New York NY: it is great to renew a Rivlary and that is what we had on Saturday afternoon as the Villanova Wildcats took on the Uconn Huskies from Madison Square Garden. Villanova comes into the game off a loss to Kansas on December 15 while Uconn enters battle off a win over Drexel on December 18.
Before the game, Villanova would announce that Collin Gillespie would not play
Update: Sophomore guard Collin Gillespie will not play in today's game vs. Connecticut (head injury protocol).
— Villanova MBB (@NovaMBB) December 22, 2018
The Garden was rocking when Villanova got introduced
#Villanova gets Introduced at Madison Square Garden#NOVAvsUConn @PhiladelphiaSN pic.twitter.com/l8x6uol60S
— David Malandra Jr (@David_Malandra) December 22, 2018
Villanova would win the tip & score right away on the three-pointer by Phil Booth for the 3-0 lead, Uconn would get on board with the basket from Alterique Gilbert. Wildcats would jump out to 6 point lead at 8-2.
Early in the first half, Villanova would bring in Jahvon Quinerly
Quinerly into the game at the 16:34 mark for Nova.
— Joe Juliano (@JoeJulesinq) December 22, 2018
Uconn would take their first lead of the game at 13-11 on the basket from Christian Vital, Wildcats would answer back and the game would be tied at 18 at the under 7 media timeout. Jahvon Quinerly would score his first points with 3 pointer that would cut the Uconn lead to 1. The Wildcats would answer the Huskies run and tie the game at 30 on 3 by Phil Booth. The game would be tied at 30 at halftime.
In the second half, both teams picked up where they left off, Villanova coach Jay Wright would get nailed with Technical Foul. The Wildcats would start to pull away as they would lead 43-36 with 13:38 left. The Wildcats would get the lead up to 15 at 51-36. Villanova would get their 3 pointers to drop and Madison Square Garden would explode into loud “Let’s go Nova” chants
"Let's go Nova" as they are now lead 54-36 #Villanova #Uconn #UCONNvsNOVA #NovaNation pic.twitter.com/8Qa35LThNo
— David Malandra Jr (@David_Malandra) December 22, 2018
The Wildcats would just make things hard for Uconn to get back in the game. A Crowd of 16,027 would see the Wildcats take down Uconn 81-58. With the win, the Wildcats now go to 9-4 on the season & with the loss, Uconn goes to 9-4 on the season.
Villanova will now head into Big East Play on January 2 vs DePaul while the Huskies head into American Athletic Conference play on January 2 vs USF.
Final Stats:
Villanova Wildcats:
Eric Paschall: 21 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists
Phil Booth: 18 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists
Joe Cremo: 11 points, 3 rebounds
Uconn Huskies:
Christian Vital: 18 points, 5 rebounds
Alterique Gilbert: 14 points, 3 assists
Jalen Adams: 8 points, 4 rebounds, 5 Assists
Video:
Villanova Coach Jay Wright:
