Villanova’s Size, La Salle’s Defense On Display as Big 5 Play Begins

Villanova struggled to pull away from La Salle in the first half of their Tuesday, Nov. 10 win, holding a 36-31 lead at the break as the Wildcats (2-1) missed a series of high-percentage opportunities at the rim. Explorers (1-2) head coach Darris Nichols said his team wanted to attack Villanova in transition to prevent their oversized defense from having the time to set up.

“Going into the game, I was worried about them taking our threes away. You think about, defensively, I’m pretty sure we will never see a front line that big,” Nichols said. “And the beauty of having a front line that big, they can stay back and the guards can be ultra aggressive and funnel everything to the bigs. And so naturally that wipes away a lot of threes, and our whole goal was to get out in transition and get the threes in transition.”

Wildcats head coach Kevin Willard said his team’s misses in the paint early on created opportunities going the other way.

“I think we missed a lot of things at the rim early, it gave them some opportunities on the break, and they did a good job on the break,” Willard said. “I think once we started finishing around the rim, stopped them from getting out in transition and getting as many easy buckets.”

Explorers’ Defense

Willard praised La Salle’s defense for their switching and intensity, describing how it bothered the Wildcats in each of their past two matchups. Coaching is a profession that draws perfectionists, however, and Nichols said the possessions where they didn’t react fast enough allowed Villanova to punish his team at the rim in the second half on the way to an 80-59 final.

“I thought we were active. I didn’t think we did a great job loading over. We felt like they had a lot of easy rim runs when we were supposed to already be loaded over,” Nichols said.

“So we had to change our ball screen coverages a few times, just kind of keep them off balance. But they did a good job, especially in the second half, of lifting him and getting him some dribble hand-off opportunities that kind of messed up our tag. But that was our goal, just be disruptive.”

Dominance Down Low

7-foot-3 Italian center Luigi Suigo posted a double-double for the second game in a row, tallying 19 points and 12 rebounds. Suigo said he placed an increased emphasis on rebounding after pulling down just five boards against Notre Dame in the season opener; he also managed five assists without a turnover and described how he uses his own success to create opportunities for his teammates.

“I also like to involve my teammates. If I’m scoring a lot, I know [opposing teams will adjust], and I can find my teammates open for a shot, a layup, whatever,” Suigo said. “I just really like basketball and luckily I was born with a little bit of ability of doing that.”

Willard worked senior forward Kwame Evans Jr. into the lineup for 11 minutes off the bench. A prospective starter, Evans dealt with a lower body injury during the preseason and wasn’t on the court at the same time as fellow forward Devin Royal. Both primarily played the four at their previous schools, and Willard said he’s trying to figure out how to deploy them at the same time after missing more than a month of practice time.

“We haven’t been able to practice them together. KJ [Evans] is now healthy, which is great, but we really had to take our time to make sure we get there,” Willard said.

 “They’ll eventually get out there together, but I kinda threw them out there at Notre Dame and we really didn’t know what we were doing, and it kinda put them both in a bad situation. So until we can practice it and then get comfortable with what they want to do out there, I’m just gonna take it nice and slow and make sure we get there.”

Explorers’ Ups and Downs

Preseason all-conference player Rob Dockery fouled out for the second time in three games, committing two fouls in the first two minutes against Villanova. He managed to play just nine minutes the rest of the way. Fellow starter Anthony Finkley also fouled out, and Nichols pointed to tactical mistakes that need correcting — especially from two potential difference makers.

“He’s [Dockery] gotta understand, you can’t pick up some of those fouls. You’re gonna get cheap ones every now and then, but the unwarranted ones where you’re reaching and gambling, he’s gotta clean that up,” Nichols said. “We need him on the floor, we need him and Finkley on the floor, we need those guys to stay in the game.”

Freshman guard and Philadelphia Roman Catholic graduate RJ Smith, on the other hand, led La Salle with 13 points. He helped pull the Explorers within a possession on three separate occasions in the first half, twice with a made three. Nichols praised the 5-foot-8 spark plug for his confidence and ball security.

“That’s RJ. He’s ultra confident, that’s what makes him really good. I had a conversation with him after the Houston game, I said ‘you got thrown into the fire: true freshman, first game, on the road at Houston: I didn’t even walk into that when I played at West Virginia,’” Nichols said. “I see his confidence building every game. The thing I’m most surprised about is you know he can score the ball because you’ve seen him throughout high school, but just him valuing the ball and taking care of it.”