Butler Basketball: Bulldogs knock off undefeated, top-ranked Villanova
What happened to Villanova on defense?
Obviously, when a team puts up over 100 points on the No. 1 team in the country, people are bound to ask: What happened to Villanova’s defense? Entering the game, Villanova was an undefeated 13-0 and was giving up just 65.8 points per game. In this one, head coach Jay Wright pulled all the stops by mixing up defenses, including multiple half-court and full-court sets in man-to-man and zone.
Giving up this many points is concerning for the rest of this season for the Wildcats but their press is what brought them back into this game. After giving up open three after open three on what seemed like every possession in the first 30 minutes of this one, Villanova’s press forced Butler into several turnovers and easy buckets on the other end.
Despite this, there will be plenty of film for Coach Wright to point out where the team can improve moving forward. With how competitive the Big East is from top to bottom, these issues will need to be fixed as soon as possible. Xavier has emerged as a team that can potentially challenge Villanova for the Big East title this season and with offensive juggernauts like Creighton and Marquette coming up on Villanova’s schedule, they will need to work harder on that end of the floor to win the conference.
Still, credit needs to be given to Butler for a terrific gameplan and a well-run offense against ‘Nova’s defense. Coach Jordan, props to you.