One of the good things about college basketball this time of year is that coaches learn a lot about their team without fretting over a single loss.
That was certainly the case for Kevin Willard and the Villanova Wildcats in their 71-66 loss to BYU.
The Wildcats were down 14 in the second half to the AJ Dybantsa-led Cougars and stormed back to take the lead on multiple occasions, with the final one being 59-57 with 6:28 left.
“We did some really good things defensively in the second half,” stated Villanova head coach Kevin Willard. “Obviously, offensively – and it happened at Virginia – we’re taking some bad shots and some early shots.
“That was a road game. To have your first game with 13 new guys finding their way to get some stops, it’s definitely something to build on.” – Villanova Athletics
Villanova overcame a rough shooting night. Despite Bryce Lindsay going 5-9 from the three-point line, the Wildcats would shoot 28.6% from three. Maybe the more troubling number is that Villanova attempted 35 three-pointers. Some of that was circumstances, but it was also what Willard pointed out, some bad shot selection.
On the positive side, the Wildcats overcame adversity and gave themselves a chance to win. Duke Brennan’s 15 rebounds led Villanova to a 49-43 edge on the boards. Freshman Chris Jeffrey, who decommitted from Maryland to follow Willard to Villanova, had a solid shooting game, going 4-8 from the floor for 11 points in only 16 minutes.
Takeaways:
Freshmen Struggles
Acaden Lewis and Matt Hodge had a hard time against BYU’s defense. The Cougars did an excellent job on ball screen action when Lewis was the ballhandler. It all started with the angles of the defenders, which effectively took away lanes to drive and/or probe.
Fans shouldn’t be shocked. BYU head coach Kevin Young came from the NBA, a league where you get a lot of experience defending screen and roll, especially in space.
Hodge never looked comfortable with his shot. He missed his first five shots. The first three were three-pointers, and that was followed by a missed layup and dunk.
Hodge’s mechanics are solid, so struggling in his first regular-season game isn’t something to be concerned about.
Villanova Will Get Better as the Season Goes
The Wildcats haven’t been healthy all offseason, but you can see how dangerous they will be when they have a full roster. Bryce Lindsay was back (he was out of the last exhibition game against UVA), and he immediately made an impact.
The James Madison transfer led Villanova in scoring with 22 points and was 5-9 from the three-point line.
If Zion Stanford were healthy, he would have been on AJ Dybansta. That’s not to say the result would have been any different, but Stanford having the opportunity to have an early-season top-notch challenge would have been better for him and Villanova in the long run.
The Wildcats will be a different team in mid-January than in November, and that should make fans happy.
