Seniors help Villanova pick it up at crunch time

Teams with a roster full of young players, such as St. John's, struggle throughout a season seeking consistency. The Red Storm is a classic example, with upset wins over Syracuse and Butler followed by three straight defeats, the last one by 28 points to Georgetown.

Villanova coach Jay Wright says consistency "is very elusive," and it's even that way for his own team. The third-ranked Wildcats were the model of consistency for six games in March and April and flew back to the Main Line with a national championship trophy but haven't found it yet this season.

"I don't think we've come out and really played 40 minutes yet," Wright said Friday after finishing up practice for Saturday's game against St. John's at Madison Square Garden. "That's understandable because everybody has different roles. It's part of the season.

"Your goal is that toward the end of the season, you can do that consistently. That's what we did during the tournament last year, but it took all the way to the tournament to do that."

However, having seniors such as Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins, the Wildcats can "turn it on a little bit when they need to," Wright said. As examples, they experienced slow starts at home against American and Xavier but eventually won the games by 42 and 25 points, respectively.

"An older team can do that a little bit, can start slowly and pick it up because they've been there before," Wright said. "When you're a younger team, it's kind of hard to recover from that. That's where our seniors bail us out."

Hart, the Big East's top scorer with a 19.8-point average, said last year's NCAA run does act as a blueprint.

"Obviously we're a different team with some of the same players but different roles," Hart said. "But we've seen it. We've done it. We don't have to have examples of other teams or other programs. We have a perfect example right here in front of us. So we know what got us there - attention to detail, paying attention to the little things and being focused."

After playing three of their last four contests against ranked teams, the Wildcats need that focus in the Big Apple. St. John's has the league's top-scoring tandem in freshman guards Marcus LoVett and Shamorie Ponds, who combine to average 35 points per game.

"They're incredibly dangerous in the open floor, in transition situations and in broken-play situations," Wright said. "If the play breaks down or they get into an iso situation, they're as good as anybody getting shots for themselves off the dribble. That's really tough to stop."

Playing in the Garden for just the second time this season, in front of their biggest home crowd to date, could get some of the Red Storm's young players fired up. That Wildcats must be aware.

"They're young, but they have a very good team," Hart said. "That's something that we know, and we've got to be going there focused because we know they're a talented team."

jjuliano@phillynews.com

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