Villanova basketball: Takeaways from wire-to-wire win over St. John's

Villanova Basketball: Takeaways from wire-to-wire win over St. John’s

VILLANOVA, PA - FEBRUARY 26: Saddiq Bey #41 of the Villanova Wildcats shoots the ball against the St. John's Red Storm in the second half at Finneran Pavilion on February 26, 2020 in Villanova, Pennsylvania. The Villanova Wildcats defeated the St. John's Red Storm 71-60. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

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VILLANOVA, PA – FEBRUARY 26: Collin Gillespie #2 of the Villanova Wildcats (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

Live by the 3, thrive by the 3

The old basketball saying, of course, goes: “Live by the 3, die by the 3.” But I wanted to do a twist on that phrase that acknowledges how much the aggressive 3-point hunting strategy pays off when your team is as skilled as Jay Wright’s squad.

The Wildcats possess four players shooting 36.4% or better from 3-point range and all over them are getting up over 3.5 attempts per game from 3-point range. Villanova leads the Big East in 3-point attempts and against a team like St John’s—that is last in the Big East in 3-point percentage (30.7%)—that is a recipe for a blowout win, so credit to the Red Storm for going into the half only trailing by 2 points. A big part of this was Villanova having nine turnovers in the first half, which again, allowed the Red Storm to stay close despite a large disparity from the 3-point line (7-to-1) in favor of Villanova. But again, we said to stay close, not take the lead.

Villanova ended up losing the turnover battle 11-4 but won the battle from the 3-point line 11-2, that was simply too much for St. John’s to recover from.

https://twitter.com/BIGEASTMBB/status/1232819682853388288

The Wildcats are tough on both sides of the ball but their ability to put up points with ease (No. 12 offense via KenPom) makes them a real threat to go deep in the NCAA Tournament. Freshman Justin Moore (38.7% from 3-point range) had arguably the best game of his career, notching 21 points on 11 field-goal attempts. Moore went 5-for-7 from 3-point range and if he continues his current run, it will be even tougher from defenses to load up on leading scorer Saddiq Bey.