Villanova’s Hot-Streak Extends To Six Consecutive Triumphs

The No.22 and the reigning NCAA champions, the Villanova Wildcats posted their sixth straight win last night, after beating the Xavier Musketeers, 85-75.

A push during the middle of the second half allowed the Wildcats to enter the finish without any particular problems, breaking the resistance of a big rival.

Their three-point percentage was at a high-level tonight as they sunk 15 of their 34 attempts from behind the arc. In the moments when hosts didn’t have some good solutions in their attack, downtown hits were the way out.

Villanova defeated Xavier tonight and is now 5-0 in the Big East.

The Wildcats are starting to look like their old selves, and Phil Booth and Collin Gillespie are big reasons why.pic.twitter.com/4xTIFr7Qlx

— Sporting News College Basketball (@sn_ncaab) January 19, 2019

Coach Jay Wright spoke about that at the press conference.

“You know, we never really worry about making or missing shots, we really don’t. We worry about taking them” Wildcats coach stated. “You got to put the pressure on defense and be ready to shoot, and I think that we still got to do a better job there”

The first half of this match had one interesting feature. Xavier dominated inside the pain scoring 28 of their 31 points from there. On the other side, the Wildcats hit 8 three’s, relying their game upon shots from a distance.

Collin Gillespie and Phil Booth led the way in that aspect of the game, combining 11 three-pointers from 19 tries. Gillespie had six, Booth five.

These two guys have been harassing the Musketeers all day long. Booth had a team-high 22 points, with 5 assists, while Gillespie added 18, shooting nothing else but three-pointers.

Eric Pascal was right behind them with 17 buckets, but his percentage from deep wasn’t that great, making just one of seven.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Zach Haskins, the NABC Division II Player of the Year, was unstoppable in the first 20 minutes. He scored 12 points in 14 minutes, destroying the Wildcats under the rim, shooting 6 of 8. But as the game went on he was replaced because of his defensive problems.

“I decided to go little bit more Tyrique (Jones) defensively. When we were in man, Zach really struggled.”

The Musketeers couldn’t rely upon zone defense because of Villanova’s fantastic shooting.

Jones did play well, at both ends of the court, and he finished this one with 21 points and 12 rebounds, being the central figure in Xavier’s team.

Cosby-Roundtree with the two-handed jam 🔨#Attitude #NOVAvsXavier pic.twitter.com/cDvDmo7RME

— Villanova MBB (@NovaMBB) January 19, 2019

With 3:27 into the second half, the home team had a 44-33 lead, when Xavier made an 8-0 burst which brought them back in the game. At that time, most of the fans at Wells Fargo Center noticed that the momentum is completely on their side, especially when they got down to only one point within 11 minutes before the end.

But the champions showed that they still have some of the last year’s magic. Wildcats quickly bounced back and responded with an 8-0 run, pulling away to a safe distance once again.

The gap between them and the guests only grew bigger, and the maximum difference was with 1:39 before the buzzer, after Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree’s jumper, 81-65.

The champions have a 14-4 record, but they are on a hot-streak which now stands at 6 consecutive triumphs. Also, they are the only undefeated team in the Big East Conference, 5-0.

If they continue to develop like this, they might surpass all the expectations made before the season started. They have lost a lot of talented players who went to the NBA, and the difference in quality between that team and this one is apparent. Coach Wright acknowledged that.

“There were a lot of games last year where we had good separation. That’s not happening this year. Everything’s going to be a grind.”

But even with this roster, Villanova is not to be underestimated, despite suffering some huge defeats at the beginning of the season.

Xavier didn’t win against this rival away from home for the sixth time in a row. The Muskateers who have 11 wins and 8 losses are 3-3 in the Big East, far away from the top position, which they won last season.

Their next game is at home against Providence, while Villanova faces Butler on the road.