Villanova loses their regular season finale to UConn | Villanova vs. UConn Recap

In their regular season finale, Villanova falls to #14 UConn, 71-59, at the Wells Fargo Center. The Wildcats struggled all game to get going offensively against UConn’s tough three-point defense. Villanova was also outrebounded 38-31 and lost the assist battle 15-8 against the Huskies.

Game Recap

First Half:

A few seconds prior to the second media timeout, Caleb Daniels, who has been struggling offensively recently, knocked down a three-point jumper to tie the game at 14. Over the next 11 minutes, the Huskies would go on a 18-10 run to the end the first half.

Alex Karaban was simply fantastic from behind the arc early on Saturday night by knocking down two three-pointers in the first half. UConn’s average leading scorer, Adama Sanogo, had nine points and four rebounds in the first twenty minutes of action.

Villanova shot just 9-23 (39%) from the field in the first half. They also only made two of their first ten three-point attempts. At the break, Villanova’s leading scorer was Cam Whitmore, the Big East Freshman of the Week, with six points and two rebounds. The rest of Nova’s starters combined for just 13 points over the first twenty minutes. The Wildcats were just 4-7 (57%) from the charity stripe in the first half.

At the end of the first, UConn led Villanova, 32-24. The Huskies shot 45% from the field, but just 27% from three. However, UConn had nine second chance points compared to Nova’s two second chance points.

Second Half:

To start the second half, Cam Whitmore and Justin Moore combined for four quick points to cut the Villanova deficit to just seven points, 35-28. However, Jordan Hawkins, who scored 22 points against Nova in their last matchup on December 28^th, made a jumper and a three-pointer for a five point response.

At 14:39 in the second half, the Huskies took their biggest lead of the evening after a Jordan Hawkins successful free throw. UConn was now up by 15 points. Over the next seven minutes, Villanova would inch closer to UConn. Cam Whitmore made a layup after a nice assist from Mark Armstrong to make it a 52-43 game with just 7:34 left.

However, the Wildcats defense struggled to get some more stops late. Karaban and Andre Jackson Jr. made consecutive layups for the Huskies and Jordan Hawkins knocked down the three to extend the UConn lead to 14, 61-47. This relatively put the game away for #14 UConn in South Philly. Villanova faced their 15^th loss of the season and finished 10-10 in Big East play.

Final Score: UConn 71, Villanova 59

Leading Scorers + Stats

Once again, Jordan Hawkins led the way for UConn against Villanova. Hawkins scored 24 points and was +13 on Saturday. Alex Karaban finished with 16 points and six rebounds for the Huskies. Adama Sanogo was just 4-12 from the field with nine points but secured nine rebounds last night. UConn finished the evening by shooting 44.6% from the field.

Villanova’s leading scorer was Justin Moore with 17 points after a hot second half. Cam Whitmore was the only other Nova player in double digits with 14 points and five rebounds. Caleb Daniels was just 3-11 from the field for seven points but also seven rebounds. Villanova shot just 36.4% from the field and 25% from three. Nova also only made 12 of 18 free throw attempts (66.7%).

A Big East rivalry matchup on a Saturday night in South Philly in front of 16,264

Big East Tournament

This loss did not affect Villanova’s Big East Tournament seeding, but it did take them out of the conversation for an “at-large” bid. The Wildcats will be the sixth seed on Wednesday night against Georgetown at Madison Square Garden.

WXVU and I will have complete coverage of Villanova’s run in the Big East Tournament starting Wednesday night against the Hoyas.

Thank You

Thank you for your continuous support throughout the regular season. I will have plenty of articles right here on the WXVU website throughout Villanova’s run in NYC.