By MIKE ANGELINA
Philahoops Staff
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Villanova completed their sweep of the Big 5 crown with on Saturday afternoon with a 90-74 victory over Temple at the Liacouras Center. They completed the city series with an average margin of victory of 22.5 in their four games.
“When you win it outright, you have to be really good,” Head Coach Jay Wright said.
They certainly flexed their ability in the four city league games and got off to a good start Saturday playing in front of a rather evenly split crowd. The Wildcats raced out to an early 25-13 lead top begin the game as they suffocated Temple defensively. The Owls finished the first half shooting just 28% with one made three, as well as only one assist. They did manage to fight back and tie the game at 25 on a 12-0 run.
“In the first half they just pounded us on the offensive glass,” Wright said.
After the game, Head Coach Fran Dunphy said at that point he would have taken whatever happened from there going into the half. But with a minute left and the game decided by only a point, Ryan Arcidiacono hit two threes to turn the game into a five-point difference, something that changed his mind about the first half.
“You watch how it unfolded, and Arcidiacono made two threes late in the first and we just couldn’t get out of it,” Dunphy said.
Using the momentum from their close to the first half, Villanova established another double digit lead, this time a lead for good. Aiding them were two circumstances that handicapped the Owls. Will Cummings, who finished as the game’s leading scorer with 24 points, suffered a laceration to the face in a scramble for the ball. He would be removed from the game for nearly five minutes, as trainers worked with him.
Also hurting the Owls was the foul situation of Anthony Lee. The junior was called for four second-half fouls, the last of which resulted in him fouling out. After putting up ten points in the first half, the fouls limited him to contributing just two points in the second half of action.
“It was the foul situation that just changed it, I guess starting with the offensive foul,” Lee said.
Led by James Bell’s 13 second half points, the Wildcats widened the margin and took control of the game by shooting 57.1% for the half. Bell finished with 19 points, one of five ‘Cats in double figures.
“He’s such a catalyst that we were worried about it,” Dunphy said.
Among the other double figure scorers was Dylan Ennis off the bench. Because of the way Temple was playing with constant motion on both ends, Wright used everyone in his nine-man rotation and scattered the minutes around. Nine Wildcats played at least a dozen minutes and not a single player for Wright’s team played 30 minutes, something he thought they benefited from because they stayed energized.
“We had a lot of players play, and I thought staying fresh really helped us,” Wright said.
Wright after the game was unsure of their defense moving forward, but Dunphy claimed their defense was a big part of limiting Temple in the second half. Wright also did not have much to say after the game on dominating the Big 5 because he said they will talk about it after the season, but Dunphy shared some perspective.
“You know, I think it speaks to the quality of their basketball program,” he said. Jay is doing a wonderful thing with these guys.”
Dunphy and Temple will now look to put the loss behind them as they get set for a set of two games in Texas, visiting both Southern Methodist and Houston.
“We have to put this one behind us because we have two more games [next week],” Lee said.
Villanova, meanwhile, turns its attention to Xavier, who will come to The Pavilion for a 7 p.m. game on Monday night. Wright did admit to wanting to keep Arcidiacono fresh for that game by limited his playing time in the second, but Temple kept the game too close for his comfort.
–Mike Angelina covers Villanova for Philahoops. Share your thoughts with Mike at[email protected], @MikeAngelina on Twitter and/or in the comments section below.
Post Game Videos, via Chase Senior:
Jay Wright, Daniel Ochefu and James Bell:
Will Cumings and Anthony Lee:
Fran Dunphy:
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