I don't know what I just witnessed, but I know that it took at least a few years off of my life. That was the most stressed I've ever been during a game. My heart rate is STILL through the roof. Villanova escaped Robert Morris this afternoon in Providence by winning 73-70 in overtime.
Among the biggest story lines was the benching of Corey Fisher and Scottie Reynolds because Jay Wright wanted to teach them a lesson. Or something like that. Nobody really knows. But whatever the hell that strategy was about, it didn't work. Fisher chipped in just 6 points and didn't do much all game besides. Scottie Reynolds was 2-654 from the field (okay, 2-15) and looked out of sync. In fairness to him, he did go15-16 from the line and was CLUTCH down the stretch, as he usually is.
But really, that was ugly.
More after the jump...
And it's even uglier now that I look at the stat line. As I mentioned, Reynolds couldn't throw the ball in the ocean today, but somehow ended up with 20 points (75% of which came from the stripe). Antonio Pena played 9 minutes, did not score, and had just 2 rebounds. And when he was in I didn't think he was awful.
Mouphtaou Yarou was an absolute horse today though. 17 points and 8 rebounds and some pretty solid interior play overall. Jay answered my call and gave the big man 26 minutes today. You're welcome Coach.
Maurice Sutton was spectacular I thought for a guy who hasn't played a lot at all. His defense was game-changing and a major reason why we walked out of there with a win.
I thought Taylor King was good, but he only got 15 minutes. I think he's still in the doghouse. Oh well. And what about Reggie Redding NOT taking that layup late in OT. Great work Reg. You're a 62% FT shooter. So naturally you waste all of 2 more seconds and then miss one of the freebies. Jesus.
And the rest of the cast was average at best. They'll all need to pick it up if we're going to actually go somewhere in this tournament.
But at the end of the day, you've gotta smile. That was nearly a historical loss. And now it's not thanks to some clutch plays down the stretch and some favorable whistles by the refs (FINALLY!!!). We'll see you on Saturday where we'll take on the winner of Richmond and Saint Mary's, who are currently playing.
Jay really needs to find a way to wake these guys up. Benching two of our best players is not the answer, as we found out today.
More coming later tonight.