It had been seven years since the Wildcats advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend, and led by their seniors, they moved on easily.
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Second-seeded Villanova defeated seventh-seeded Iowa, 87-68, on Sunday to advance to the Sweet 16 in the South Regional.
“The later in the season you play the quick turnaround games, the easier it is to prepare X and O-wise, the harder it is to stay fresh mentally and physically”, stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright.
“I really think they can go a long way”, McCaffery said of Villanova. “Early, I thought we kept him off balance”, said UNC-Asheville coach Nick McDevitt. I’m just happy to be here.
Whether or not Arcidiacono or Ochefu, who grace the cover of the Villanova media guide, are tight on Sunday, remains to be seen.
The reward? A No. 14 seed and a first-round matchup with No. 3 seed Kentucky on the Wildcats’ home floor. “I just think the biggest thing is I’m honestly just done answering the questions about getting past the (first) weekend”. “I know it was always in the back of our senior minds and our team”.
Kentucky is led by Makayla Epps, a 5-foot 10 guard who averages 16.5 points and 4.5 assists per game.
Villanova had been 3 for 11 from 3 against the Asheville zone before hitting their last four. But there was no doubt in this one. The Wildcats are 25-1 when holding opponents to 70 points or less. The Wildcats put up 33 points on Iowa and never lost their lead. Clearly, Uthoff can go off at any moment, same with (Peter) Jok, and they have Woodbury on the inside. The Wildcats are 18-12 all-time in the event, including 1-0 this season.
Kentucky’s three-point bombing trickled off as the game wore on put the Wildcats still finished an exceptional 8-of-16.
Villanova was extremely balanced and had five double-digit scorers, and six players had a 3-point field goal.
O’Neill: Most people know of Asheville from the 2012 NCAA Tournament when they gave Syracuse a game as a 16-seed. We hit some walls, we hit some adversity, but we’re peaking at the right time. Three players – Jenkins, Hart and Brunson – had already reached double figures.
The first hurdle is beating an Asheville team that is catching a ton of points in this one.
The Kentucky coach grabbed the microphone after the game and encouraged the fans to “grab a few friends” and come back for Monday night’s second-round game against Oklahoma. “When you don’t get there a number of times, nobody – no one wants to hear it from the team that doesn’t get there”. “Great credit to Iowa’s strength staff because you look at the bodies of those guys from that game and their bodies now – Uthoff especially. Credit to Villanova for pressuring us and making us a little bit uncomfortable”.
Villanova (30-5) fought through an early challenge from UNC Asheville (22-12) on Friday to open its NCAA tournament journey with a comfortable 86-56 victory at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
“I kind of got up this morning to come here today and I can’t say it was exactly like it was 28 years ago, but it’s not that much different”, he said.
Kansas is the top seed in the South, and they have the blend of bigs and guards that could win it all. They play defense equally as well as they play offense. Iowa struggled against the constant on-ball pressure and full-court pressure from Villanova, who forced Iowa into 13 turnovers. Unfortunately, Nova has not lived up to their billing in the tournament in the last three years. Hart was 7 of 11 from the field….
It also jolted the Villanova Wildcats like those sudden stops on the NY subway.
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PAST TIME: The schools have met once before in the NCAA Tournament, a 55-54 Villanova victory in the second round in 1983.
