Villanova Post Game Thread

[Jaydumo20]

They are both low ceiling guys I'm afraid. At this point, getting D and a little offense each game is all I can hope for. Hurley blamed himself for Stewarts recent regression, not instilling confidence in him during his struggles. I agree they are great kids.

I couldnt disagree more. Jayden Ross especially has like 50% more upside than we've seen. He will be the guy that gets put on any team's best scoring wing and he should be. He flustered so many 3 pt shots tonite that slowed the game down and allowed us to build the lead. When he is out there we go on runs. What other player was +16 tonight?
Plus, he is a 40% 3 pt shooter.
The staff has been crowing about his massive upside for a long time. Its mental with him. Its impossible to deny his physical gifts.

 

[blkknight1]

I think that we can look back at the game where Hurley had to bring the starters back in because the bench was surrendering a huge lead as the moment he and the bench players lost confidence. It seems that he realized that he needs those guys. Reibe has been getting more minutes and has resembled the guy that played so well when tarris was hurt. Ross and Stewart have to be more aggressive on offense tonight Stewart was. Smith still drives me crazy with the over dribbling when guys are cutting and open though, he did make a couple of hustle plays tonight and was a nice relief valve when nova pressed and we needed a second guy to bring the ball up.

I believe that tonight was the first time since the first creighton game that the starters have gone to the bench and the lead was maintained or increased by the second unit.

 

[navery12]

Wouldn’t we both get a share of the regular season title? I thought the tiebreakers were for BET seeding. Could swear we’ve shared a regular season title before.

Yeah tiebreakers are just for seeding

 

[Dibbie]

Another thing that helped us. That was only the 3rd time Nova has played in that building this season. Willard even mentioned this to Katz.

2 more times than us.

 

[Umami Zen]

Yeah this wasn't a game where they missed a bunch of open threes. Our perimeter defense was excellent and forced end of shot clock low % shots. The caveat here is the last three minutes showed we are still a ways away on the penetration side of things. We can't pretend that it's solved just because Villanova missed/didn't execute the scout.

Progress. Haven't played D with intention/purpose/help D in awhile. Agree with you. Our perimeter D was excellent. St J throws a different spin at us. But we have to protect our home court(s) vs St J and SH. That time of year.

 

[How Sway?!]

Also really liked the play we got from the Silas, Malachi, Mullins, AK and Reibe line.

Having two ball handlers and only one of Mullins/Solo helps out our offesnive spacing ironically. Think Hurley is going to stagger Mullins and Solo a lot more moving forward.

 

[navery12]

 

[mhshuskies]

this is probably the most complete game in the sense that everyone contributed.

We are solid at 5 with the big chicken next year!

If he learns to recover faster, what difference with Reed. Three straights rolls to the basket for an easy layup after Reibe came in. That’s a concern.

 

[Jaydumo20]

He understands player mentality so well. I think because he dealt with every emtion/struggle you can think of when he was playing. That's an advantage a lot of coaches don't have.

 

[CTBasketball]

Hurley sent the message in practice and the team responded.

Felt like we haven’t seen this type of performance since December. And we didn’t really shoot well from deep.

 

[Umami Zen]

Defense and controlling boards was huge. Thought the Reed/Reibe combo did an excellent job vs Brennan

 

[GampelGladiator]

No way AK would miss this game...after losing by 2 last year at nova when he missed 2 free throws with 3 seconds to go...

1/18/22 66-67 @ Seton Hall
12/1/23 65-69 @ Kansas
12/20/24 60-75 @ Seton Hall
1/8/25 66-68 @ Villanova
2/15/25 68-69 @ Seton Hall

12/2/25 61-56 @ Kansas
1/13/26 69-64 @ Seton Hall
2/21/26 73-63 @ Villanova

 

[Icehawk]

Back on program. That's two in a row Braylon fouled out of though, would love to see him clean that up a bit - that last foul was weaksauce.

 

[SixRings]

Loved seeing Kemba, Bazz, and Lamb behind the bench. How flipping cool is that. Legends.

 

[Durks07]

I've decided Jaylin Stewart and Jayden Ross are one person. 30 minutes and 10 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks. And good defense from both. Will take that every night from the pair

I’m glad it wasn’t just me who did this.

 

[Donyell 360]

Hurley and staff are going to have to figure out a way to alleviate some of the pressure on Silas. We simply can't have another game against St. John's from him where he's turning it over like crazy.

I agree. There were times where Ball and Mullins helped him. I wish we would attack when breaking pressure. We are so determined to run our sets we miss out on easier baskets.

 

[Donyell 360]

I couldnt disagree more. Jayden Ross especially has like 50% more upside than we've seen. He will be the guy that gets put on any team's best scoring wing and he should be. He flustered so many 3 pt shots tonite that slowed the game down and allowed us to build the lead. When he is out there we go on runs. What other player was +16 tonight?
Plus, he is a 40% 3 pt shooter.
The staff has been crowing about his massive upside for a long time. Its mental with him. Its impossible to deny his physical gifts.

Ross definitely has potential to be a 3&D guy, maybe like AJAX, but not a star. He has no handle. He can't dribble by anyone.

 

[jibsey]

Mullins played 25 minutes. Did it seem like that?

 

[Durks07]

Loved seeing Kemba, Bazz, and Lamb behind the bench. How flipping cool is that. Legends.

It warms my heart that Lamb has never changed his facial expressions.

 

[blkknight1]

Foul trouble plagued Mullins. Might have been a bit of a blessing though. Allowed Ross and stewart to get more run.

 

[UCFan1513]

What a huge response. I thought this game would show the mettle of the team and what we can count on the rest of the season. Feeling really good going into the rest of the season - let’s keep it up, huge game against Johnnies

 

[UCFan1513]

It warms my heart that Lamb has never changed his facial expressions.

He was high as a kite

 

[Uconn77Duke74]

Wasn't Rudy Gay there as well? What a locker room that must have been post game when those guys stopped by.

 

[Mike Honcho]

2 more times than us.

They did that strategically. If they play there 4x in a season they would be ineligible to play in the Philly NCAA pod.

 

[djct1999]

Shout out to Eric Riebe. Big minutes and huge contribution tonight. Even more than the box score suggests!