Ford: 'Nova's big man delivers in big way
NEW YORK - One year ago, the Villanova Wildcats began the climb that would lead them to the same doorstep that had just tripped them up again.
NEW YORK - One year ago, the Villanova Wildcats began the climb that would lead them to the same doorstep that had just tripped them up again.
With an easy win Friday over UNC Asheville, they made it all the way back. Just one more win and the Wildcats will return to the Sweet 16 round in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2009. Just one more win and the questions about their absence will become moot. Just one more trip to the doorstep and this time, surely, it will let them in.
Well, that's what Sunday will determine when the Wildcats play seventh-seeded Iowa for the right to advance to the South Regional in Louisville. That's what the wait has been about - just this one game - or another year of hearing about it.
"Yeah, it's really exciting for us. And it's probably what our biggest concern was," coach Jay Wright said. "All season, if we would have answered those questions and we lost this game [against UNC-Asheville], we're idiots. We can't do anything about [winning a second-round game] until we get there. Now, we've got to do it. That's the bottom line. If we don't do it, it's failure. But there's nothing wrong with failure in sports if you give your best effort."
If the job against Asheville was any indication, Villanova is playing at a high enough level to beat any team in the tournament, but matchups against No. 15 seeds are rarely an indication of anything except why the opponent was a No. 15 seed. Nevertheless, if the Wildcats were tight as they entered the NCAA tournament, it didn't show for long.
"I thought they looked awfully comfortable out there," UNC-Asheville coach Nick McDevitt said.
I bet he did. Losing by 30 points, 86-56, isn't any fun, even for a team that was fortunate just to make the tournament. But Villanova didn't hit full gear until the Wildcats were able to get center Daniel Ochefu to impose his will - and height - on the smaller Asheville team.
The Wildcats would have won this game anyway, but they will need Ochefu if they are to keep advancing. Their biggest concern entering the NCAA tournament was a sprained ankle that had limited the center in the Big East tournament. Wright wished for a Friday-Sunday set of opening games in order to give Ochefu an extra day of rest, and he got that wish. Against Asheville, he got even more. He got a center whose confidence should be very high for the games to come.
Ochefu scored 17 points on just nine shots, making seven of his attempts from the field and adding three free throws. He also had 10 rebounds, four assists, three blocks and a steal in 26 minutes. His presence on defense kept Asheville on the perimeter, where the Bulldogs shots just 36.8 percent from the field.
"That's our senior. That's our captain," junior Josh Hart said. "Seeing him out there 100 percent . . . he's ready to do it with everything he has and move on."
Ochefu's production came, admittedly, against an undersized team that struggled to guard him, and it also came only after some early hesitancy, but when it arrived, he was unstoppable. He scored 10 points in the paint during a six-minute stretch in the second half when Villanova expanded its lead to 18 points.
"Their defensive plan was kind of tripping me up in the first half mentally, and I was making some wrong decisions," Ochefu said. "So, Coach got on me in the locker room, and I made the adjustments we needed - kicking the ball out to shooters like Ryan [Arcidiacono], Josh, guys cutting, and scoring when I couldn't."
Asheville mixed up its defense on Ochefu, doubling him right away sometimes, staying on the shooters other times. He found himself waiting to see rather than being decisive.
"In the second half, we told him, 'Just choose score first. Just go, and then if they come, you'll make the right decision.' And he did. He was great," Wright said.
Using good entry passes to get inside position, Ochefu made 5 of 6 shots in the second half, and Asheville was out of answers.
"He's a load," McDevitt said. "We just didn't have a whole lot for him down there. Early, I thought we kept him off balance. . . . but like all great players he recognized what we were doing and had a heck of a game."
Villanova will need more games like that, starting on Sunday against the Hawkeyes, who were second in the Big Ten in three-point field-goal defense. Iowa figures to concentrate on stopping the Wildcats' perimeter threats and take its chances with Ochefu. If you ask Asheville, that might be a dangerous strategy.
Either way, Sunday is a big game. It is a game that has been big for Villanova for a full year. It might also be a game for big men. On Friday, Daniel Ochefu said he was ready. He said it softly himself, but the stat sheet was loud enough.
@bobfordsports