Villanova Basketball: Wildcats hold serve against Red Storm

Villanova basketball played their worst game of the season, but still knocked off the Johnnies.

Despite 20 turnovers and a poor overall shooting performance from their two top players, the 3rd ranked Villanova Wildcats were able to hold off the St. John’s Red Storm, 70-57, on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

The Wildcats received a career performance from Donte DiVincenzo, who recorded 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting (including 3-of-5 shooting from three). Mikal Bridges also added 12 points, while Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins scored 11 and 10 points respectively.

Villanova built a seven-point lead at the half and led for the majority of the afternoon, however, this might go down as the Wildcats’ worst performance of the season.

They turned the ball over an uncharacteristic 20 times, shot 33 percent from beyond the arc and had only nine total assists. Hart and Jenkins combined to score just 21 points and shot an ugly 5-of-23 from the field. In fact, Jenkins didn’t hit his first and only field goal until there was 4:55 remaining in the game.

Add in the fact that Jalen Brunson had almost as many turnovers as points, and the Wildcats let the Johnnies stick around for 30+ minutes.

More from Busting Brackets

The Red Storm couldn’t capitalize on Villanova’s mistakes and missed shots though. They were crushed on the glass (41-23), gave the Wildcats too many second chance opportunities and had 17 turnovers (many of them unforced). The Johnnies had four players in double figures, Shamorie Ponds, Marcus LoVett, Bashir Ahmed and Malik Ellison, but they made just eight threes and their four top players battled foul trouble.

Most importantly, they couldn’t stop DiVincenzo. The sophomore guard played an outstanding floor game, as he only turned the ball over twice and hit two massive shots in the second half to put the game out of reach. Federico Mussini hit a three with less than nine minutes remaining to cut the Nova lead to seven. However, DiVincenzo nailed a three to answer right back on the other end. Ellison came back with a dunk, but DiVincenzo answered again with a jumper to stretch the lead back to double figures.

DiVincenzo’s play is massive positive moving forward for the Wildcats. With Phil Booth battling knee tendinitis, the sophomore’s development continues to be key for a team that doesn’t have as much depth as they have had in the past. It also helps Brunson, pushing him off the ball and giving him better angles to attack the basket and make decisions.

Despite the ugly performance, the Wildcats are still the clear cut favorite to win the Big East. They have lost only seven conference games since realignment, have loads of experience and showed on Saturday that they are capable of winning on the road even when they don’t play an average game.

Next: Best Bets for a superb Saturday of conference play

Next up, the Wildcats have two home games against Seton Hall and Providence before heading on the road to face a Marquette team that will be searching for a resume boosting victory. But the next big upcoming game for the Wildcats comes against Virginia at the Wells Fargo Center at the end of January. That will be a precursor for what the Wildcats will have to face when March rolls around.