Butler dared to dream big.
Villanova’s Darrun Hilliard shattered those dreams with a memorable performance, and now, the Big East belongs to the team which won the conference a year ago.
Villanova improved to 23-2 with a 68-65 victory at Butler on Saturday. The win gave Villanova a major leg up in the Big East title race. Butler is two games behind the Wildcats in the loss column, and now the Bulldogs have been swept in the season series as well, essentially creating a three-game gap in the standings. In the grand scheme of things, this was a huge, huge win for Villanova. This now gives the Wildcats nine wins against the top 50 in the RPI, according to the BB State selection sheet. The problem is that six of those are in the Big East. The Big East is good, but no one is really sure how good. That presents a small problem.
That’s getting beyond the point, though. Let’s look at the biggest takeaways from Villanova’s dramatic victory:
The main takeaway and the most encouraging thing for Villanova has to be the performance of Darrun Hilliard. He went for a career-best 31 points on 9 of 16 shooting. Hilliard hit 8 of 13 from three-point range, as well as all five free throws. He added 8 rebounds.
The Wildcats aren’t a team built on star power. They are a collection of very talented players who all score about the same. If Villanova is going to make a longer run in March than it did last year, the Wildcats need someone to take over games. Hilliard was able to take over this game. Butler didn’t have much of an answer.
Hilliard. Again. 31 tonight. https://t.co/sUOpdPZcdW
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) February 15, 2015
As you can see on the game winner, Butler suffered a gigantic defensive collapse. Two men went to guard Ryan Arcidiacono, who didn’t score, leaving Hilliard wide open. It wasn’t even that clever of a play, Butler just had a huge defensive breakdown… a breakdown a team can’t afford in a game like this.
The last play Butler ran in regulation was superb. Chris Holtmann can draw up my team’s plays every day of the week.
Butler was in this game despite not getting anything from Roosevelt Jones. He was held to 6 points on 2-11 shooting. Jones did make the game-tying shot on a runner in the lane, before Hillard’s winner, but his impact was minimal. Having your best player not making a lot of shots is a killer for most teams. It very much was in the case of Butler.
The Wildcats needed such a huge game from Hilliard to win because they didn’t get a ton from the rest of the team. Phil Booth and Arcidiacono combined for 1 points on 1-8 shooting. Daniel Ochefu was held to 2 points and just a pair of shot attempts. Dylan Ennis wasn’t that great, and neither was Josh Hart. The only Wildcat outside of Hilliard in double figures was Jayvaughn Pinkston, who scored 12 points on 10 attempts.
The great, great thing is that despite not having its normal degree of balance, Villanova was able to go on the road and win. That’s the sign of a good team: winning on the road when you don’t get much out of your starting lineup.
Villanova’s guards were outplayed by Butler’s. Alex Barlow and Kellen Dunham each had 19 points. The two combined to hit 6 of 12 from deep. A large part of it is the shot making by Barlow and Dunham, but it can’t be greatly encouraging for Jay Wright’s club to see the guards outplayed. There are other good guard duos in the nation that can get Nova when it counts.
This one is really going to sting for the Bulldogs. They had a chance for their best win of the season and suffered an unfortunate (for them) defensive breakdown. As mentioned, Barlow and Dunham were great. Kelan Martin even chipped in 10. This is one that hurts.
This does go to show how vulnerable Butler is when its top players are not efficient. Barlow and Jones were a combined 8-25. The rest of the team was 13-25. It doesn’t matter how good the bench and role players do if the stars aren’t connecting. On the flip side, Butler was tied with Villanova on a night when Jones and Barlow were 8-25.
This game featured a great second half between a couple of teams that are going to be a handful in the NCAA tournament. The Big East tournament is going to be a lot of fun. It would be a surprise if one, or both, of these teams didn’t make it to the final. This was a great taste of what could come later. I’d be down for it.
Photo courtesy of Getty Images / Michael Hickey
