December 2, 2029
@#2 Villanova 69, Detroit 53
We play good defense and take good care of the basketball, committing only 7 turnovers, and that's enough for a win on a night when we don't shoot terribly well.
Avery Sullivan leads a group of four 'Cats in double figures (15p/10r/3b). Joining him are
Corey Hicks (14p/3a/3r/2s),
Lowell Welter (10p/5r), and
Asher Wise (11p/4r).
Blake Norton makes 3 steals, and
Justice Stafford fills up the scoresheet in 18 minutes of reserve duty (9p/4r/3a).
Record: 7-0.
December 7, 2029
#2 Villanova 75, @Fordham 54
Tony Ezell leads us to another victory, but he sprains his knee in the process. We'll have to find a way to win without him and his 13.5 PPG off the bench for about two weeks.
Our bench contributed 32 points tonight, with
Justice Stafford leading our scorers with 15. The first year guard also has 4 assists.
Asher Wise scores 14,
Avery Sullivan 12 with 8 rebounds and 4 blocks, and
Corey Hicks 11 with 7 rebounds.
Peter Segal looks to gain some playing time while Tony heals up.
Record: 8-0.
December 13, 2029
#1 Villanova 74, @Lehigh 61
Graham Sims is used to coaching against Lehigh from his days in the Patriot League. This year's edition of the Mountain Hawks bring an 0-6 record into the game, and leave with one more loss, at the hands of the nation's new #1 team. )We polled four more points from the voters than Georgetown (6-0) this week.)
Lehigh starts a walk-on center, and
Avery Sullivan rolls him for 22 points, 14 rebounds, and 2 blocks.
Blake Norton adds 15 points, and
Justice Stafford contributes 12 more.
The injury bug bites us again, and this time he takes a more vicious chomp. The victim is
Lowell Welter, whose painfully dislocated knee will put him out of action for a month. Freshman
Kris DeMello will start our next game.
Record: 9-0.
December 15, 2029
@#1 Villanova 81, Delaware 73
The Blue Hens' senior guard,
Lyle Wysocki, wins an individual scoring battle over our
Avery Sullivan, 28-27. However, our supporting cast has a better night than theirs does, and that's enough to secure the win.
Corey Hicks (17p/4r/4a) plays another good, all-around game.
Blake Norton scores 10 points.
Justice Stafford doesn't score, but he notches a team-high 5 assists.
Record: 10-0.
December 19, 2029
@#1 Villanova 75, Drexel 70
All five Villanova starters score at least 9 points as we edge a tough Drexel team in our last game of the calendar year.
Senior
Corey Hicks leads the way with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
Asher Wise matches Corey's 15 points, and adds 7 rebounds.
Avery Sullivan (12p/8r/4b),
Kris DeMello (13p/8r/2s), and
Blake Norton (9p/6a) make lots of positive plays. Also worthy of mention:
Clemens Schwaiger's 6 rebounds in 11 minutes.
Record: 11-0.
January 5, 2030
@#2 Villanova 70, #20 Lafayette 63
The last three players
Graham Sims recruited to Lafayette make the trip down to the Wells Fargo Center, where they and their teammates put up a fight before falling short.
Code:
Villanova 70, Lafayette 63
---------------------------------------------------------
Lafayette (10-3, 0-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Brian Quirk C 17 2-3 3-3 2 3 1 5 7
David Bowen PF 31 5-11 2-4 2 8 1 3 12
Mike Wong SF 24 5-15 1-2 2 6 2 2 12
Tod Quiroz SG 33 4-6 0-1 2 7 1 4 10
Garth Hartsfield PG 34 3-9 1-1 2 4 6 1 9
Kevin Wells SF 15 1-9 4-4 0 1 0 1 6
E. O'Reilly C 6 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 4 0
Joshua Dent PF 21 1-4 0-0 0 8 1 1 2
Tracey Burger SF 10 1-7 0-0 1 2 0 2 2
Jack Herold PF 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
Paul Helms SF 2 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 0 1
Daniel Bandy PG 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Ervin Duren C 6 1-2 0-0 2 3 0 1 2
Turnovers: 19 (B.Quirk 1, D.Bowen 1, M.Wong 3, T.Quiroz
7, G.Hartsfield 3, J.Dent 3, E.Duren 1)
Blocked Shots: 3 (B.Quirk 1, D.Bowen 1, J.Dent 1)
Steals: 6 (B.Quirk 1, D.Bowen 1, M.Wong 1, G.Hartsfield
2, J.Herold 1)
3P FGs: 5-19 (M.Wong 1-1, T.Quiroz 2-4, G.Hartsfield
2-4, K.Wells 0-6, J.Dent 0-1, T.Burger 0-3)
Villanova (12-0, 0-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Avery Sullivan C 34 4-12 8-12 0 8 0 2 16
Tony Ezell PF 25 3-9 3-4 1 4 2 2 9
Asher Wise SF 34 4-8 6-6 3 7 2 3 15
Corey Hicks SG 36 4-6 7-10 1 8 3 3 17
Blake Norton PG 27 2-7 1-2 1 2 4 4 5
Justice Stafford PG 18 1-3 0-0 2 4 4 1 2
Kris DeMello PF 17 1-4 0-0 0 5 1 3 2
Peter Segal SG 6 1-1 0-1 0 1 0 0 3
Clemens Schwaiger C 4 0-1 1-4 0 1 0 1 1
Turnovers: 18 (A.Sullivan 3, T.Ezell 1, A.Wise 3,
C.Hicks 5, B.Norton 5, J.Stafford 1)
Blocked Shots: 4 (A.Sullivan 4)
Steals: 7 (A.Sullivan 2, T.Ezell 1, A.Wise 1, C.Hicks
2, K.DeMello 1)
3P FGs: 4-13 (A.Wise 1-3, C.Hicks 2-4, B.Norton 0-4,
J.Stafford 0-1, P.Segal 1-1)
Player of Game: SG Corey Hicks (VLNV)
Coach Sims' three recruits--
David Bowen, Mike Wong, and
Tod Quiroz--are the three Leopards who score in double digits. Quiroz scores the 1000th point of his career.
Asher Wise rises to the challenge with a very solid game, while
Avery Sullivan and
Corey Hicks are as good as usual.
Record: 12-0.
Code:
2029 Big East Conference Standings
TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
----------------------------------------------------------------
#2 Villanova 0 0 .000 12 0 1.000 2 100
#6 West Virginia 0 0 .000 11 1 .917 5 89
#5 Louisville 0 0 .000 11 0 1.000 17 88
#1 Georgetown 0 0 .000 11 0 1.000 69 100
#19 Syracuse 0 0 .000 11 1 .917 72 67
#12 Providence 0 0 .000 11 0 1.000 82 70
South Florida 0 0 .000 10 2 .833 4 64
#9 Pittsburgh 0 0 .000 10 1 .909 23 86
Cincinnati 0 0 .000 9 3 .750 116 65
St. John's 0 0 .000 9 2 .818 220 71
Notre Dame 0 0 .000 8 3 .727 77 86
Marquette 0 0 .000 8 2 .800 188 66
Connecticut 0 0 .000 6 5 .545 62 71
Seton Hall 0 0 .000 6 6 .500 103 55
DePaul 0 0 .000 5 6 .455 39 56
Rutgers 0 0 .000 4 6 .400 132 79
Holy hoops! What a conference!
The team that emerges from this battle as Big East champion will be a worthy victor. If it's us, we'll have to survive a schedule that includes games against all six of the other ranked teams in the league. We'll play Georgetown home-and-home, and visit four of the other top teams.
Hang on, everyone. It's going to be quite a ride.