The old adage says that offense wins games, but defense wins championships. The No. 1 Villanova Wildcats learned that the hard way in a heartbreaking 71-68 loss to the No. 8 seeded North Carolina State Wolfpack. NC State will now move on to the Sweet Sixteen, where they will face the winner of tomorrow’s tilt between Northern Iowa and Louisville.
Villanova entered the game as a team known for scoring quickly and in bunches, with guards that moved fast and were wizards from beyond the arc. NC State took advantage of that by instilling lockdown defense and playing peskily patient isolation offense. Junior guard Trevor Lacey led the Wolfpack with 17 points, while freshman Abdul-Malik Abu chipped in with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Slashing sophomore Anthony “Cat” Barber also had 13 points of his own.
NC State’s team-oriented effort resulted in the Wolfpack shooting just over 45 percent from the field and out-rebounding Villanova 45-32, taking advantage of the Wildcats’ offense-first approach.
As a result, Villanova shot just 31 percent from the field as head coach Jay Wright searched for answers. Even with 27 points and a pair of clutch deep threes from senior Darrun Hilliard II, the team could not solve the tough Wolfpack defense.
It’s a tough loss for any No. 1 seed to bear, but tonight’s game showed just how weak Villanova really was despite its seeding. The team shot 19 of 61 from the field, and 28 of those shots came from long range. Rather than try to drive the lane and take more high-percentage shots, Wright insisted on letting his team continue to run its signature run-and-gun offense and try and shoot its way out of trouble. As a result, NC State absolutely dominated in the paint, scoring 34 points there while Villanova could only manage 14.
Most important of all, however, this game is an important lesson in how regular season record means nothing come tournament time. Villanova rode its high-octane offense to a regular season mark of 29-2 in a relatively average Big East Conference, and then stumbled when they ran into a Wolfpack squad that knew how to shut that attack down.
It just goes to show that the adage I mentioned in the beginning is true, and the No. 1 Wildcats had to learn that lesson the hard way tonight.
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*Section Photo credit to Gregory Shamus; Featured Photo (above) credit to USA Today Sports
