After Saturday's second half debacle at home against Notre Dame, the Villanova Wildcats provided a near mirror image tonight at the Wells Fargo Center vs. UConn. The Cats let a 19 first point half lead evaporate by halftime, and a buzzer beater by Shabazz Napier in overtime handed Nova a 73-70 loss. For the defending champion Huskies, Jeremy Lamb poured in a career-high 32 points, while Andre Drummond dropped 8 points and grabbed 11 boards. Four players scored in double figures for the Wildcats. Dominic Cheek notched 23 points, but he also had 6 turnovers. Ty Johnson scored 14 points, JayVaughn Pinkston had 13, and Mouphtaou Yarou contributed 11 points. Johnson didn't help the cause with 4 turnovers.
Without James Bell and Maalik Wayns, Villanova simply does not have enough quality ballhandlers to run the team. After a horrific start by UConn, which allowed the home squad to build yet another double digit lead, the Huskies switched up their defense and started to press the young Villanova guards. With the Cats unable to generate a fluid offense, UConn stormed back to take the lead late. Villanova actually led by 2 with twenty seconds left, but Cheek threw a terrible inbounds pass, and UConn converted that into a game-tying bucket. Then, in overtime, Ty Johnson made a layup with five ticks on the clock, but the Huskies pushed the ball right back up the court, and Shabazz Napier dapped a 35 foot three to stun the Wells Fargo Center crowd. Not much else to say at this point.