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City Six rundown: 'Nova's Bridges on a roll

VILLANOVA Jay Wright was waiting for someone - anyone - to ask him a question about Mikal Bridges after the Wildcats' buzzer-beating win over Virginia. The coach finally got his wish.

VILLANOVA

Jay Wright was waiting for someone - anyone - to ask him a question about Mikal Bridges after the Wildcats' buzzer-beating win over Virginia. The coach finally got his wish.

"He was awesome," Wright said of the 6-foot-7 redshirt sophomore from Great Valley High. "He did all of the little things. He made big buckets, big stops, blocked shots, made steals. He was incredible, man. We didn't really run anything for him. He got big offensive rebounds, made the right pass. He was awesome in this game."

Showing that he can stuff a stat sheet as well as anyone in the Big East, Bridges finished with 15 points, five rebounds, an assist, two steals, and two blocked shots while going 3 of 4 from behind the three-point line.

It's been a good run recently for Bridges, who is averaging 16.7 points, five rebounds, and two steals in his last three games.

Coming up

Wednesday at Providence, 7 p.m.

Saturday vs. St. John's, 8 p.m. (Wells Fargo Center)

Tuesday vs. Georgetown, 7 p.m.

DREXEL

"No rest for the weary," coach Zach Spiker said, referring to a current stretch of five games in 10 days that the Dragons have had to endure.

The Dragons had to slip in a makeup game at William and Mary, postponed previously because of a snowstorm, on Monday night and did not get back to campus until 3:15 a.m. Tuesday. They have two more road trips - albeit shorter journeys - this week to Towson and Hofstra to end the stretch.

"It's a fine line," Spiker said. "The biggest thing is just keeping guys mentally fresh. Everybody's playing the same number of games. . . . It was long travel, but make no mistake about it, we've got to coach our guys' mind-set as much as anything right now."

Coming up

Thursday at Towson, 7 p.m.

Saturday at Hofstra, 7 p.m.

LA SALLE

The Explorers have found it difficult to get a win lately, having lost their last two games by a total of four points. But coach John Giannini said this team is like others he has led in that it customarily avoids getting too high or too low and always thinks it can win the next one.

"To them, it's a game and they think they can turn it around, and that's a good thing, that's a great thing," he said. "My experience with my teams over the years is that they've been pretty similar come practice time, coming off a win or a loss. They always think they're going to play well in the next game."

Giannini said the return of guard Pookie Powell, who missed the last two games with a bone bruise in his knee, is uncertain. "You never know with this kind of thing," he said. "It's a bone and it involves pain and it just has to heal and get more comfortable. There's no predictability to it."

Coming up

Wednesday vs. Massachusetts, 7 p.m.

Saturday at George Mason, 7 p.m.

TEMPLE

The Owls are getting steady ballhandling from Shizz Alston, who was second in the AAC and 18th in NCAA Division I in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.1 per game entering Tuesday night's game at Tulane.

A three-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio has been achieved only five times in Temple history, twice each from Pepe Sanchez and Howard Evans. The only other player to do it was Josh Brown, who sported a 3.5-to-1 ratio last season.

Alston also had been productive from long range, having knocked down 17 three-point baskets in his four games before Tulane. The Owls have had 10 or more threes in three consecutive games, and lead the conference with 8.9 per game.

Coming up

Sunday vs. South Florida, 1 p.m.

ST. JOSEPH'S

Coach Phil Martelli said he is satisfied with where his team is defensively. It's at the offensive end where the Hawks have had problems.

In their last four losses, the Hawks have averaged 62 points. For the season, they were shooting 64.8 percent from the free-throw line entering Tuesday night's home game against Davidson.

"We have to fix our foul shooting, we have to fix our offense," Martelli said. "We turn the ball over too much [11.9 per game] for a team that is struggling to get to 70 points. At the end of the day, teams rise in all leagues - but in the Atlantic Ten for sure - based on their scoring. We have to get that straightened out."

Coming up

Saturday vs. Fordham, 6 p.m.

Tuesday at Dayton, 8 p.m.