Villanova 3s shoot down West Virginia pressure

Villanova responded to tie the game at 60 as Brunson scored four points and Paschall added two free throws.

Along with Kansas in the Midwest, Villanova is one of two No. 1 seeds remaining in this year’s bracket.

That’s good and bad for the Mountaineers. It hardened them to the pressures that will continue to mount with each step up the NCAA tournament’s ladder. “We got a bunch of guys, quite frankly, that were recruited kind of whatever – mid-major schools – and we saw something in them”. “And he’s a really high IQ guy, so it’s not just his skill – it’s his IQ and maturity for a young kid to be able to understand everything that we do, which makes us more efficient as a unit”. Tip-off is set for 7:27 p.m. and will be broadcast on TBS. “Coach [Wright] is over here, Coach Huggins over there”, Brunson said with a grin.

“This time of year if you want to win in March you have to make open shots”. It’s not sometimes. It’s not the guy that’s open sometimes.

Allen averaged 19 points on 71 percent shooting in the first three Big 12 games, helping WVU sit almost atop the college basketball landscape with a No. 2 ranking in the AP Poll, the highest ranking for the program since Jerry West donned the blue and gold in 1959.

The loss marks the end of the season for WVU and the end of the collegiate careers for Carter and Miles. But both Mikal Bridges and Donte DiVincenzo were assessed two fouls each in that stretch.

Villanova will battle West Virginia, a team that defeated Marshall, 91-74, to get to this round. Jalen and Omari were terrific but a lot of guys contributed.

The top-seeded Villanova Wildcats are playing the West Virginia Mountaineers in college basketball action on Friday night. West Virginia was one of the first to jump ship but those Big 12 road trips to Iowa State and Texas Tech are going to push Huggins into retirement someday soon.

Could some of it be a product of Villanova playing in a Big East Conference that has just one other nationally ranked team. In the second half, Bridges, a 6-foot-6 junior, made 5-of-8 from three-point range while scoring a game-high 23 points. This will be the first time these two teams face off since 2011 and this time with a spot in the Elite Eight on the line.

“That was the most physically demanding, mentally demanding 40 minutes we’ve played in a long time”, Wright said. When he makes shots, it’s not special for us. West Virginia won’t go away quietly. “There aren’t a lot of teams that play this way”, Wright said. “So I think it’s going to be the kind of game where we’re going to have to get in it, kind of take a punch in the mouth there for a second, and then get ready to adjust because it’s hard to simulate”.

Syracuse: The Orange won their first four game over Arizona State 60-56, then upset 6th seeded TCU 57-52, and then beat one of the tournament favorites and 3rd seeded Michigan State 55-53.

It seems that anyone who studies basketball understands that the college game has evolved into a game where the guards are dominant, as noted a day ago when 10 of the 15 players selected the Coaches Associations three All-America teams were guards.

“I had talked about it so many times, saying: ‘This is going to happen”.

The Wildcats have been red hot with their shooting, dropping in 17 shots from beyond the 3-point arc against Alabama and 14 against Radford.

As far as its defensive pressure went, West Virginia was successful in the first half and not as successful in the second half. “It just helps us spread the floor”.

A similar effort might be required here in Boston against top-seeded Villanova tonight.

“There’s obviously no way I’m going to hold any words back or anything like that”, Allen said Tuesday. “I think that’s a really valuable game for us, really valuable”.