Webb 1-1, T.Phelan 3-5, J.Medley 3-5,
G.Dean 0-3, J.King 0-2, E.Beck 1-5, G.Mendez 1-2)
Player of Game: SF Zayden Calhoun (VLNV)
This year's formula for success works well against Georgetown tonight, too.
We hold
James Sanders, Jr., who has taken his offensive game to a new level this year, to 10 points, just over half his season's average.
Josh Medley gets his points, but we force him into 5 turnovers. With the exception of
John Cannon, we fling bricks from behind the arc. But we do everything else well, and we end up with a big road win.
Record: 16-1 (3-0).
January 11, 2040
@#1 Villanova 71, #2 Boston College 50
Two nights after we beat the #3 team in the nation, we welcome the #2 team to Wawa Arena. It's a matchup between the two most efficient defenses in college basketball, and ours has the upper hand tonight.
We play at a fast pace, taking 70 shots to UConn's 49. We revert to launching lots of threes (33) and make only 10 of them. Only two Wildcats--
Zayden Calhoun (19p/6r) and
Nick Spencer (16p) score in double figures. But we win the turnover battle, 22-9, and
Chris Wilson turns back 4 shots.
It's been a wild two weeks, but we emerge from them in excellent shape.
Record: 17-1 (4-0).