Villanova loses another starter in Justin Moore, drops fourth straight road game, 54-52, at Providence
Moore, filling in for the injured Collin Gillespie, went out of the game with a sprained ankle late in the first half. The Wildcats rallied from a 20-point deficit to take a brief lead late.
After going the first 19 games this season without an injury to any of its top seven players, Villanova has managed to lose two starting guards in its last two games to injuries.
Collin Gillespie, wearing a bulky brace to protect his injured left knee, watched Saturday from the bench at Providence’s Alumni Hall as Justin Moore, who moved to the point from his starting duties at shooting guard, suffered a sprained left ankle with just over 5½ minutes left in the first half.
The 10th-ranked Wildcats rebounded from a dreadful opening half when they trailed at one stage by 20 points and rallied to take the lead with 2 minutes, 22 seconds to play but got burned on a tip-in by David Duke with 2.8 seconds left that sent them down to their fourth straight road loss, 54-52.
The 6-foot-4 Moore, the No. 3 scorer for the Cats (16-5, 11-4 Big East), twisted his ankle when his leg got tangled with that of Duke with 5:37 left. He sat for a few moments before being taken to the locker room, and returned to the bench in the second half wearing a boot.
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Coach Jay Wright described the injury as “pretty severe” and said Moore would have an MRI exam Sunday.
Moore was replaced by sophomore Chris Arcidiacono, who had played all of 17 minutes in eight games in the 2020-21 season.
The younger brother of Cats alum Ryan Arcidiacono was a revelation at point guard. He missed all four three-point shots he took, but he played all but 30 seconds of the final 25:37, contributed four rebounds and two assists, played strong defense on Duke, who went 3 of 10 for seven points in the second half, and posted a plus-14 rating.
“I thought Chris Arch did just an incredible job,” Wright said. “He was really good. He got us under control and brought energy to us defensively. I thought he was outstanding.”
Villanova’s first game in the Big East Tournament is Thursday, giving Moore four full days to recover if his injury is not serious.
The Wildcats put themselves in a tremendous hole in the opening half when they shot 21.4% from the floor and 2 of 11 on threes. The largest lead for the Friars (13-12, 9-10) was 38-18 with 1:23 left.
Bryan Antoine’s three-pointer made it a 17-point game at the half, and it also started a 14-0 run into the second half. Before the period was three minutes old, the Wildcats already had trimmed the gap to six, 38-32, on Caleb Daniels’ three-pointer.
The Wildcats kept grinding and the Friars kept gunning, choosing to shoot from the perimeter rather than feed the ball inside to the 6-foot-10 Nate Watson, who had 14 points in the first half and 20 for the game. Jermaine Samuels became their go-to guy, and the senior scored 13 of his team’s 18 points in an eight-minute stretch, with his layup giving ‘Nova the lead at 50-49 with 2:22 to play.
But Samuels’ two free throws, which tied the score at 52 with 15.8 seconds to play, would be ‘Nova’s final points. Jared Bynum took the first shot on the Friars’ final possession and missed, but Watson rose up and tipped in the rebound for the decisive bucket.
Eric Dixon’s three-quarter court inbounds pass gave the Wildcats a chance at the end, but Jeremiah Robinson-Earl’s three-point try clanged off the rim.
Villanova shot 32.7% for the game, and hit only 7 of 14 free throws in the second half. Samuels finished with a game-high 21 points.
“We’ve had teams where you miss the layups, you miss the free throws, but you find a way at the end,” Wright said. “We get a rebound there at the end, we force a miss and we don’t get the rebound. We would have had the last shot of the game. They’re the little things that bother us.”