Nov. 19, 2008

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VILLANOVA-NIAGARA SERIES NOTES

The Wildcats played their 30th game against Niagara tonight but it was the first meeting between the teams since a 61-52 win for the Purple Eagles on January 5, 1976. The series dates back to the 1922-23 season, which was the third season of men's basketball at Villanova. The Wildcats won the first meeting, 44-12 on January 11, 1923. Of the 30 games between the teams, 11 took place between 1960 and 1969. The teams also played in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 1970, with Villanova winning 98-73.

MEETING THE MAAC

Villanova is now 124-41 all-time against the 10 teams that currently make up the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The majority of those meetings took place decades ago, however. Villanova has played just seven regular season games against MAAC opponents in the last 20 years. Five of those games have come against Rider, one came against Fairfield and one came against Loyola (Md.) in 1994. Villanova has played all 10 MAAC teams a minimum of four times, while tonight's 30th meeting against Niagara makes them the team the Wildcats have faced the most from the league. Villanova has also played 29 games against Canisius.

PAVILION WINNING STREAK

Tonight's victory for Villanova was its 18th consecutive in The Pavilion and extended the program's second-longest winning streak in its on-campus home. The current streak began on January 17, 2007 against Notre Dame (102-87) and followed a 73-65 loss to DePaul 11 days earlier. The record winning streak in The Pavilion for Villanova is 23 games, which spanned from January 18, 1995 (71-69 win over Pittsburgh) through January 8, 1997 (64-46 win over Oral Roberts). The streak was snapped in a loss to Miami (Fla.) on January 11, 1997.

NOVEMBER SUCCESS

With tonight's victory, Villanova improves to 24-7 in the month of November under eighth year head coach Jay Wright.

TURNING POINT

The turning point in tonight's game seemed to come when Villanova was holding on to a tentative 40-38 lead in the early stages of the second half. Niagara twice had possession of the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead for the first time in the game but each time committed a turnover. Consecutive three-pointers by junior guards Reggie Redding and Scottie Reynolds stretched the lead back to eight, 46-38.

The Wildcats never really let go of that momentum. When the Purple Eagles pulled to within 53-48 with five straight points, Villanova scored nine straight points to start a 14-4 run in which Niagara went more than five minutes without a field goal. Reynolds made two free throws with 8:11 to play to make the score 59-48 and the lead in double digits until the Wildcats all but had the game secured in the closing minutes.

FREE THROW STORY

Villanova has done a good job of getting to the free throw line in the last two games. After making 30-of-36 from the charity stripe in Monday night's win over Fordham, the Wildcats hit on 28-of-38 from the line in tonight's game. Junior guard Scottie Reynolds led the way with a 9-of-10 performance from the line and it led to a season-best 19 points for Reynolds, who made just 4-of-14 shots from the field.