Horrific night of turnovers and missed shots halts Villanova’s nine-game win streak

On a cold night in snowy Queens, this 4-minute, 30-second, eight-possession stretch of the second half summarized a horrific night for Villanova against St. John’s.

Turnover.

Turnover.

Score (conventional three-point play by Eric Dixon).

Turnover.

Turnover.

Turnover.

Missed shot.

Blocked shot.

The third-ranked Wildcats, known for the care in which they handle the basketball, were thrown completely off their game by the Red Storm’s quick and physical defense — full-court and halfcourt — and saw their nine-game winning streak snapped Wednesday night in a 70-59 defeat at Carnesecca Arena.

“One of those nights on the road in the Big East,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said afterward.

Villanova exceeded its turnovers by more than twice its 8.3 average, with 17 miscues, which happened to be the number of forced turnovers the Red Storm had averaged (17.4, to be exact) entering the game.

Collin Gillespie, who had 12 turnovers in his 12 previous games, tallied six Wednesday, many of them forced by freshman Posh Alexander, the conference leader in steals. He also struggled with his shot, missing all eight of his three-point attempts and going 2 of 12 overall, for four points, well below his 15.5-point average.

“They doubled Collin, they face-guarded Collin, and they made other guys handle the ball,” Wright said. “We had a plan for that, we just didn’t execute it well. They were really physical with us and they were really aggressive. We couldn’t execute what we wanted to do against them taking Collin away with double-teams and face-guards.

“He had a tough night. But I know he’ll come back, he’s a tough kid.”

Alexander, who has jumped to the top of the list of candidates for Big East freshman of the year, had 16 points, six assists, and three steals. Coach Mike Anderson liked his energy even more.

“The guy that spearheads our defense is going to be a guy like Posh,” Anderson said. “He brought the energy and I think the guys followed his lead. He had a phenomenal night.”

The Wildcats, whose largest deficit was 17, established season lows for points, field-goal percentage (32.3%), and three-point percentage (8 of 30, 26.7%). Wright said his players were getting their share of looks early but when the ball continued to clang off the rim, they became more hesitant.

“I thought in the first half, we had good looks at threes and we just missed them, and then we got a little tentative taking those looks,” he said. “We got out of our rhythm, kind of drove it when it wasn’t there, and stopped looking for open shots when they were there.

“You’ve got to give them the credit because that’s what they’re trying to [do], is to disrupt you and try to get you out of your decision-making, and that’s what they did a great job of tonight.”

Caleb Daniels led the Cats with 16 points and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl produced his second double-double of the season with 14 points and 17 rebounds. If there was an area of strength for Villanova, it was offensive rebounding — a season-high 15, eight by Robinson-Earl, leading to 16 second-chance points.

However, it doesn’t get any easier Sunday when the Wildcats take on Georgetown at Finneran Pavilion. While the Red Storm upset one of the Big East’s two nationally-ranked teams, the Hoyas shocked the other one on the same night, winning 86-79 at Creighton.

In its first meeting with Georgetown on Dec. 11, Villanova fell behind by 18 points in the first half, still a season-high for largest deficit, but came back for a 76-63 win.