Yarou a force in Villanova's win over UCLA

NEW YORK - Mouphtaou Yarou, an ice bag taped to his right knee, sat in the interview room at Madison Square Garden and answered the only two questions asked of him politely, briefly, and barely audibly.

As Yarou left the podium, Villanova coach Jay Wright smiled.

"Did you ever see a guy that big talk that sweet and nice?" Wright asked. "That's what we're dealing with - the nicest, smartest big man in the world."

Wright doesn't mind, especially if his 6-foot-10, 250-pound sophomore center makes a habit of performing the way he did Wednesday night in the Wildcats' 82-70 victory over UCLA that put them in Friday's championship game of the NIT Season Tip-Off.

The seventh-ranked Wildcats (5-0) will take on No. 24 Tennessee (4-0) for the title.

Yarou ruled the inside with a career-high 16 rebounds, six of them off the offensive glass, and blocked three shots. He also scored 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including a determined put-back basket that helped blunt the Bruins' rally from a 15-point halftime deficit.

Wright loves having a skilled big man in the middle, establishing position if an opposing guard gets past his defender going to the basket, or grabbing rebounds of missed drives by teammates Corey Fisher and Maalik Wayns.

"There are times they drive the ball and can be a little overaggressive, and he cleans it up with an offensive rebound," the coach said. "They're smaller guards - we've always played with smaller guards.

"To have somebody behind them that can block some shots, we can play them more defensively. So he helps them defensively. He covers offensively and he kind of cleans up around the basket for them."

Yarou had what Wright called "a brutal year" last season. He contracted hepatitis B a year ago and spent about a month unable to practice with the team. Though he missed some valuable time learning the college game, he played well late in the season.

Now, entering Friday, he is coming off his first two double-doubles. He accounted for 12 points and 12 boards in Saturday's win over Lafayette.

"Coach always wants me to play hard," Yarou said. "We wanted to block [UCLA's] shots. That's what I was trying to do."

As for his health, "I feel great, actually," he said. "I'm looking forward to playing against great players and great teams."

Fisher, a Bronx resident making yet another trip to the Garden, posted a career-high with 26 points. Though he went just 6 of 19 from the field, he drained 14 of 15 free-throw attempts, including 9 of 10 in the second half.

After UCLA went down by 44-29 at the half, Bruins defenders sagged into the lane to try to stop Fisher and Wayns (19 points) from driving to the basket. The strategy succeeded; the Wildcats guard tandem shot a combined 5 of 16 in the second half, and the Bruins got as close as six.

While Wright said his guards were "a little bit too aggressive sometimes," he noted he'd rather see them "make mistakes on aggression rather than not looking for the shot." So they will continue to keep the pressure on opponents.

"Coach is always on us about staying on the attack," Fisher said. "Even when we are tired . . . I'm out there, 'Coach, I need a break,' and he's like, 'Attack, attack.' If I'm down, Maalik picks me up. If Maalik is down, I pick him up."

The Wildcats' opponent in the championship game, Tennessee, had a tough time with Virginia Commonwealth before emerging with a 77-72 win. Scotty Hopson, who was coached by Wright on the USA Select Team during the summer, led the Vols with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl has been suspended for the first eight games of his team's Southeastern Conference schedule for lying about recruits visiting his home in 2008, violations that the NCAA is still investigating. But he said his players have not been distracted.

"I know it's hard for you to believe, but these guys are so insulated from what's going on off the floor," Pearl said. "I'm so on them about basketball and preparation, there's no time to spend any time on it. We don't talk about it at all."