Nov. 19, 2008

Jay Wright was direct about it after Monday night's Villanova victory over Fordham and echoed those sentiments again after the Wildcats held off a pesky bunch of Niagara Purple Eagles by the count of 77-62 at the Pavilion on Wednesday evening.

"I like this Niagara team," he said on Monday. "They have experienced tough guards and we expect a battle."

Forty eight hours later, nothing had changed as Wright sat before the microphones inside the Pavilion Press Room. His admiration for the way former La Salle assistant coach Joe Mihalich's Purple Eagles compete is quite real.

"I told Joe before the game that I love how they play because I saw the film," Wright stated. "When I saw him after the game I told him the same thing. They are difficult to play against and I think they are going to be really good. It is torture playing against that.

"I think our size, not in terms of 6-8 guys but thicker guys, kind of wore them down a little bit. But in the first half we really struggled guarding them."

Niagara in some ways resembled the most notable of Villanova's recent squads, the 2006 version that reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament while starting four guards. One of the Purple Eagles quartet was a former reserve on that team, ex-Wildcat guard Bilal Benn. Wright was also pointed when asked what it feels like to be on the receiving end of that kind of attack.

"I hate it," he stated with a laugh.

In a game that was hardly a work of art, though, the Wildcats leaned on their own perimeter to overcome foul trouble that caused forwards Antonio Pena, Shane Clark and Dante Cunningham to foul out.

"We wanted to establish Dante and Antonio inside," noted Wright, "But Dante got two quick fouls and then `Tone picked up two fouls. So we really weren't able to establish anything with our two best low-post players."

That's where juniors Scottie Reynolds, Reggie Redding and sophomores Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes came in. Each played a significant role in the Wildcats ability to cut off each Purple Eagle rally before it cost Villanova the lead.

Though he converted just 4-of-14 of his field goal attempts, Reynolds used his elusiveness to get to the free throw line 10 times, converting nine. It marked the 51st time in the Herndon, Va., native's career that he had made four or more trips to the line and improved VU's record to 37-14 in those contests.

When Niagara closed to within 40-38 with 16:52 remaining in the second half, it was Redding who scored the next four points on a dunk and offensive rebound to push VU's lead back to six. He was also instrumental in helping slow Niagara's Tyrone Lewis, helping limit the 6-1 guard's damage to 16 points.

Stokes, playing with a sprained thumb on his left hand suffered in the win over Fordham, dropped in a huge triple when Niagara had drawn to within 53-48 in the second half. He finished with eight points and three rebounds.

And Fisher provided essential offensive production with 15 points, six rebounds, five assists and just two turnovers in 36 minutes of action.

"Coach always talks to the guards about this situation that happened tonight," stated Reynolds. "He talks to us about when our bigs get in foul trouble and how tough we have to be in our off the ball defense. You have to be aggressive with the ball and you have to be strong with the ball with the post guys not being able to relieve pressure for us.

"We have to be strong with the ball and a couple of times we went in there and didn't know what to do. You have to go into the lane with an idea of what you're going to do and, if not, you are going to make bad decisions. We made a couple of bad decisions but we bounced back from that."

Niagara's Mihalich left the Pavilion impressed with Wright's squad.

"That's a terrific team," he said. "It's a real challenge to play against them. Their best offense comes when you play bad offense. They turn your mistakes into baskets at the other end in four seconds because Reynolds and Fisher are so good at pushing the ball up the court. They really make you pay for your mistakes. That's what good teams do."

Wright understands that few will view this game as a work of art given the 50 fouls that were called and combined 54 turnovers. Yet he sees value in what transpired for his 3-0 Wildcats.

"It's good for us to get a game like this where we have to gut it out a little bit," said Wright. "I'm glad it ended the way it did butt I'm glad we had that (experience)."

- MIKE SHERIDAN