(IndependentPhilly.com/D.Jacob Miller Photography)

Villanova struggled with shooting from the field, but nailed 34 free throws to come back and beat La Salle 76-69 in overtime. It was the second consecutive night that a Big 5 match-up went to overtime — imagine that as a double-header. Despite needing an additional 5-minute period, Villanova pulled out the win behind Maalik Wayns and his 22 points and 4 assists in 37 minutes; the point guard also finished one rebound shy of a double-double.

Mouphtaou Yarou did have a double-double, with 10 points, 14 rebounds and 1 block. James Bell and Dominic Cheek joined their teammates in double digit scores, with 15 and 18 points respectively.

The Explorers got off to a strong start and benefitted greatly from a tremendous shooting performance by Sam Mills, who went 4-6 from three and scored 19 points in the game. Near the 2 minute mark of the first half, La Salle was ahead by double-digits, with their largest lead being 10 points.

At the end of the first half a couple of quick possessions allowed the Wildcats to shrink that lead down to 5 points.

La Salle got itself into foul trouble on a few fronts quickly. Five Explorers finished the game with at least four personal fouls and center Steve Zack picked up a 5th foul and had to leave the game at the end of regulation. Villanova shot 41 free throws in total, while La Salle made it to the line only 11 times. Both teams converted over 81% of those attempts.

Those fouls were ultimately what saved the ‘Cats, who turned the ball over 20 times in the contest. Every Villanova starter turned the ball over at least 2 times.

Maalik takes on his cousin Tyreek (IndependentPhilly.com/D. Jacob Miller Photography)

Villanova took 23 shots from beyond the arc and missed all of them until James Bell finally nailed one with 13:49 left in the second half with a Wayns assist. Bell would connect on two shots from deep, as would Wayns, on a night where the ‘Cats went 4-of-23 (17.4%) from three. The ‘Cats were cold shooting generally, making just 35.2% of their attempts overall.

Villanova was able to scrap its way back into the game, however, thanks especially to a steal and a bucket by Darrun Hilliard that tied the game with under a minute left. Nova did have a chance to win the game at the end of regulation, but lost the ball.

In overtime, the ‘Cats were finally able to pull away from their Big 5 rivals. La Salle was overmatched, allowing Dominic Cheek to score 8 points from the free-throw line in overtime. With about a minute left in overtime, Villanova was ahead by 5 points and La Salle began fouling to stop the clock.

Maurice Sutton played excellent defense off the bench in overtime. In just 7 minutes, Sutton recorded a blocked shot and 2 clutch rebounds to help the ‘Cats ice a win that was more of a challenge than anyone expected.

Wayns’ second-cousin, Tyreek Duren lead all scorers with 24 points, while dishing out 5 assists and grabbing 5 boards. He shot a little over 47% from the floor and was clearly the best player La Salle had on the court, playing all-but one minute of the contest.

The exhilarating win was watched by a number of notables, including NBA lockout victims Randy Foy and Dante Cunningham, legendary coach Larry Brown and top local 2012 recruit, Amile Jefferson.

Next up for the Wildcats is a Friday night appointment with Delaware. The Blue Hens were added to the schedule as part of “Beat Week,” where Villanova will play rivals Delaware in basketball and football on back-to-back days (and women’s basketball on Tuesday).

Box Score & Player Grades from Statsheet.com

Despite giving Nova one of its toughest early challenges last year, the Big 5 rivals fell on some hard luck as the season dragged on and finished below .500 and missed the NCAA tournament for the 19th consecutive year. Despite their tough luck, however, La Salle was 20th in the nation in scoring last season, but didn’t accomplish much in the way of defense.

This season’s La Salle will look different.

Aaric Murray was not happy with his place with the Explorers and opted to transfer to West Virginia University. Ruben Guillandeaux and Jerrell Williams were also a big part of last season’s La Salle team, but both of them ran out of eligibility after last season.

On Tuesday, they will play without junior guard, Ramon Galloway, as well. Galloway is a transfer player from South Carolina, who suffered a head injury during the Explorers’ 79-53 win over Lafayette on Friday. Though he was taken out of the game strapped to a stretcher, the diagnosis was just a concussion. It isn’t known how long he will be sidelined for, but he certainly won’t play against Villanova.

Galloway, a Philadelphia native, averaged just over 10 points per game for the Gamecocks in 2010-11, but his scoring isn’t the biggest thing La Salle will miss. He scored just 5 points against Lafayette, but earned his Coach’s respect on defense.

“He’s a real weapon defensively,” Coach John Giannini told PhilaHoops.com. “Not only a good individual defender but he elevates our team defense. When you see a guy flying around the court like that, you kind of feed off of that.”

La Salle’s star, however, is sophomore point guard Tyreek Duren, who scored 17 points in their opening game to lead the team. He also notched 6 assists, 6 rebounds and 4 steals in that contest. All of those improve upon his numbers from last season.

The Explorers started four guards against Lafayette and got almost all of their scoring from the backcourt. In addition to Duren, three other guards were in double-digit scoring. Earl Pettis had 16 points, Taylor Dunn had 12 and Sam Mills contributed 10 more.

Combined, the team connected on 49.2% of their shots from the floor and 56.3% from beyond the arc.

Since La Salle doesn’t have a very big team, Villanova is likely to again start four “big guards” (as Jay Wright makes a point of calling them). That line-up shot 54.5% from the floor and 48.0% from deep against Monmouth on Friday. Nova had three players scoring in double-digits, including two who scored over 20 points in the 106-70 win.

Maalik Wayns dished out 5 assists while setting up Mouphtaou Yarou and Dominic Cheek, who both made the most of their opportunities, shooting 75% and 60% respectively on their opportunities from the field. Cheek was also 5-8 from beyond the arc just days after a very cold shooting night in an exhibition game against Division II NYIT.

Unless Villanova becomes more consistent, streaky shooting performances may be the norm this season. That means that the team will need to make defense its hallmark in order to win games consistently.

The ‘Cats are currently ranked 57th by KenPom.com in adjusted defense, but this early in the season, Pomeroy’s rankings still heavily rely on his projected numbers and last season’s performances. According to Villanova By The Numbers, the Villanova defense rated 87.9 for the game on Friday, which is where KenPom.com rates Kentucky, their third-ranked defense. It was also significantly better than the 95.1 rating that KenPom.com gives Villanova. In fact, Wildcats’ defense got tighter in the second half,which may show that there is plenty of room for improvement.

For the match-up with La Salle this week a tight defense is likely a requirement. Dr. Giannini’s squad is determined to play hard on defense this season, and the ‘Cats will have to match their intensity to get the win.

Villanova will score points, but may need good rebounding to get second chances if the shots aren’t falling for Dominic Cheek and Maalik Wayns. Players like James Bell also have a tendency to be streaky on offense, but every member of the Villanova starting line-up is capable of having a big night. They are all capable of playing defense as well.

If the ‘Cats can put on another show like they did on Friday, the Big 5 opener will be another big win for the ‘Cats. If they struggle and let the La Salle team hang around, they will need to out-work their opponents to win.

The game will tip-off at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday from the Pavilion at Villanova. ESPN3 will air the game live, and you can listen on 950AM radio in Philadelphia.

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***Get your predictions in for Closest to the Pin!***

This week Villanova is promoting something called “Beat Week,” where the ‘Cats will take on Delaware in both Men’s and Women’s basketball leading up to the football game on Saturday. It is very important that Villanova fans show up for the football game.

The game will be a re-match of the 2009 NCAA 1st Round game.

7p Update: LaSalle has also released their 2011-12 schedule. Villanova will host the Explorers on November 15th.

Up to Date, we know that Villanova will have the following Out of Conference schedule…

• LaSalle (Nov 15)
• Delaware (Nov 19)
• 76 Classic (Nov 24, 25, 27)
• Missouri (Jimmy V Classic: Dec 6th)
• at Temple (Dec10)
• American (Dec 22)

That said, yesterday revealed even more about the problems this team has.  Cold shooting spells happen and for all the hand wringing and gnashing of teeth our shooting has caused the adoring fan our season average is .442.  To offer some perspective Syracuse is shooting .446, UConn .452 and Pitt .480, all within striking distance.  Still, yesterday’s game doesn’t exactly paint a particularly a rosy picture.  Corey Fisher’s struggles continued from anywhere other than the foul line where he pocketed nine of his sixteen points.  From the field Fisher shot 3 for 11 and Yarou was stonewalled on all but one of his five shots.

Fortunately for the Wildcats Wayns drained 19 on 8 for 15 shooting and Corey Stokes continued to flex his three point muscle with four from downtown.    Cheek also knocked some of his rust off ending the afternoon with 14 points of his own.

So sure, it wasn’t all bad and a win is a win is a win but every game I watch my expectations for the season get lower.  I never thought offense would be a problem for this team.  Yes Scottie’s 18 points per game needed replacing but I was sure the Corey’s, Cheek, Wayns and Yarou would rise to the challenge.  Sure we’re still winning games but watching the team struggle to put up points is something new for the Jay-Wright-era ‘Cats.

I did however notice some new offensive schemes toward the end so I feel confident the coaching staff sees what we all see and is trying to get the team ready for whatever the Big East throws at us.

Also of concern (even if I start sounding like a broken record) is our carelessness with the ball.   18 turnovers a successful team does not make.  Luckily the ball was greased for both sides yesterday as LaSalle turned it over 16 times.

We’re getting closer and closer to the end of the “practice” schedule.  We have two more “cupcake” games (not counting the DePaul’s of the world) to find our rhythm and find our shot.  I have every confidence in the world that if there’s one person that can do it it’s Jay Wright, and the Big East season is a long one so here’s to hoping I eat all these negative words come the first weekend of April.

AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr.

No. 12 Villanova avoided disaster in front of  4,000 screaming fans at Tom Gola Arena, overcoming a 1-14 shooting drought over the first seven minutes to escape with an 84-81 victory over the Explorers.  Maalik Wayns scored 19 points on 8-15 shooting and made a critical go-ahead layup with 1:09 left.

Villanova tied the game at 28 points with 5:11 remaining and led 38-37 at half time.

The Explores went up by eight points with 7:25 remaining in the game, but the Cats went on a 12-2 run to take a 78-76 lead with 3:06 left. Cheek capped the run with consecutive 3-pointers.  With the Explorers leading 79-78, Wayns completed a three point play the old fashioned way when he was fouled on a driving layup, giving the Cats a 81-79 lead with 1:09 left.  After the teams exchanged free throws and the Cats leading 84-81,  Maurice Sutton blocked Sam Mills’ 3-point attempt with four seconds left.  La Salle recovered the ball in time for Mills to attempt one final desperation 3-point attempt from 33 feet, which clanged off the rim as time expired. 

Villanova’s seniors — Fisher, Stokes and Pena — combined for 45 points.  Yarou grabbed 9 rebounds, but had 4 turnovers and shot only 1-5 from the field.  Corey Fisher had 8 assists vs. 4 turnovers, but shot only 3-11 from the field.  La Salle’s Jerell Williams led all scorers with 20 points.

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VILLANOVA BOX SCORE

This season the Explorers and their highly-rated forward are 6-3 coming into the game and have played each of their nine opponents closely. Of their three losses, two have been at the hands of ranked opponents — #17 Baylor and #12 Missouri. The third loss was a 92-87 home loss to Oklahoma State in double-overtime.

The ‘Cats will make the short trip to Tom Gola arena on Sunday for a game that Ken Pomeroy predicts will be a 79-69 Villanova win (with 83% chance of victory for the ‘Cats). It is the second-consecutive Big 5 away game for Villanova.*

La Salle averages 78.2 points per game and 16.6 of those are contributed by Aaric Murray, who also leads the team in rebounding with 8.9 per game. This is no one-man team, however, the Explorers have four players who average double-digit scoring.

Second on the team is senior guard Ruben Guillandeaux, who contributes 15.9 points and 3.1 assists per game. Third is senior forward Jerrell Williams with 13.5 points and 8 rebounds per game. Finally, Rutgers transfer Earl Pettis averages 10.2 points, 3 assists and 1.2 steals per contest for La Salle.

The team is shooting 48.6% from the field, with Murray (55.9%) and Pettis (51.4%) leading the way. When it comes to the 3-point arc, Guillandeaux is the marksman, connecting on 46.9% of his shots from downtown, while the team is making 37.6% of those shots overall.

It appears that the Explorers have a tendency to make mistakes. They average 16 assists per game while turning the ball over an average of 16.6 times.

The Wildcats need strong defensive play from their big men to help keep Murray under control. Stokes or Cheek will likely be responsible for keeping a hand in Guillandeaux’s face during the game as well.

It will also help the Wildcats to continue to protect the ball. So far Villanova has averaged 16.5 assists and 10.8 turnovers per game. Remove two of the worst assist/turnover performances by the Wayns/Fisher combination this season and that ratio likely looks even stronger.

Protecting the rock is only part of the equation — the other two factors are defense and rebounding. Defense has been strong this season so far — ranked 28th by Ken Pomeroy — but needs to improve more over the course of the season. Rebounding is a battle that the ‘Cats are used to winning averaging 45.6 rebounds to their opponents’ 37.9.

If Stokes has a few more big games in him, the ‘Cats look really tough to beat.

Look for a bounce-back performance from Corey Fisher, who had bad games against Tennessee and Penn this season, and started the Penn game on the bench. The ‘Cats need their senior point guard to lead this team on the court on a nightly basis. If not, the load will have to be shouldered by Antonio Pena and Corey Stokes, who showed a ton of leadership on Wednesday, if only on the scoresheet.

La Salle may rarely win this match-up, but they have played the ‘Cats close more than a few times. With their young star a year older and their roster much healthier than last year, the ‘Cats should be careful heading into the Explorers’ house.

The game tips off from Tom Gola Arena on Sunday at 2:00pm. Television coverage will be provided by ESPNU.

Don’t forget to get your guesses in for Ed’s Closest to the Pin contest.

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* Back in the day, when every Big 5 game was hosted at the Palestra, there were no Big 5 away games.

• Friday, December 3rd: vs. St. Joseph’s (PA) at The Pavilion (ESPNU)
• Sunday, December 12th: @ LaSalle at Tom Gola Arena (ESPNU)
• Wednesday, December 29th: vs. Temple at The Pavilion (ESPN2)

‘Nova (6-0) was paced by Scottie Reynolds and Antonio Pena who both contributed 14 points in the win. Corey Fisher added 13 points (and 6 steals) and freshman Dominic Cheek finished with 10 due to his energetic and athletic play. This is the Wildcats 2nd Big 5 win of the season.

Even though Villanova shot poorly from behind the arc (6-24 3FG) against LaSalle’s zone defense, the ‘Cats’s full-court pressure caused 27 LaSalle Turnovers. The Explorers also out-rebounded ‘Nova, 46-27.

The win, is Villanova’s 30th consecutive victory at The Pavilion.

The Wildcats will play Drexel on Wednesday.

Prior to the game we heard rumors that Senior Walk-on Jason Colenda had left the team “to focus on receiving his degree,” at this time, we can now confirm this.