Replacing Justin Moore was easier said than done for Villanova in Final Four loss to Kansas

NEW ORLEANS -- Jay Wright was watching film on Monday, putting together a game plan for how Villanova would handle Kansas without Justin Moore. He adjusted his team’s out-of-bounds plays and fine tuned how they would break a press when he stopped to call Collin Gillespie.

The coach asked his captain if he needed to talk to the team about being ready for the Final Four and believing they can still beat Kansas after Moore tore his Achilles tendon. No need to worry, Gillespie said.

But that confidence wasn’t enough to mask Moore’s absence in the 81-65 loss to the Jayhawks. Moore, who suffered the season-ending injury late in last week’s Elite Eight win over Houston, flew into town earlier in the day, arriving in time to sit on the bench as his team struggled to fill his void.

“We had that belief in each other. Justin went down in the middle of the year with an ankle injury and we played without him then,” Gillespie said. “And Justin gave these guys confidence, and they did it last year without me.

“So we were good enough to win this game. And we didn’t do some things early on. They got some open looks. And they made their open looks. But we felt like we were good enough. And I have a lot of confidence in these guys. And I know our team has confidence in each other to go out there and get it done. And you can’t replace Justin, but guys were going to step up. And we felt like they were capable and we know that they’re capable.”

They missed Moore’s production in the first half when just two players -- Gillespie and Caleb Daniels -- combined for 19 of the team’s 29 points. The Wildcats needed a third scorer. And they missed Moore’s defensive presence against All-America guard Ochai Agbaji, who knocked down four of his six threes in the first half and totally wrecked ‘Nova’s game plan.

“The reason they were effective inside with their size was because they got us spread out early with Agbaji hitting threes and we weren’t able to get off and help in the post because they attacked us early on the perimeter,” Wright said. “And that can become a problem for us.”

Agbaji finished with a game-high 21 points as Wright tried various defensive schemes -- even a zone look -- to slow him down. But the Wildcats couldn’t find an answer. When they closed late in the second half,, it was another guard -- Christian Braun -- who knocked down a pair of crushing threes to put the game away. Perhaps ‘Nova’s perimeter defense would have been a bit stronger with Moore on the court.

“I want to make sure -- I know it’s true -- but we were ready and we were good enough to win that game,” Wright said. “They did a lot of things that made them win the game. So I know I have to address Justin not being here, but maybe the start of the game, just we’re not -- we know what we’re doing when he’s in there, we know our rotation.”

Daniels, who provided a spark off the bench in the four tournament wins, replaced Moore in the starting lineup and matched his own tournament average with 13 points. The Cats scored just three points off the bench and just one reserve -- Bryan Antoine, who logged nearly 20 minutes -- played more than 2 minutes. The Wildcats needed someone other than the usual suspects to step up.

Moore sat the entire game near the end of the Villanova bench, his right foot wrapped in a bandage. The Wildcats likely would not have reached the Superdome without Moore as he helped will them past Houston in the Elite Eight before he fell to the court in the final minutes, his season over.

Without him, Moore said the Wildcats would just “do what we do” and “nothing changes.” He was just as confident as Gillespie was on Monday when Wright called. It wasn’t that simple.

The Wildcats clawed within six points in the second half but Kansas just had too much firepower to keep pace. Perhaps Saturday night is a different game with Moore on the court. Wright called a timeout late in the second half, trying to steady his group after Kansas quickly increased its lead to double digits. Moore, unable to leave the bench as he required a scooter to move, remained in his seat as the team huddled. Villanova’s season was minutes away from being finished. Without Moore, the semifinals of the Final Four was as far as the Wildcats could go.

“Everybody is good. Don’t worry about it,” Wright said Gillespie told him on Monday. “So I never had to approach it, because we talk about it all year, when anybody is out, Collin was basically out when we played at St. John’s. He didn’t practice. I think they believe in each other.”