Villanova Basketball: How did the Wildcats take down Alabama?
Villanova basketball torched Alabama in the second half en route to an 81-58 second-round win. The Wildcats looked every part of a title contender.
Villanova overcame a slow start on offense and early foul trouble to defeat Alabama, 81-58, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. With UVA’s loss to UMBC last night still fresh, the Wildcats picked it up in the second half to avoid an upset of their own.
Mikal Bridges scored 22 of his 23 points in the final 20 minutes as Villanova outscored Alabama 49-31 in the second half. After going 0-5 from the floor in the first half, Bridges shot 7-11 in the second half.
With UVA’s loss to UMBC last night still in everyone’s mind, the last thing a No. 1 seed wanted to see was a slow start. The Wildcats did just that. With Brunson getting in foul trouble, they looked one dimensional in the first half.
But, unlike UVA, Villanova has enough offensive firepower to pick up when one of their main cogs isn’t on his game. Today it came in the form of Donte DiVincenzo. In the first half, DiVincenzo scored 18 of the 32 Wildcat points. His 5-9 3-point shooting kept the Villanova operating from in front most of the half. As a team, the Wildcats attempted 74% (20 shots) of their shots from beyond the 3-point line in the first half.
With Brunson back on the floor in the second half, Villanova looked like Villanova. The ball was moving crisply and Bridges was getting good open looks. The Wildcats would start the half on a 12-0 run which was really 15-0 if you go back to the end of the first half. That took a five-point lead up to 17. For all intent and purposes, the game had been put away just like that.
Keys to Victory
Donte DiVincenzo and Mikal Bridges’ Torrid Shooting
With Jalen Brunson in foul trouble and Villanova struggling on offense, DiVincenzo came to the rescue. How important was he? The rest of the team was 3/17 from the floor and 2/11 from the 3-point line in the first 20 minutes. DiVincenzo’s only 2-point basket came on a steal and layup.
In the second half, it was Bridges’ turn. He scored 19 of the first 21 Villanova’s points in the half. In that stretch, the lead ballooned from five to 21.
Defense played a critical role
As big as DiVincenzo was in the first half, so was Villanova’s ability to force turnovers. The Wildcats forced eight in the first half. The turnovers forced offset what was a pretty good shooting first half for Alabama. The Crimson Tide shot 47.8%.
In the second half, the defense turned up another notch. Villanova’s on-ball defense was some of the best we have seen all year. Alabama had no place to drive the ball, which caused the offense to go stagnant. The Crimson Tide turned the ball over another seven times (15 total for the game) but this time, they didn’t have good shooting the bail them out. In the second half, Alabama shot just 36%.
Jalen Brunson’s ball movement
Villanova’s explosion in the second half was due to the fact that Brunson was on the floor. After picking up two early fouls, he spent most of the first half on the bench. The second half was a completely different story as he scored eight points and dished out two assists in the second half. Per KenPom, Brunson’s offensive rating for the game was 173, second highest on the team.
Next: Keys for Butler against Purdue
The Wildcats will take on the winner of the West Virginia-Marshall game next week for a chance at reaching the Elite Eight.