St. John's Vanquished By Villanova

 

Simeon Wilcher takes one to the hoop. @StJohnsBBall.

For years, the Villanova Wildcats were the ones hunted down in the Big East Conference, especially by teams like the St. John's Red Storm. 

On Wednesday night, those roles were reversed, as St. John's entered the game ranked No. 9 in the AP poll and No. 8 in the USA Today Coaches' Poll, while Villanova entered with a record of 7-6 in Big East play.

Villanova came out firing in this one, as they opened up a 32-22 lead on a Tyler Perkins three-pointer, which capped a 13-3 run, at the 5:47 mark of the first half.

St. John's responded with a 7-0 run before Jhamir Brickus buried a jumper at 1:17, and then Lefteris Liotopoulos buried a three-pointer with 28 seconds left to make it a two-point Villanova lead, 34-32, at the break.

It was only a two-point lead for the Wildcats despite shooting 52 percent (13-25) compared to St. John's 36.7%, or 11-30. The teams were pretty even from behind the arc, as 'Nova shot 36.4 percent, or 4-11, while St. John's was 33.3%, or 7-21.

The Red Storm scoring was remarkable in the first half, as Aaron Scott led the way with 10 points, including a trio of three-pointers, nine points from Simeon Wilcher, and Kadary Richmond's seven points. RJ Luis Jr. was held scoreless, as he shot 0-5 from the field, including 0-2 from behind the arc.

St. John's came out of the break with a bang, as Richmond slammed one home, then Wilcher grabbed a steal of the inbounds and then found Luis Jr., who drained a three-pointer to make it 37-34 St. John's.

Villanova then responded with an 8-2 run over the next two minutes and nine seconds, capped by a Wooga Poplar three-pointer at 17:24.

That lead would eventually expand to 11 points, 59-48, when Perkins buried a three-pointer with 9:56 left.

St. John's then responded with a run we've become accustomed to seeing, as they put together a 14-0 burst over the next 3:34 capped by a second-chance tip-in dunk by Luis that made it 62-59 at the 6:22 mark.

Villanova then notched a 6-0 run to go back up 65-62, and that lead would eventually build up to four points, 70-66, with just 2:27 left.

St. John's defense took over, keeping the 'Cats off the board for the next two minutes, allowing Richmond to lay one in at 1:26 and Wilcher to bury a three with 28 seconds left that made it 71-70 with 28 seconds left.

That left Villanova a ton of time to respond, which Perkins did, as he drained a three-pointer of his own with nine seconds left that made it 73-71.

St. John's had enough time to tie or win the game, and it was left to Wilcher on the left side, who was forced into a three-point shot that rimmed out.

“I knew it was off," Wilcher said afterwards. "It was a clean look, I just didn't make it. Not really hanging my head too low about it because we have a big game coming up this weekend and we have to prepare for that.”

This was just St. John's fourth loss of the season, as they fell to 21-4, while their Big East record fell to 12-2, still best in the conference.

Villanova shot a notch better in the second half than they did in the opening twenty minutes, as they went for 53.1 percent (13-24) overall, and 53.8 percent (7-13) from behind the arc. St. John's shot 51.6 percent overall (16-31), but just 25% (4-16) from behind the arc.

St. John's was led by Aaron Scott, who had 22 points on 8-16 from the field, including 5-13 from behind the arc, with two rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Kadary Richmond had a double-double, with 17 points (7-10 FG), and 10 rebounds, as well as five rebounds and two steals. RJ Luis Jr. finished with 12 points - all in the second half - on 5-13 shooting (5-8 in the second), including 1-5 on threes, with eight rebounds and two assists. Simeon Wilcher also had 12 points (4-11 FG, 3-9 threes), two rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Zuby Ejiofor was held to just two points (1-4 FG), with four rebounds, three assists, and a steal.

Villanova was led by Wooga Poplar, who had 22 points on 9-14 from the field, including 2-4 from behind the arc, with six rebounds, four steals, and two assists. Eric Dixon had 17 points (5-17 FG, 3-10 threes), with four rebounds and four assists.

PITINO POSTGAME: St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino addressed the media after the game, and he opened with this statement:

“A tough loss for us. Really wasn't about missing shots or making shots, because they made a lot of terrific shots with one second on the shot clock, but twice we didn't block out and it cost us the game. That's been a weakness of ours and it finally bit us. But great game. The guys played their [tails] off. This is one of the best shooting teams in the country and we were unable to stop their outside shot.”

On Villanova’s shooting performance tonight: “I think it was more their offense than our defense. With one second on the clock, they made tough threes. The driving by in the first dribble, that was poor, but it was the blocking out twice with the game on the line that hurt us.”

On the team shooting a lot of three-pointers: “Tonight was a shooters night, and [Simeon Wilcher] was shooting well. Kadary [Richmond] is playing well on the offensive end. …Without question [they wanted us to shoot threes]. From the last game, they had four guys in the paint.”

On his outlook of the loss: “People are going to give [the three-point shot] to us, we got to have the confidence and take it. We lost because we didn't block out. We were not good at guarding the ball. They shot 52 percent from the field, 45 percent from three, so they deserve the victory. One of the better shooting teams in the nation. Proud of our guys, played hard, just didn't come away with the win.”