HARTFORD, Conn. — Devin Askew drove into the paint with Villanova trailing Connecticut by just one point inside two minutes to play. The defense collapsed, so Askew kicked the ball to the wing and into the waiting hands of … Kevin Willard.
The Villanova coach pounded the basketball onto the court with two hands. One of Villanova’s 11 turnovers came at an inopportune time.
The Wildcats later had a lead with less than a minute on the clock, and they still did take the second-ranked team in the country to overtime, but Askew’s turnover was one of many little moments that didn’t go Villanova’s way in a 75-67 loss at PeoplesBank Arena.
Where to start? There was Acaden Lewis’ out-of-control drive down two in overtime with just over a minute to go. Back in regulation, Bryce Lindsay missed an open runner in the paint shortly after the Askew turnover. Then Villanova’s leading scorer, who was held to three points and didn’t make any of his eight attempts, had a three-point attempt blocked in a tie game with less than 30 seconds to play.
Villanova started overtime with a Tyler Perkins three-pointer, then got the ball back when Perkins drew a charging foul. But instead of building on the lead, Lindsay had his pocket picked by Silas Demary Jr., leading to a runout dunk from Tarris Reed Jr. Perkins’ triple, 12 seconds into overtime, was Villanova’s only made basket of the extra session.
The Wildcats’ youth and inexperience showed up once again in a test against one of the best teams in the country, one week after Villanova allowed St. John’s to start the second half on a 20-4 run that it never recovered from.
“It just hurts,” said Villanova senior big man Duke Brennan, who struggled last week with the size and physicality of St. John’s but battled back in a big way Saturday. He had 16 points and 14 rebounds and, perhaps most importantly, made eight of his nine free-throw attempts in 40 minutes. “We fought until the end. That’s a great team over there.”
To be sure, there were things Villanova did well enough to win. You don’t take the No. 2 team in the country to overtime without doing things correctly. The Wildcats had answers for a lot of UConn’s offensive action. They held Alex Karaban, who averages nearly 14 points, off the scoreboard for the first 30 minutes (though he did finish with 17 points).
Perkins had 16 points and 10 rebounds and continued to be the physical and experienced guard presence Villanova needs. Askew, too, continued his strong stretch of games with 13 points, four rebounds, and three assists before he fouled out in overtime. Matt Hodge followed up consecutive games being held to four points or less with 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting from three-point range, including a corner three that gave Villanova a 61-59 lead with just over a minute to go.
But then came another costly error. Demary missed a driving layup, and Villanova couldn’t secure a rebound, allowing Reed to tip in the tying basket.
In the end, UConn made the plays when it mattered. Solo Ball, who led all scorers with 24 points, hit arguably the game’s biggest shot, a three-pointer with two minutes left in overtime that turned a one-point Villanova lead into a two-point deficit.
It is hard for Villanova to win when Lindsay doesn’t make a shot and Lewis goes 1-for-13 from the field. Yet, it nearly happened anyway.
“We’re a young team,” Willard said. “Guys were trying to make plays. We got to the rim. We didn’t finish at the rim, and I thought we had some opportunities at the rim.”
Villanova made 5 of 15 layup attempts.
“We’re still going down and playing high-level defense,” Willard said. “If we can continue to build on that, then we’ll get out in transition and get some easier buckets.”
It was the closing minutes that Willard said he needed to “get better at.” Lewis was seemingly benched for a large stretch of the second half. Brennan was in foul trouble. The Wildcats are a team without much depth.
“I got to put the right lineups out there at times and I’m learning a lot about certain guys and what to do,” Willard said. “At the end of the day, we don’t do a free throw box out, and we don’t get a huge rebound when we’re up four with about six minutes to go. … Sometimes to get there on the road you got to make sure you finish possessions, and I thought there was three or four times where we didn’t finish possessions with rebounds.”
An encouraging game nonetheless?
“No,” Willard replied. “I don’t like losing. We should have won that game.”
The reality for Villanova is Saturday’s loss is one that won’t necessarily hurt. A road upset helps a lot more than an eight-point overtime loss stings as far as the meaningful metrics go. The Wildcats are 15-5 overall and 6-3 in Big East play. They started the day rated 25th at KenPom and were still there by late Saturday afternoon. They have rest ahead before a Friday home game vs. Providence, and plenty of winnable games on the calendar as they continue to hunt for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Plus, two more shots at the conference’s elite. On consecutive Saturdays, Villanova took St. John’s and Connecticut to the brink.
“The good thing about conference is you play every team twice,” Brennan said. “We get another shot at those dudes. St. John’s we felt like we didn’t play good at all, all throughout our program. This game we felt like we really battled.
“It feels like it got away and we felt like we were there the whole game. There are certain little things that come down at the end of the game where it can flip one way. It wasn’t on our side tonight.”
