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Villanova Opened Basketball Season With a Brutal Choke Job Against Notre Dame in Rome
By Matt Schultz
Published:
Villanova had the win in their hands. They were up 10 points against Notre Dame with just over ten minutes to play in the second half. This would be a nice win for the Wildcats. They would start the season with a splashy, high-profile W. The flight all the way out to Rome would be well worth it. They would make Pope Leo very happy. It was all lined up…
But when the lights were brightest, the Wildcats choked, going ice cold from the field and coughing up a couple inexcusable turnovers in the game’s closing minutes, allowing the Irish to escape with a 74-72 win in Sunday’s season opener:
There’s no way to sugarcoat it: this is a bad loss for Nova. Notre Dame is not a good team. They’re in the middle of a rebuild, projected to finish in the bottom tier of the ACC after finishing 16th last season and failing to even make their conference tournament. The Wildcats, on the other hand, are projected to finish third in the Big East this year and comfortably make the NCAA tournament. They were, at least, until they started their season 0-1 by blowing a wildly winnable game to a sub-par team on a neutral court. Woof.
Beyond the big-picture ramifications of Villanova’s loss, the nitty-gritty of how it actually happened makes it feel that much worse. The Irish shot an abysmal 35.4% from the field and still won the game. Villanova’s highly anticipated Big Ten transfers Devin Royal and Kwame Evans Jr. combined for just 12 points and 8 turnovers, with Royal failing to make a single field goal (0-for-1). Villanova got destroyed on the defensive glass, allowing Notre Dame to snag 16 offensive rebounds for second and third chances to score.
What else? Villanova committed 20 turnovers — 15 in the first half alone (!!!). They made just 2 field goals in the last nine minutes of play. Highly touted 7’3 freshman Luigo Suigo had just 7 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. Kevin Willard completely mismanaged his rotations in the second half, failed to make any meaningful adjustments to address turnover and rebounding woes, and had no answers when the offense stalled out late in the game.
Bad, bad stuff. Villanova really could’ve used the win, too. The Wildcats haven’t been notching too many statement, non-conference wins against marquee programs lately. Feels like it’s been a long time since they did that with any kind of regularity. Take last season: Nova beat Wisconsin in overtime, which was nice. But beyond that, what were their signature moments? Beating Duquesne at home? Beating Pitt at home? That’s it? Is that as good as it gets for Villanova now?
It’s too early to call this Notre Dame loss a season-killer, of course, but there’s no doubt that it’s an alarming reality check, and one that pretty much eliminates any margin for error going forward. It also highlighted what seem like some real, structural problems for this Wildcats team: if they can’t take care of the ball and protect the glass against the dregs of the ACC in November, this could be a long season for Villanova. Kevin Willard probably should’ve fixed those roster holes in the offseason. Damn shame.
Good luck, Villanova. No hard feelings about how you killed the Big 5. Also, sorry you had to go all the way to Italy to take an embarrassing L and not even get revenue from ticket sales. We know you guys are in a financial bind. We’re pulling for you:
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com