Sam Donnellon: Fisher was quiet X-factor for Villanova in win over American
HIS BOX SCORE will not wow you. When you're an X-factor, that hardly matters. Value is not always determined by the game's standardized measures, by points, rebounds, steals and such.
Sometimes it's measured by decisions. And energy. Sometimes it's measured by the numbers next to someone else's name. Corey Fisher scored 11 points in Villanova's 80-67 victory over American last night, had four assists and four defensive rebounds in his sixth-man role. The numbers suggest a nice game, a contributory game, but if you were there last night, you saw how much more than that it was.
Fisher's attacks on the basket uncorked the 'Cats comatose offense, opened space on the perimeter, allowed 'Nova's bigs to attack the boards and find the rhythm they were missing for most of a truly frustrating first half in which Scottie Reynolds, their recognized engine, was held without a point.
"He was a key in the second half," Jay Wright said. "They did a great job on Scottie, trying to deny him, trying to play him the way we tried to play [Garrison] Carr. He recognized that and he started attacking the rim. He did it in transition and there were even a couple of times where I would have liked for him to get it in to Dante [Cunningham], but he took it anyway."
Typical coach. A week before, to the day, after a first-round Big East Tournament victory over Marquette, Wright had said of Fisher, "Believe it or not, we have to tell him to shoot more."
Now he was looking for the opposite.
At least at first.
"Like when a guy takes a shot and you say, 'no, no, no' and he makes it and you're like, 'Good shot, good shot,' " said Wright, laughing at himself. "I was thinking to myself, 'Dante, Dante' and he took it and I said, 'Good job. He got fouled.' "
And fouled and fouled and fouled. While Cunningham and Dwayne Anderson were rolling in layups and rebounds inside, Fisher's quickness and penetration were taking their toll on American's two terrific guards, Derrick Mercer and Carr.
Mercer and Carr finished the first half with a foul between them.
Eight minutes into the second half, Mercer had three and less than 4 minutes later, Carr left the game with four.
Numbers next to someone else's name.
All but one of those fouls came trying to guard Fisher, who scored nine of his 11 points at the line. Cunningham finished with 25 points, as did Anderson.
Together, the two American guards pushed their team into the penalty.
"He took away their aggressiveness," said Wright. "He got them to four, five, six team fouls and that took away their aggressiveness. And he got Carr fouls and he got Mercer fouls."
Villanova went on a 19-2 run to flip a 10-point deficit into a seven-point lead. With Carr on the bench, no less than three 'Nova players hounded Mercer's every move.
"Second half I just had to come out more aggressive," Fisher said. "I knew I could get in the paint and make plays for other guys and look for my shot and that's what I did."
"In the second half, they brought more pressure," said Mercer, who scored just four of his 17 points in the second half. "And they definitely clogged the lane up so those open lanes we saw in the first half, we didn't see it in the second half."
The day before, appearing on "Daily News Live," Wright was asked about X-factors this time of the year, about their importance. He was then asked to predict his most likely X-man. "Fisher or Stokes," he said, adding that it depended on who they were playing. Stokes, at 6-4, gives them length. Fisher, generously listed as 6-1, gives them speed, quickness, energy.
"Pick one," he was told.
"Fisher," he said reluctantly.
Last night, Fisher was just as reluctant to claim that title. "We don't really get into that X-factor stuff," he said. "I mean I know he's a guy who's gonna change the game. But we've got 13 guys who can change the game."
Nice words. But untrue.
Villanova's got a few though, and few showed up last night. Besides his points, Cunningham had seven boards. Anderson had eight boards. You can read about that elsewhere, you can read what they did in the box score.
But if you were there last night, during that frantic second half in which American's game became Villanova's game, you noticed the X-man everywhere. Driving the lane. Drawing fouls. Defending the arc, retrieving the rebounds.
"I just try to do whatever the team needs," said Fisher. Which is as good a definition of an X-man as any. *
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