Villanova Basketball: 3 things learned from win over Boston College

Struggled versus the odd-front zone

Jim Christian had Boston College play an odd-front zone exclusively in the first-half. In response, the Wildcats looked the part of a team that missed approximately three weeks of practice during the preparation period leading up to the start of the season. The 2019-20 season saw the Wildcats connect on just under ten three-pointers per game, an amount the was the third-most in the Big East.

Wednesday night Villanova connected on four of thirteen in the first half, as they scored 36 points as a team in the half. The second half saw the Eagles play man-to-man for the first 15 minutes, which ultimately coincided with an 11-1 run that put them in the lead.

In the second half, the Wildcats connected on four of ten threes, but their points in the paint increased from ten to eighteen points, with just one additional missed.

The thirty-four percent success rate from the arc is precisely the pace they had last season, but it was more than clear that Coach Christian should not have waited until 5:40 left in the game to go back to the zone.

During that period the Wildcats had three turnovers a missed jumper while making two jumpers and a layup. If anything, Jay Wright has learned that a good zone defense will be an issue against a top-10 team like Iowa.