RADNOR — Jay Wright has tried everything in practice to mimic the St. John’s version of “40 minutes of hell.”
The Villanova coach had the Wildcats go 6-on-5 and 7-on-5 in practice to try to imitate what the Red Storm likes to do. He’s also let the scout team foul at every opportunity.
As it turned out, doing what they do best, protecting the basketball and working for the extra pass, proved to be the key Saturday in the Wildcats’ 73-62 triumph over the Red Storm at the Pavilion.
“You look at 11 assists against 11 turnovers, that’s really not that good against most teams,” Wright said. “But against them, taking care of the ball prevents them from getting out. You saw it. Anytime we turned it over they were out. They were gone and they’re great at it. And that’s hard to do. They run hard and give the ball up. You watch film of them and a lot of times the ball never touches the floor. It’s turnover, kick ahead, kick ahead, dunk. They’re great at that, so I think us taking care of the ball was important.”
The 14th-ranked Wildcats never let St. John’s get its running game going. The Red Storm came into the game third in the country in possessions per game (78). Villanova held them to 67 possessions.
“Our guys did a good job of giving guys passes and make solid decisions, and going to score against the pressure,” said guard Collin Gillespie, who led the Wildcats with 17 points.
Villanova also limited St. John’s to 14 points off turnovers and just six fast break points. Most of that came in the second half after the Wildcats had blown the game open.
“It’s difficult to go against a team like that because they play hard for 40 minutes,” added guard Caleb Daniels, who contributed 15 points off the bench. “We just wanted to stay solid and stay together the whole time.”
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Justin Moore entered the game needing 10 points to become the latest member of Villanova’s 1,000-point club. He finished with eight points, snapping a streak of nine straight double-digit games where he averaged 17 points.
Part of Moore’s relatively low production had to do with his defensive assignment. The 6-4 junior guard was the primary defender against Julien Champagnie, who came into the game as the leading scorer in the Big East league play. Moore and the Wildcats held Champagnie to nine points.
“Justin Moore did a really good job on Champagnie,” Wright said. “He can really get it going. He’s lit us up before.”
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Junior guard Bryan Antoine did not play because of a sprained ankle suffered in practice on Friday. Antoine’s status moving forward is up in the air.
“This is the first day of it,” Wright said. “When Slate (Brandon Slater) did it we had two or three days off … And then Slate has been gradually getting better. I don’t think Slate’s 100 percent. I think he’s 90, which is really good but he’s played through this and I think Bryan is looking to be on this path now. It’s a pretty good sprain and we’ll see what we can do for him in terms of rest, try to get him ready for the next game.”
• • •
NOTES >> Much of Antoine’s minutes went to Jordan Longino, who provided a spark off the bench. The 6-5 freshman played nearly 19 minutes and scored six points and was a plus-12 for the game. … Eric Dixon turned in another solid outing. He tied his career high with 15 points and also pulled down seven rebounds. … The Wildcats head out on the road for a rematch with Marquette Wednesday night in Milwaukee.
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