Ford: 'Nova neutralizes Friars' two weapons
NEW YORK - There were more than two words on the Villanova defensive game plan against Providence on Friday night in the Big East semifinals, but there really didn't have to be.
NEW YORK - There were more than two words on the Villanova defensive game plan against Providence on Friday night in the Big East semifinals, but there really didn't have to be.
Dunn and Bentil. That was really what the night would be about for the Wildcats. Point guard Kris Dunn, soon to be an NBA lottery pick, and Ben Bentil, a dominating power forward coming off a 38-point performance in the quarterfinals.
If Villanova was going to reach the conference championship game for the second straight year, it would be because the Wildcats didn't let those two get in the way. The only question was how exactly that might happen.
"We weren't going to be able to defend them one-on-one. Those are two great players," guard Ryan Arcidiacono said. "Any time Dunn got the ball, we weren't going to give him any space. And Bentil, he shoots so much that we really wanted to attack him."
They concentrated on those two words and still the game was too close. Providence came back from 14 points down in the second half to cut the margin to just two points before Villanova was able to string out a 76-68 win.
The overall strategy was a success, however. By attacking Bentil with pick-and-rolls when the Wildcats had the ball, Villanova was able to get the big man into foul trouble and limit him to 26 minutes of playing time and just three points. As for Dunn, it was never just one guy chasing after him. The Wildcats helped out every time Dunn got the ball, leaving some of the other Providence players untended, but that was a decision they had to make.
"We weren't going to let Dunn and Bentil beat us. We were going to have the other guys beat us. That's what we were giving up," Arcidiacono said. "We wanted to defend as a team and execute the game plan the best we could. On Dunn and Bentil, that's probably the best job ever. We wanted to stop those two guys."
Villanova got itself into some foul trouble, too, with the aggressive plan. Jalen Brunson eventually fouled out, Josh Hart finished with four fouls and every Villanova player had at least two. Providence went into the double bonus at the foul line with more than nine minutes still to play. It was a risky philosophy, but coach Jay Wright wasn't going to sit back and let Providence get comfortable.
"Not the way Bentil played [in the quarterfinals]. That was an incredible performance. We were even thinking, 'If he just gets 20 . . .' But we couldn't afford to let him get into the 30s," Wright said. "And Dunn, that was the best job we've done on a guard. We were all coming to help and we took some chances, gave other guys some wide-open shots. When we played them at home the last time, those guys made the shots and we lost."
The overtime loss in the Wells Fargo Center was the only home loss of the season for Villanova and one of just two losses in the Big East. It was also a lesson that game plans don't always work. Bentil had 31 points in that game and Dunn had 13 points and 14 assists. The Wildcats absorbed that lesson and hardly needed a reminder.
"They had our attention," Hart said. "It was definitely not going to be about the one person who was [defending] on the ball. We had to have four others where they were supposed to be and playing as one unit."
Villanova got through this one despite not having center Daniel Ochefu in the starting lineup because of an ankle injury that limited him to 15 minutes and one rebound. They got through despite making fewer three-pointers than the opponent, getting fewer points at the line and getting just eight fastbreak points.
In an upside-down game, the Wildcats got 40 points in the paint as they drove to the basket to escape Providence's perimeter defense. It wasn't the usual formula for the Wildcats, but it worked, as did the strict game plan on Dunn and Bentil.
"Neither of those guys scored and it was still a close game," Wright said. "That tells you why they're a pretty good team."
Villanova isn't bad, either. The Wildcats are one step away from becoming just the fifth school to win back-to-back Big East tournaments. Getting the trophy on the shelf takes a lot of different methods. Some nights it has to be offense. Some nights defense. And some nights, the decision to really limit the game plan to just two words.
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