March 2, 2030
@#1 Villanova 83, Cincinnati 47
Playing like the best team in the country, we swarm all over the Bearcats defensively while displaying great balance offensively.
Cincinnati shoots 28% from the floor, and only half as well from behind the arc (3-for-21). Meanwhile,
Asher Wise and
Corey Hicks score 18 points each, and
Avery Sullivan records his 16th double-double of the season (16p/11r).
As good as those three are, the Player of the Game is
Lowell Welter. While the crowd at
Kay's Cardinal Country Restaurant back in Cochranton watch on the flat screen TV, their favorite son scores 14 points and grabs a career-high 17 rebounds.
Record: 26-2 (14-2).
March 5, 2030
Code:
#1 Villanova 83, #3 West Virginia 76
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West Virginia (26-3, 15-2):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Chris Evan C 32 4-4 3-4 3 13 2 1 11
Booker Brent PF 32 1-6 2-4 2 9 2 3 4
Ronald Chavis SF 31 6-8 5-6 0 5 2 3 19
Charles Dennis SG 24 7-12 3-3 1 4 2 3 18
H. Middlebrooks PG 32 3-12 0-2 0 1 4 3 6
Rusty Lollar SF 22 6-9 2-2 0 3 1 2 14
Gavin Taylor PF 8 1-4 0-0 0 1 0 0 2
Edward Trueblood PG 10 1-3 0-0 0 0 2 0 2
Hal Wall PG 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Thomas Franks SG 6 0-1 0-0 0 0 1 0 0
Tony Corrales PF 1 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 0 0
Turnovers: 12 (C.Evan 1, R.Chavis 3, C.Dennis 2,
H.Middlebrooks 3, R.Lollar 1, E.Trueblood 1, T.Franks
1)
Blocked Shots: 10 (C.Evan 5, B.Brent 3, C.Dennis 1,
R.Lollar 1)
Steals: 5 (R.Chavis 3, H.Middlebrooks 1, R.Lollar 1)
3P FGs: 3-16 (B.Brent 0-2, R.Chavis 2-2, C.Dennis 1-6,
H.Middlebrooks 0-3, E.Trueblood 0-2, T.Franks 0-1)
Villanova (27-2, 15-2):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Avery Sullivan C 33 1-10 0-0 0 6 3 2 2
Lowell Welter PF 34 2-7 2-2 3 9 2 2 7
Asher Wise SF 34 6-12 1-2 2 5 1 3 17
Corey Hicks SG 23 8-13 2-2 1 1 0 3 23
Blake Norton PG 26 2-5 0-0 0 2 5 4 5
Tony Ezell SF 14 2-5 1-2 0 4 3 2 5
Justice Stafford PG 18 5-8 2-2 2 5 5 0 15
Clemens Schwaiger PF 7 1-2 0-0 0 1 0 0 2
Kris DeMello PF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Peter Segal SG 4 2-3 0-0 0 0 0 2 5
Ronald Verdugo SG 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Darius Pettway SF 3 0-1 2-2 1 1 0 0 2
Turnovers: 12 (A.Sullivan 1, L.Welter 2, A.Wise 1,
C.Hicks 3, B.Norton 1, T.Ezell 1, J.Stafford 1,
R.Verdugo 1, D.Pettway 1)
Blocked Shots: 5 (A.Sullivan 2, L.Welter 1, A.Wise 1,
C.Schwaiger 1)
Steals: 6 (A.Wise 2, C.Hicks 2, B.Norton 1, J.Stafford
1)
3P FGs: 15-25 (L.Welter 1-2, A.Wise 4-7, C.Hicks 5-8,
B.Norton 1-2, J.Stafford 3-4, P.Segal 1-2)
Player of Game: PG Justice Stafford (VLNV)
Another sellout crowd at the Wells Fargo Center watches us come back from 15 points down to defeat a superb West Virginia team that has battled us all season long for Big East--as well as national--supremacy.
The Mountaineers lead, 40-25, with five minutes left in the first half. We cut their lead to 11 by the break, but the visitors still seem to be on their way to victory.
Then, as the team returns to the floor for the second half, they're greeted by a wall of sound that spreads from the Villanova student section all around the arena. "I've never heard anything like it," senior
Corey Hicks later says. Hicks and his teammates respond. It's Corey's three-pointer with 12:12 remaining that ties the game at 57. And it's a bucket by
Peter Segal that gives us our first lead since the score was 3-2.
The Mountaineers tie the score...and Segal drains a 28-footer to put us ahead, 62-59. We don't relinquish the lead again.
Avery Sullivan suffers through a horrendous evening, outplayed by WVU's outstanding center,
Chris Evan. In the end, however, his teammates--Hicks,
Asher Wise, and especially
Justice Stafford--won't let him end up on the losing side tonight.
Code:
2029 Big East Conference Standings
TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
----------------------------------------------------------------
#1 Villanova 15 2 .882 27 2 .931 1 100
#3 West Virginia 15 2 .882 26 3 .897 4 89
#2 Georgetown 15 2 .882 26 2 .929 3 100
March 9, 2030
@#1 Villanova 87, Seton Hall 74
Corey Hicks sobs visibly as he embraces his parents before his Senior Night game, and then leads all scorers with 25 points as we defeat the Pirates.
Corey makes 5 of his 9 three-point attempts and grabs 5 rebounds. His classmates, seldom-used big man
Joshua Parkin and walk-on
Mark Jones, also give the fans chances to cheer. Parkin starts and scores 4 points, while Jones comes off the bench and hands out 3 assists.
Everyone in the Pavilion knows it's probably
Avery Sullivan's last Villanova home game, too. Avery scores 16 points, with 7 rebounds and 2 blocks.
Asher Wise (16p/7r/6a) flashes his all-around basketball skills.
Blake Norton scores 12, and
Lowell Welter has 10 with 7 boards.
Record: 28-2 (16-2).