'Horns Hook the Wildcats, 58-55
2006-01-15
Posted by: badanov
Villanova at Texas yesterday was as good as it gets.
Villanova dragged out this full court press with an emphasis of two man traps to slow Texas down, which worked, and kept the game close. But this defense resulted in only about seven Texas turnovers, only a few of which resulted in field goals.
And it was defense throughout for most of the game. Texas lost its star forward Brad Bucknan to a sprained left ankle early game and you just knew Texas was going to go down because of it.
But instead sophomore forward LaMarcus Aldridge stepped in for Buckman and wound up in double digits scoring a team high 19 points, shooting 50 percent from the field and 75 percent from the free throw line. We didn't see Aldridge drive into the paint too much. He seems to prefer the post position, leaving P.J. Tucker the task of driving into the paint, which he does so well.
Despite the score, Villanova's defense did its job, holding Texas to 38 percent fron the field and 28 percent from long range. That's hard to do with three experienced forwards, Aldridge, Tucker and Buckman who are scoring 17, 17 and 10 points per game.
Texas stuffed Villanova even harder defensively, not bothering to go to full court press, but instead preferring to stay in their 2-3 zone and rely on guards Kenton Paulino and Daniel Gibson to get block shots and get the quick rebound. Texas had seven blocked shots to Villanova' four, which is a very impressive statistic itself.
Villanova's Kyle Lowry, Randy Foye and Allan Ray all scored 13 points in the game. Lowry is so quick and aggressive. It was worth watching the game to see this young man play.
Villanova's guard Mike Nardi was not much of a factor in this game. He is Villanova's second best shooter from the arc. We expected him to shoot from the arc more than he did in the game, 2-7, and this from a guard who shoots 47 percent from the arc and gets 11.9 points per game.
Villanova, now at 11-2, begins a two game home stand next Tuesday against Seton Hall and Syracuse, then a two game road trip to Notre Dame and South Florida before hosting now 10th ranked Louisville.
Texas (14-2) hosts Texas Tech, a team struggling in the Big 12 after losing to Oklahoma in Norman last Wednesday, and then goes to Baylor, a Big 12 team just coming out of an NCAA penalty phase.
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