No. 6 Villanova Takes On Providence Tonight
By Matt Leon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- No. 6 Villanova will be on the road tonight in Big East action, visiting the Providence Friars.
The Wildcats sit at 21-2 this season (8-2 in the Big East) after Saturday's 69-53 win over Georgetown at the Center. That one had to feel good for the Wildcats after the Hoyas punished them in their first meeting this season, taking a 78-58 decision in D.C. back on January 19th.
"Well I think it showed a lot of growth from that last Georgetown game," Villanova head coach Jay Wright tells KYW Newsradio. "We were going, at that time, in a bad direction. We were just getting a little complacent defensively and Georgetown just caught us and smacked us. Kind of made us look in the mirror. We've worked hard defensively since that last game and we've been getting better and we really had a strong defensive performance Saturday."
Listen to Jay Wright with KYW's Matt Leon:
Villanova held the Hoyas to 30% shooting from the floor in the win.
Providence will bring a 17-7 record (7-4 in the Big East) into tonight's game up in Rhode Island. They are coming off a road loss at Xavier on Saturday, 78-69.
"They've got tremendous size," Wright says. "They can put a team on the floor that's 7-2, 7-foot, 6-9, 6-6, 6-4. Their point guard, Kris Dunn, is between 6-4 and 6-5, really long. (Carson) Desrosiers, their center, is 7-foot. They bring a 7-2 guy (Paschal Chukwu) off the bench. Then in (forward) LaDontae Henton, they've got really one of the best scorers in the league, the leading scorer in the league. A guy that can score numerous ways, shoots threes, post you up, takes you off the dribble."
Henton does indeed lead the Big East in scoring, pouring in 20.4 points per game. Dunn is sixth in the conference, he averages 15.1 points per game.
As far as keys tonight, Wright says they can't give the Friars multiple shot possessions.
"Last year, when we played at Providence," Wright says, "they really pounded us on the offensive glass. We won the game in (double) overtime (82-79 on 2/18/14), a close game, but they really handled us on the offensive glass (Providence had 17 offensive rebounds). That's going to be number #1. Number #2 is going to be trying to contain Henton and Dunn."
Tonight's game in Providence tips-off at 8:00pm.
You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.
