'Nova off and running for second straight year

NEW YORK - The weather was a bit chillier in Brooklyn on Monday and Tuesday than it was in the Bahamas last year. But the forecast for the 12th-ranked Wildcats looked sunny.

Villanova established the pattern for last year's 29-win season by beating a pair of nationally ranked teams - Kansas and Iowa - on back-to-back nights during Thanksgiving week in the Bahamas.

After a 24-point win over No. 14 Virginia Commonwealth, 'Nova rode its defense to grind out a 60-55 win over 19th-rated Michigan on Tuesday night at the Barclays Center for the Legends Classic championship.

As is his custom early in the season, Villanova coach Jay Wright talked about having "a long way to go." But he smiles when he talks about the way his team plays defense and shares the basketball with eight interchangeable pieces - two seniors, three juniors, two sophomores, and a freshman.

Considering the early date, Wright likes where the Wildcats are.

"Last year we kind of snuck up on some people at this time of year," he said. "This year we can tell by the way teams play us that we're not sneaking up on anybody. I'm really not concerned about having the same record as last year; I would be shocked if we did. But I think we might be able to be a better team."

The standouts Tuesday night were JayVaughn Pinkston, who hit the go-ahead basket with 13.4 seconds left and blocked Zak Irvin's dunk attempt off an inbounds pass at the other end, and 6-foot-2 Dylan Ennis, who scored 15 points and got much social-media attention by blocking a dunk from 6-9 D.J. Wilson.

"I really cannot be happier because we made a lot of mistakes," Wright said after the game, which ended after midnight. "We can get a lot better. And we still toughed it out and found a way to win.

"JayVaughn had nine rebounds and came up with a blocked shot to win the game as opposed to trying to score to win the game. The same with Dylan - he's been great offensively but a couple of his blocked shots, a couple of his deflections, were huge. I like where our defense has gotten at this point in the year. I really feel good about that."

The Wildcats (5-0) went from 13 points ahead to eight down in a span of 111/2 minutes of the second half before their defense held the Wolverines (4-1) to only two baskets in the final 5 minutes, 56 seconds.

Villanova's major contributors seem to change game by game. On a night when Darrun Hilliard and Ryan Arcidiacono combined to shoot 3 of 14 from the field, 6-11 Daniel Ochefu sank five baskets, most on nifty post moves, for 10 points. Energetic sophomore Josh Hart had eight points and eight rebounds - four offensive.

There is no dominant scorer. Ennis, who was named tournament MVP, leads the Cats with 65 points and a 13.0 average. Then there's Pinkston with 49 points, Arcidiacono with 48, Kris Jenkins with 47, Hilliard with 46, and Ochefu with 44.

Michigan coach John Beilein was impressed.

"They're really a talented team," he said. "They're unselfish, have a post game, great point guard, and good wings. They have the pieces in place to be a really good team."

Three-point accuracy remains an issue. The Wildcats are shooting less than 29 percent from the arc, with Ennis (42.3) and Jenkins (32.0) the only players over that figure.