Villanova's Reynolds to the rescue

STORRS, Conn. - When Villanova next month convenes its annual basketball banquet to honor the season's best, university officials ought to send an invitation to Indiana.

Kelvin Sampson is this year's most valuable player. Had the former University of Oklahoma coach not jumped ship for Hoosierville, Scottie Reynolds right now would be fighting for second-best rookie honors in the Big 12.

Instead, Reynolds reopened his recruiting after Sampson moved on and now, instead of playing second fiddle to Kevin Durant, the Villanova freshman is almost singlehandedly launching the Wildcats into the NCAA Tournament.

Solid since the season started, Reynolds last night had one of those nights that people will say they were there for, scoring a Villanova freshman record 40 points to help the Wildcats fend off Connecticut, 78-74, and roll to their 20th win of the year.

Nothing, of course, is guaranteed until March 11 when the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee emerges from its Indianapolis bunker with its bracket, but with this victory and an assured .500 or better record in the Big East, the 'Cats would appear to be permanently off the bubble as they head into Saturday's regular-season finale against Syracuse.

"I didn't feel like I had it going going, like I was unconscious or anything,'' said Reynolds, who once had 72 points as a Herndon High player in a fall jamboree. "I was just out there playing.''

Along with breaking Alex Bradley's rookie record (35 in 1978), Reynolds finished just one shy of the Big East mark for rookies, set the scoring mark for opponents in never-easy Gampel Pavilion and left senior Curtis Sumpter jokingly lamenting, "Man, Scottie, you just beat me,'' as he walked down the hallway after the postgame interviews. Sump-ter scored 39 as a sophomore against Northeastern.

And if he's not named Big East rookie of the year next week, someone ought to check to see if Florida officials were in charge of the election.

"We witnessed, I think, one of the best performances by not just a freshman, but by a basketball player,'' Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. "He's certainly one of the top players in this league. If he's not in the first 10 then I don't know basketball very well . . . He was better than anybody on the floor. I haven't seen a better performance by anybody this year.''

In a game where it was hard to find anything to praise, Reynolds ran away with the highlight reel. He shot 12-for-25, 6-for-15 from the arc, 10-for-14 at the line.

Otherwise, this was an ugly contest pitting two teams that for a long time didn't shoot 50 percent for the game combined and one - Connecticut - that somehow shot worse from the free-throw line than even its Big East-low average of 63 percent. The Huskies were 24 of 44.

Reynolds kept the Wildcats in the game and then Sumpter made sure they secured the victory.

With UConn (17-12, 6-9 Big East) turning a 10-point deficit into a 65-64 game in the span of 3:25 as Villanova turned in its fourth scoring drought, Sumpter skied for a rebound of Reynolds' missed trey and scored the putback. Reynolds then gave the 'Cats a little more breathing space, turning Ha-sheem Thabeet into a very tall stick figure on a reverse layup that made it 69-64 with 1:11 to play.

"I was just trying not to get hit,'' Reynolds laughed of the 7-3 Thabeet.

But with 40 seconds left, Reynolds joined Will Sheridan and Dante Cunningham on the bench when he fouled out.

"Go ahead, you can say it,'' Wright prompted Reynolds, as Reynolds tried to explain his last foul.

" . . . Something that was kind of stupid,'' Reynolds finished.

That left Sumpter, the savvy senior, to seal the deal. He hit three of four free throws as well as tipping an all-important defensive rebound into the hands of Mike Nardi in the final minute. He finished with a hard-fought 18-point, 10-rebound double-double, helping the Wildcats keep pace with Connecticut on the boards, 49 to 42.

"Oh man, UConn, you can expect a tough matchup inside, guys just all over the place,'' Sumpter said. "That's what I was focused on in this game. I wasn't focused on trying to score a bunch of points. I was focused on doing my best to keep those guys off the boards. Me, as a leader, I wanted to set the tone and keep those guys off the boards. As you look at the stats, we did a pretty good job to just keep battling.''

Really, though, it is impossible to imagine where Villanova (20-9, 8-7) would be right now without Reynolds. In 15 conference games, Reynolds has led the 'Cats in scoring eight times, including in each of the last four. On nights when no one else seems to be able to do anything, Reynolds somehow finds ways to manufacture shots. He is not Randy Foye or Allan Ray or Lowry, but a sort of amalgamation of all three. He can power to the rim akin to Foye, he can sink threes a la Ray and he can speed past people in the lane like Lowry.

"Honestly, I knew how good he was. I didn't think he was going to be able to score like this as a freshman,'' Wright said. "I thought he could run our team, which he's doing a great job with that. I'm really impressed with his ability to score. He's done it in tough arenas, in big games. To come into this place and get 40 here? That's big time.''

And now?

"I think this team is on the verge of doing something special,'' Reynolds said. *