Villanova's Maalik Wayns keeping his head up

Whenever Villanova suits up for its next game, whether it's in the NCAA tournament or the play-in round, or the NIT, the Wildcats players and coaches know Maalik Wayns will once again be confident and aggressive on the court and not look at the past.

And man, was that past ever painful.

Although Wayns kept the Wildcats from disintegrating altogether by scoring 12 of his team's 20 points in the second half Tuesday night, the sophomore point guard from Roman Catholic committed a significant gaffe that helped South Florida pull off a first-round upset of the Cats in the Big East tournament.

Trying to inbound the ball in the backcourt with 24 seconds left, Wayns threw it to Antonio Pena toward Villanova's defensive basket. But the pass was picked off by USF's Anthony Crater for a key layup.

After his last shot hit the back rim at the buzzer, Wayns was in tears on the court and, according to coach Jay Wright, again in the locker room where he told his teammates, "It's my fault. I lost the game for us."

But there's always the next game, which could be the last one of the season for the Wildcats, and Wayns will be ready.

"I always walk around with my head high," Wayns said Friday before the Wildcats' practice. "I never have my head down. I know I did my all. I know I made some mistakes in the game. But I've got a good family, good friends, good teammates. They're always telling me to stay positive."

Wright said he has no worries about the ending of Tuesday's game affecting Wayns in any way.

"He is a true Villanova guard," he said. "One of the things we always want those guys to do when they're young is go play hard and make mistakes and learn from them. You know the confidence that he has, and that this is not going to affect him.

"I would be worried about maybe some other guys. But I look at it as, this will never happen to him again."

Wayns' teammates feel the same way. They tried to help him get over his misery at the end of the game.

"I told him, 'You didn't lose the game for us,' " said senior Corey Stokes, the first player to reach Wayns after the younger player slumped to the floor at the end. "He had the guts to take the last shot. It wasn't his fault that we lost or anything. I just told him to keep his head up and stay positive.

"We're moving on from that. I think he let it go."

Wayns said he hasn't gotten down on himself nor his teammates despite the Cats' five-game losing streak. He said the team will be confident no matter what tournament they find themselves in.

"Everybody has their heads up," he said. "Nobody is down in the dumps."

And will there be any after-effects from the previous game?

"No, I don't think so, not at all," he replied.