by James Finneral
The 2015 Big East Championship game showcased the Villanova Wildcats and the Xavier Musketeers. Both teams had to fight past quality ball clubs to make it to the championship game. It was obvious that both teams wanted the win, but it was also obvious that one team wanted it more than the other.
Villanova came out knocking down jump shots and putting instant pressure on the Xavier offense. Josh Hart was a huge contributor off the bench once again with 15 points and 7 rebounds. JayVaughn Pinkston also came up big in the first half and did an excellent job of containing Matt Stainbrook in the post. With Stainbrook essentially taken out of the game, Xavier found themselves down by 13 at half time. In the second half Xavier would go on little runs, but it was not nearly enough to cancel out the performances from Dylan Ennis and Darrun Hilliard. The second half never really became exciting because Xavier never trimmed the lead down to single digits. The game ended with a final score of 69-52. Hilliard finished with 12 points and 4 rebounds and Ennis finished with 16 points and 6 rebounds. The overall team effort is what allowed Nova to cruise past Xavier.
Villanova was the strongest team in the Big East all year long and deserve to bring home the trophy. With this victory under their belt, the Wildcats have most likely locked up a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament. It will be interesting to see how Villanova and other Big East teams will fare in the big dance.
No comments:
Post a Comment