Villanova’s young players will have their hands full defensively with Baylor, but Jay Wright knows they’ll accept the challenge
The Wildcats played strong defense in their first two NCAA Tournament wins. But they will be rising up in class against the No. 1 seed Bears, who have perhaps the top guard trio in the country.
If there is one trait that has characterized the Villanova defense over its first two NCAA Tournament games, it’s the energy brought by its younger players.
The Wildcats allowed 63 points to Winthrop in the first round and 61 to North Texas in the second in their two double-digit wins last weekend. The two opponents combined shot 38.2% from the field and 31.3% from three-point range.
Now the Cats (18-6), seeded No. 5 in the South Region, must rise up in class against top seed Baylor in their Sweet 16 matchup Saturday at Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Their defense will be tested by perhaps the top group of guards in the country – Jared Butler, Davion Mitchell, and MaCio Teague.
Asked Wednesday how he intends to defend against the Bears trio, Villanova coach Jay Wright replied, “I don’t know. I honestly don’t.” But he added that he knows his young players aren’t afraid of the challenge.
“We’ve got some young guys going up against some veteran studs,” he said. “It’s not just their talent but their basketball IQ is outstanding, and that’s what happens to guys when they stay in college for a few years. They really learn the game. This is a really intelligent team as well as extremely talented.
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“We’re going to have young guys going against them. But they love that. That’s what the young guys want to do. They want to go up against the best and they’re going to get their shot.”
Sophomore forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, the Wildcats’ top scorer in the tournament with a 20.0-point average, said he likes what his teammates have shown defensively.
“I think those guys have been doing a great job, and I think the most important thing is that they bring it every single day in practice,” he said. “I think now it’s just getting those game reps. They’ve played a lot more games, they’ve gained a lot more confidence and we feed into the confidence for them. I think they’ve been doing a good job going out there and playing hard.”
Playing without its quarterback, injured point guard Collin Gillespie, the Villanova defense has been strong from the start, with sophomores Justin Moore and Chris Arcidiacono and redshirt junior Caleb Daniels setting an early tone. But it doesn’t lose a step when sophomore Bryan Antoine and juniors Brandon Slater and Cole Swider come off the bench.
The Wildcats don’t get a lot of steals; they have nine in the first two games with Antoine and Swider posting two each. Wright liked the way Swider guarded after he changed the ball-screen coverage on North Texas star Javion Hamlet, with Swider carrying out a double-team before getting back to his man.
The Bears, however, don’t showcase one big scoring guard, they have three. Butler (16.9 points per game), Teague (16.1), and Mitchell (14.1) are their top scorers, and Butler and Mitchell each average at least two steals. Wright admitted that he’ll have to mix up the defenses and do his best to keep Baylor guessing.
“I don’t think it’s the kind of a team that you can just do one thing against these guys,” he said. “They’re too smart. We’re going to have to change it up, and they’ve seen everything. The Big 12 was just outstanding this year with great coaches. The one thing I can definitely say we’re not going to do is just go out and do one thing against these guys. They would just slice you.”
The Wildcats have shown steady improvement since their 86-70 loss at Creighton on Feb. 13. Following that game, the team ranked 290th in Division I in field-goal percentage defense (46.4%) and 318th in three-point defense (37.8%). Those numbers have improved to 207th in defensive field goal percentage (44.1%) and 249th defending the three (35.0%).
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Wright had noted the improvement from the Creighton loss because of extra practice time he allocated to working on defense. He added Wednesday that having extra practice time in New York after Villanova was eliminated by Georgetown in the first round of the Big East Tournament helped.
“I think if Collin was here, we probably would have gotten even better,” he said, “but I just think over this time, we have. We’ve gotten better defensively. We’re going to need our best defensive effort against this Baylor team. But I do feel better about that, that we are starting to play Villanova basketball better.”