No. 17 Villanova stands strong on home floor, deal No.13 Pittsburgh second loss in three games
It was the marquee match-up of the weekend and something had to give. Two teams ranked inside the top 20. Two teams that have had their recent struggles. Villanova was in need of a bounce back effort after being upset by DePaul and Pittsburgh is still looking for a new identity without Mike Cook and Levance Fields. The funny thing about sports is that there’s always going to be a winner and a loser.
Two free throws by Dante Cunningham in the final 10 seconds, and a turnover on the final possession of the game helped No. 17 Villanova defeat No.13 Pittsburgh 64-63 on Sunday afternoon.
The depth of Villanova (11-2, 1-1) played a decisive factor in helping the Wildcats past Pittsburgh (12-2, 0-1). The bench of Villanova poured in 39 points, rescuing the struggling starting five of the Wildcats. The starters for Villanova combined for only 25 points on an abysmal 8-of-34 shooting (23.5 percent).
The Wildcats got a humongous boost from freshman guard Malcom Grant, who scored 22 points (4-of-7 from 3-point range), 14 coming in the first half. Grant scored eight of the final 10 points for Villanova to close out the first half with both teams deadlocked at 30. The Wildcats used a 14-6 at the end of the half to pull even.
Antonio Pena added 12 points off the bench for Villanova, who outscored Pittsburgh’s bench 39-7 in the game. Dante Cunningham had six points and nine rebounds, but the trio of guards for Jay Wright struggled badly. Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher, and Reggie Redding combined for just 12 points on 4-of-22 shooting.
Pittsburgh only had seven players enter the game, with all five of their starters playing at least 30 minutes. Sam Young had 16 points for the Panthers and DeJuan Blair added 12 points and 15 boards. The Panthers outrebounded the Wildcats 43-31 and outshot them as well, 45.5 percent to 33.9 percent. Despite those two stats heavily in their favor, their 22 turnovers matched a season high, with their 22nd turnover of the game costing the Panthers the potential victory on the final possession.
Blair put the Panthers ahead 63-62 with 1:36 to play, but with 15 seconds left, Grant hoisted a long shot for Villanova that missed, however the Wildcats were able to keep possession on a held ball off the rebound. Then, with 10 seconds to go Reynolds found Cunningham inside and he was fouled, putting him at the line for 2 shots. Cunningham connected on both putting Villanova ahead 64-63. Ronald Ramon brought the ball up the floor for Pitt, but had it knocked out of his hands at the top of the key, ending the game and giving Villanova the win. Ramon was the only Pitt starter not to score in double figures, finishing with just three points on 1-of-5 shooting. The Panthers have lost two of their last three games since starting the season 11-0.
Villanova will be idle for five days and they’ll return to action on Saturday, Jan.12th at 7 p.m. when they travel to Cincinnati to meet the Bearcats. Pittsburgh will hit the hardwood on Wednesday when they travel to Orlando to square off against South Florida at 7:30 p.m.
Tags: Big East Basketball, NCAA Men's basketball, Pittsburgh Panthers, Villanova Wildcats