Streak stoppers! Villanova halts UConn's win streak at 10

Once is accident. Two is a trend. Three became a problem on Saturday afternoon for No.13 UConn against Big East foe Villanova.

The Huskies have been living on the edge as of late. They needed overtime and a Craig Austrie jumper with 0.2 seconds left to steal a win down in Orlando against South Florida, 74-73, and the Huskies were pushed to the brink earlier this week against DePaul. UConn, down 13 at one point, used heart and desperation to battle back, using a 23-7 run in final 10 and a half minutes to silence the Blue Demons. Two straight games the Huskies had poor starts and early troubles, yet managed to dig deep and pull out two consecutive come-from-behind victories. However, the Huskies ran into a Villanova squad, a Wildcat squad that’s been playing with their own desperation of late, fighting for their tournament lives.

They were losers of five straight, and many left them for dead as far as their chances of possibly making the NCAA Tournament, but don’t look now, Villanova is generating some worthy bubble talk, as far as the tournament goes. The Wildcats have won three in a row since falling in the final seconds on a questionable call to Georgetown. Villanova has sunk St. John’s and West Virginia convincingly, and now the Wildcats outlast one of the hottest teams in the country. They’re not a lock by any means to even get an invite, but the door is still open for Villanova. Their next two games will go a long way in telling whether or not the Wildcats are tournament worthy, as Villanova squares off against Marquette on Feb.25 th at home and then head to Freedom Hall to face Louisville.

In hostile territory, UConn did exactly the opposite of what head coach Jim Calhoun would have wanted. The Huskies got behind the eight-ball early, falling in a 14-2 hole. The raucous crowd at the Wachovia Center was firmly planted behind the home Wildcats, and the Huskies were overwhelmed from the outset, trailing by as many as 15 in the first half. For Villanova to entertain the idea of victory, Scottie Reynolds needed to be the best player on the floor, and he delivered. Reynolds finished the afternoon with 18 points, 15 coming in the second half, but he wasn’t without help. A pair of freshmen stepped up and played like seniors to help Reynolds shoulder the offensive load. Antonio Pena had 10 points, and Corey Stokes finished with 18, all coming off the bench. UConn’s shortened bench finished with only three points, while Villanova’s bench poured in 20 points.

The other major storyline in the game was the Wildcats’ master plan in defending Huskies big man Hasheem Thabeet. Villanova was dead set on not allowing Thabeet to be a factor, not allowing Thabeet to be the X-factor he’s been during UConn’s 10-game winning streak. Hats off to Villanova head coach Jay Wright. Every time Thabeet got his mitts on the ball, the Wildcats collapsed on him like a cheap lawn chair. Wright sent ball boys, statisticians, announcers, fans, anyone he could find to throw at Thabeet. The game plan paid off. Despite missing only a minute of the game, Thabeet finished with just eight points (two in the first half) and attempted only three field goals. While the big man had 10 boards, the Wildcats did a good job of steering clear of Thabeet, who had only three blocks in the game.

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From the opening tap, you knew that a third come-from-behind win wasn’t in the cards for the visiting Huskies. UConn made only one of their first eight shots. Hasheem Thabeet had exactly one more touch than I did in the first half (1). A.J. Price, who finished with a team-high 16 points, started out just 2-of-9. UConn had nine first-half cough-ups, and zero fast-break points.

All good things must come to end, and while one streak ends, another carries on. While impressive and eye-opening, (the Huskies defeated four ranked teams during the streak) UConn’s 10-game winning streak is over. Villanova’s officially gone streaking, winning their third in a row, but more importantly, the Wildcats are back on the tournament bubble, still giving themselves an opportunity to play ball in late March.

by Frank Minniti
BigEast-fans.com Director of Content

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