Halfway through the second half of Wednesday night’s Big East showdown between Villanova and Xavier, J.P. Macura delivered one of the game’s most memorable plays.
Advertisement
Xavier was led by freshman guard Edmond Sunmer, who dropped 19 points, grabbed six rebounds, and dished nine assists. It was the sixth time in six games that Villanova beat the Musketeers since Xavier moved to the Big East, and the games typically hadn’t been close. “Just the little things that add up during the game and end up costing you”.
Whether the selection committee ultimately awards Xavier a No. 1 seed, the X-Men are officially a force to be reckoned with in the NCAA tournament.
In a season that’s been filled with big, exciting moments for the Xavier Musketeers, Wednesday night’s 90-83 win over No. 1 Villanova at the Cintas Center before a record crowd of 10,727 raised the stakes. The Wildcats never got within seven for the rest of the game. Wisconsin will be playing their final home game of the season, so they’ll be ready for a peak performance against MI. “They just played smart”. In their last game they were able to put up 88 points against Georgetown which shows they do have some firepower.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Macura drained 3-pointers from the left wing on consecutive trips down the floor to help the Musketeers build a 36-27 lead with 2:42 to play until halftime. He fouled out with 8:47 left.
Daniel Ochefu sat for nine minutes of the second half with foul trouble.
“I’ve been here for every loss to Villanova since we’ve been in the Big East”, junior guard Myles Davis said.
But we finally got to see what this team can do at full strength against the Wildcats, and it was pretty scary in its own right. He connected on four field goals, including a trio of 3-pointers, to score 11 points in the first 8:13 of the contest as the Wildcats seized a 19-13 lead before a 3-pointer by Trevon Bluiett shaved the edge to 19-16. Sumner, meanwhile, shot 71.4 percent and was 11-for-11 from the free-throw line in both games. Kris Jenkins scored 22 points in the first 20 minutes, 14 seconds of the game but went to the bench with 18:09 to play after picking up his third and fourth personal fouls in a 15-second span. When he returned at the 8:50 mark, he stayed on the court for all of three seconds before fouling out. Choosing Big Ten teams for the tournament will always leave you feeling confident, but when two go up against each other, it is anyone’s game.
Villanova will have its toughest test yet as the top-ranked team when the Wildcats travel to No. 5 Xavier on Wednesday. The country’s No. 1 and No. 2 teams, Villanova and Kansas, were flawless, and remain the top two teams in our Bracket Watch.
This is the point in the program when the skeptics will likely point out at least one No. 1 seed has failed to reach the Sweet 16 in each of the past three tournaments, and most everyone expects this will be one of the wildest and craziest tournaments of all time.
Notre Dame (19-8, 10-5 ACC) has prevailed in seven of its last eight games in the state of North Carolina.
Justin Jackson added 17 points for the Tar Heels (23-5, 12-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who shook off a slow start and an early 13-point hole to extend their recent dominance against their nearby rivals.
Advertisement
Colorado 75, Arizona 72: Josh Scott scored 26 points, and the host Buffaloes (20-9, 9-7 Pac-12) held on despite two turnovers by Scott in the final 26 seconds to upset the No. 9 Wildcats (22-6, 10-5).
