'Cheers' & '/Facepalms': We Back Edition

There seems to be a general consensus of "I fell asleep" o r "I didn't bother watching" going around today amongst 'Nova Nation. Listen, I can't blame you. This season has been tough on everyone. We're not used to it. We're spoiled.

But you missed one hell of a performance last night, even if it was against Rutgers. Even if it's just for one night, we back.

And so we move on to Day 2, where we get the chance to exercise some serious demons against the South Florida Bulls, who've beaten us twice this season, and 3 straight overall.

But first, let's get to Cheers & /Facepalms after The Jump.

Cheers to...

Maalik Wayns - 28 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists for the 'Nova star. He'll have to be Kemba Walker (and probably more) this week for Villanova to keep winning. A great and dominating start to his Big East Tournament.

Mouphtaou Yarou - Much celebrated for his disappearing acts at various points this year, the big man was nothing short of a rock for 'Nova on Tuesday night. He pretty much owned the low blocks with 13 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocks and completely took Kadeem Jack and Gilvydas Biruta out of the game.

Ty Johnson - Sure didn't look like a freshman as he allowed Wayns some time off the ball and finished with 7 points and 4 rebounds. Oh, and he completely owned Jerome Seagears, holding him to a 2-10 effort before he fouled out of the game.

Maurice Sutton - 'Nuff said.

Jay Wright - We've all complained about Jay's (lack of) tactics throughout the season and his seemingly absent halftime motivational talks, but give credit where it is due. The entire team (minus our lone /Facepalm recipient) was on their game last night and instead of laying down after the break as this team has been known to do, they came out and ran Rutgers out of MSG. Well done, Jay.

C/Facepalms to...

Dominic Cheek - 2 points on a 1-3 effort from the field (0-2 3P). No trips to the foul line. Only hard-nosed and fantastic defense to help shut down the Rutgers outside game in the second half saves him from a full /Facepalm.

James Bell - A couple of big 3's early but I think he's clearly still limited. He camped out on the perimeter and all six of his FG attempts came from behind the arc. Don't like that. But defense saves him too as he teamed up with Cheek and shut down the Rutgers wings.

/Facepalms to...

JayVaughn Pinkston - 6 points, 4 rebounds, 0 assists, 7 turnovers. A good effort on the defensive end (2 steals, 1 monster block) wasn't enough to save him. Multiple travel calls, slippery hands. Just a tough night for JVP. I have a feeling he'll bounce back though, because he didn't let the offensive struggles affect him at the other end.

GameThread Comment Of The Game

Has to go to KShark28 for the below .gif of Mo Mo The Pogo after he threw a dunk down hard on Rutgers late in the game. Was so good it had to be re-posted.

Twitter Comment Of The Game

Friend of the blog Sean Donovan, who feared Tim Higgins just as much as I did. This one came after Eli Carter legitimately took 3 steps, barreled into a completely stationary Maalik Wayns, and was awarded free throws.

I swore off underestimating any Big East referee, much less Tim Higgins, years ago. I had a momentary lapse, apparently.

Who gets your Cheers and /Facepalms from last night?