Keith Pompey, a contributor for the Philadelphia Inquirer, attended last night's Villanova-Temple game at the Pavilion. Pompey's recap of the drubbing Temple handed to Villanova included some awards from the contest, which are listed below.
Best performance: How can you not give this honor to Scootie Randall? Sure Villanova’s James Bell scored 15 points on 5-for-8 shooting. But Randall, Temple’s fifth-year swingman, made five three-pointers en route to finishing with a game-high 21 points. He also had a game-high seven rebounds to go with two assists and two steals in 33 minutes. The Communications Tech product did have four turnovers. But on this night, they were easy to overlook.
Worst performance: Watching Khalif Wyatt play was like watching someone play in slow motion. The Temple senior guard, who is the reigning Big 5 player of the week, never got into a groove. Wyatt missed eight of his first nine shot attempts. He finished with 13 points on 4 of 16 shooting. The Norristown High product was far from the dominating guard that we’ve come to expect seeing.
Best defensive performance: Maurice Sutton gets this for an intimidating performance down low. The Wildcats’ 6-foot-11 center had a career-high four blocked shots. Five of his six rebounds came on the defensive end. The fifth-year senior also had steal in his 20 minutes of action.
Worst statistic: The Wildcats committed 20 turnovers. Those giveaways came during critical stretches. It would be hard to beat Podunk U with 20 turnovers. So you know the Wildcats' miscues destroyed any chance they had against Temple.
Best performance by a reserve: Tony Chennault’s 10 points in just 13 minutes played makes him the logical pick to win this award. The Villanova junior guard made 2 of 3 three-point attempts and shot 4-for-7 from the field.
Worst of the worst: I had to give this to Nova Nation. The Villanova student section was all over Randall when he shot an airball. However, most of the students started to make their way to the exits once it was evident Temple would win the game. So much for showing some unconditional support for the home team.
By the way, does Jay Wright ever get pissed off during a postgame press conference? I understand that's not his MO, but it would be nice to see a little more passion after getting smacked by the Owls at home.