Villanova took on No. 8 BYU on the opening night of college basketball.
Following a three-year stint with Kyle Neptune, the Wildcats welcomed a new era under Kevin Willard. The Wildcats faced a near-road game atmosphere at a neutral site in Las Vegas.
After battling the length of 40 minutes, BYU pulled away in crunch time, winning 71-66.
Here is what I saw.
Early shooting struggles turned better
In the post-Kyle Neptune era, Villanova sought to address one persistent struggle: shooting.
Three-point shooting plagued the Wildcats in the past and ultimately was the difference-maker in close games. Tonight, more of the same followed.
In college basketball, an over-reliance on three-point shooting seems to be the kryptonite of certain teams. Wasted possessions often result in low-percentage three-point attempts, and Villanova had that issue on numerous occasions.
For one, BYU is much bigger and has several versatile defenders who are capable of guarding 1-5. With an undersized team like Villanova, it makes it that much more difficult to battle. Especially with a presence inside like Keba Keita.
Nonetheless, the Wildcats hung in there. The 6-10 Grand Canyon transfer, Duke Brennan, played a solid game for having to handle the glass against multiple athletic “freaks-of-nature.” Early on, Nova was able to gather a handful of offensive rebounds that supplied second-chance opportunities.
Unfortunately, not much came as Villanova struggled to generate high-percentage shots. It was a lot of deep-shot attempts with the clock nearing zero. However, the ‘Cats were also generating good looks from beyond, many that just didn’t drop.
The team started just 2-for-11 at the halfway point in the first half. Eventually, they turned it up with timely shots from Tyler Perkins and Bryce Lindsay. That was the life behind a 16-5 run that sparked a second-half comeback.
Going forward, this will almost certainly be a high-volume three-point shooting team. Don’t let the statistics fool you, Villanova has shooters. This is the reason they acquired Drew Askew in the portal and retained Matt Hodge. Even Acaden Lewis and Chris Jeffery made some threes.
A team of youth and inexperience
Villanova had two returning players from last season. A brand new coach. And an opening game that was over 2,500 miles from campus.
Having to face a top-ten opponent with the star power of BYU, this is an extremely impressive start to the season.
Villonova has a roster full of “role players.” That was the general consensus coming into the season. Aside from the lone four-star recruit, Acaden Lewis, there was no concept of where the scoring would come from.
The improvement is already vast. If the Wildcats went down early, there was no coming back. If they went up early, no lead was safe. Tonight, it was all fight.
The team did not play into the home crowd's momentum that largely fed BYU and propelled the Cougars to an early lead. Nor did they back down from the challenge that was AJ Dybansta, Robert Wright and Richie Saunders.
The inexperience was evident. Even Kevin Willard made known that he was not aware of the talent he had on his roster ahead of the season-opener.
Early on, the team had no way of attacking the paint and settled far too often. Additionally, costly mistakes such as the flagrant foul committed by Malachi Palmer compounded the problems.
Villanova had six turnovers in the second half and 11 in total compared to BYU’s four. That led to 17 points and certainly played a part in this game.
Of course, it’s expected that the shot selection won’t be “pure” by any means in the first game. But with the inexperience of Villanova, the ball movement, inbound plays, and defensive rebounding were notably better than last season, and that allowed them to stick around for as long as they did.
The 10-0 run had the final say, though.
Dabansta-Wright duo check-in
The highlight of the night was AJ Dybansta alongside Robert Wright III. The freshman five-star phenom was paired with one of the highest-marked transfers in Robert Wright. Tonight, it all came to fruition.
It was anything but a slow start for Dybansta, who led BYU in many departments. The scoring, rebounding and passing all came naturally. Dybansta found himself in the right spot more often than not.
He did not wow you with his three-point shot or score in many flashy ways, but he pieced everything together in a very solid debut.
Robert Wright also played to his strength, which was getting downhill and beating his guy to the cup. BYU ran a very schematic pick-and-roll set that featured Keba Keita’s physical high-screen. It allowed Wright flash to the basket and either kick to one of his shooters or take the shot.
The Cougars showcased their talent and used it to their advantage against a young Villanova team. This team will contend in March.