Second-half slip dooms Villanova at Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Villanova's shooting stroke went south, and its defense went downhill, in the second half at Louisville last night.

The Wildcats, who led by five points at halftime, shot only 30.3 percent in the second half, when they were outscored by 15 as the Cardinals rallied for an 84-74 Big East victory before 21,219 fans at the KFC Yum! Center.

"I thought we played good in the first half, but in the second half I thought our defense was just porous," Wildcats coach Jay Wright said. "They did a great job of finding different people, creating balance, and the offensive glass hurt us in the second half. They just did a lot of good things in the second half, and that is what a good team does to finish off a game, and we didn't."

One big thing that hurt the Wildcats (10-11, 3-6 Big East) was junior guard Maalik Wayns' picking up two fouls within a 6-second span in the first 1:41 of the second half. The Big East Player of the Week, who had averaged 30.7 points in his previous three games, sat out nearly 9 minutes before returning. When he went to the bench Villanova led, 44-42. When he came back, the Wildcats trailed, 61-51.

"It doesn't help, it definitely doesn't help," Wright said of Wayns' foul trouble. "You have to be a good enough team, because you know that is going to happen. We practice without him in there. When you play that many games, you know it is going to happen some games. I would have liked to have seen us step up defensively a little better when he went out, but we didn't. I really think that was the key in the second half, they just got what they wanted - it was good execution on their part."

Led by Wayns, the Wildcats rallied, twice cutting the Cardinals' lead to two, but they got no closer.

Wayns' rebound basket off his own miss trimmed Louisville's lead to 73-69, with 2:32 to play. However, on the Cardinals' ensuing possession, reserve forward Jared Swopshire drove baseline and fed center Gorgui Dieng for an easy inside basket. Then, after Dominic Cheek missed a three-pointer, Swopshire struck again, this time hitting a three-pointer from the corner as the shot clock was about to expire.

That gave Louisville (16-5, 4-4) a 78-69 lead with 1:12 remaining. The Cardinals sealed the game by hitting six of eight from the foul line in the final 57 seconds. They shot 20-for-26 from the line in the second half.

"It wasn't one specific thing, but it was extra passes at a good time and good execution, and when they missed a shot, there was a big-time offensive rebound," Wright said. "And they did a good job of getting to the foul line, little things that good teams do."

The Wildcats fell behind by as many as nine points early in the game before rallying.

Louisville power forward Chane Behanan picked up three fouls in the first 7 1/2 minutes and Villanova took advantage of his absence. The Wildcats ended up outscoring the Cardinals, 24-10, in the paint in the first 20 minutes, and led, 44-39, at halftime. They also outrebounded Louisville, 22-16, and outscored the Cardinals, 10-6, in second-chance points. Villanova's 9-for-9 shooting from the free throw line in the first half didn't hurt, either.

In the second half, though, the Wildcats outscored the Cardinals by only 16-12 in the paint, and Louisville won the battle of the backboards, 25-21 (including 8-7 on the offensive end).

"We got the ball in there in the second, but we just didn't finish," Wright said. "You've got to give them credit, they were letting us go one-on-one in there, and basically we didn't finish, and they did a better job on the defensive glass. We got a lot of points in the paint in the first half, because of offensive rebounds and we didn't get many offensive rebounds in the second half.

"I think when you play Louisville, you look like you aren't making the extra pass; they are better than anybody at that. If you watch us at one end and them at the other, we are not as pretty as them. They are really good offensively at sharing the ball . . . really good . . . and at making extra passes."

Wayns scored a game-high 19 points on 7-for-11 shooting, including 3-for-5 from three-point range. Sophomore guard James Bell added 14 points and 13 rebounds, after having 11 and nine, respectively, in the first half.

Junior guard Peyton Siva led a balanced Louisville attack with 16 points.

The 'Cats host Marquette noon Saturday in a rematch of the New Year's Day game won by the Golden Eagles, 81-77, in Milwaukee.