Villanova looking to bounce back against Notre Dame

With such a young team (only 4 upperclassmen), the maturation process for Villanova is going to take some time. Head coach Jay Wright can drill and teach a lot of things to his squad, but one thing that’s out of his control is the experience factor. And unfortunately, that usually means young teams may have to lose in order to then learn how to win.

18th ranked Villanova (13-4, 3-3) returns to The Pavilion on Saturday when they host Notre Dame. The Wildcats return home with their tails between their legs, after a shocking 80-68 loss to Rutgers on Wednesday night. It was a game in which a lot went wrong for the Wildcats. They turned the ball over a season-high 19 times, while shooting just under 37 percent in the game. At one stretch in the second half, Villanova went nearly 12 minutes without a basket. The win for Rutgers was their 1st conference win of the season, snapping a four-game against Villanova and a six-game losing streak overall.

Freshman Malcolm Grant led Villanova with 23 points, including scoring 17 in a row in the second half. Sophomore guard Scottie Reynolds, who entered the game scoring 17.4 points per game, had 16 points on just 5-of-19 shooting from the field, while missing 7 of 8 3-point attempts.

Villanova has made a habit of falling behind in games early this season. They fell behind against LSU and DePaul, but overcame their early struggles to pull out wins. However, in the loss to DePaul in their 1st meeting, Cincinnati, and now Rutgers, the slow and sluggish starts have killed the Wildcats. All their of their losses in Big East play have come on the road, however, Villanova boasts an impressive 8-0 record at home.

Notre Dame (13-4, 3-2) enters the contest losers of two of their last three games, after running off 10 in a row. Notre Dame has no problem playing in front of the home faithful at the Joyce Center where they’re a perfect 11-0, but the Irish have endured their road struggles lately, getting blasted at No. 16 Marquette 92-66 on Jan. 12th, and then taking a brow beating at the hands of No. 9 Georgetown 84-65. It’s a Jekyll and hide type of personality for the Irish at home versus on the road. At home, they’re shooting 48 percent and averaging almost 85 points a game. On the road, they’re averaging 65.5 points per game, while shooting a measly 36 percent.

Luke Harangody is virtual double-double every night out, leading the team in points (18.9) and rebounds (9.5). Harangody struggled against Georgetown, finishing with 13 points on 3-of-13 shooting. He had one of more daunting tasks in the game, being matched up with 7-foot-2 center Roy Hibbert who finished with 21 points. Notre Dame has played two really good teams in the Big East, in Marquette and Georgetown. Both teams were and still are ranked, and the Irish were never in either game.

These two teams split the season series last year, with each team winning on the road. Notre Dame won the first game last year on Jan. 17th 102-87, and 10 days later on Jan. 27th, Villanova won a close one, 66-63.

Keys to the Game for Notre Dame

• Can they get themselves into an offensive rhythm and a good flow to start the game? The Irish must find a way to put Villanova behind the 8-ball early and take what’s expected to be a raucous crowd at The Pavilion, out of the game early.
• Luke Harangody. He’s the best guy on the floor for Notre Dame and he have the capability to take the ballgame over. He’s a load inside, and the Irish will need him to assert himself early and often inside, and control the glass and the paint
• Rob Kurz and Kyle McAlarney must compliment Harangody. As good as Harangody is, he can’t do it by himself. In their two road losses to Marquette and Georgetown, Kurz and McAlarney were nonfactors and provided little help offensively. With the likes of Reynolds, Grant and Pena, the Irish can ill afford to have Kurz and McAlarney struggle.
• The Irish must be better from 3-point range. In the two road losses, they’re a combined 11-of-44 from downtown. Too many attempts and not nearly enough makes, if the Irish shoot 25 percent or less from beyond the arc, it’ll be another long trip back to South Bend.

Keys to the Game for Villanova

• They can’t allow Rutgers to beat them 2 games in a row. Villanova must completely erase the disappointing loss to Rutgers on Wednesday, if they haven’t already. That game is over, there’s nothing they can do about it now. They must have complete focus on beating Notre Dame.
• Can the bigs for the Wildcats contain Luke Harangody inside? Shane Clark and Dante Cunningham will most likely be matched up against Harangody. Cunningham probably matches up best against Harangody. He’s 6’8”, same as Harangody, and he’s giving up about 20 pounds. Clark, on the other hand is giving up more than 40 pounds to Harangody. Expect Harangody to draw multiple double teams throughout the game, and Villanova must find a way to limit his activity on the glass.
• Avoid the slow start. Notre Dame can light it up in a hurry with the best of them, and if Villanova starts off the game like they’ve started off games against Cincinnati, DePaul, and Rutgers, they’ll be staring at a huge hole they may not be able to climb out of. The Wildcats need to get off to a good start, get some easy looks at the basket, and get the home crowd going.

by Frank Minniti
BigEast-fans.com Director of Content