Xavier Upsets Villanova, 90-83
CINCINNATTI, OH (CBS) — There's still five days until March, but the Cintas Center rocked like it was a madhouse Wednesday night when No. 5 Xavier upset No. 1 Villanova, 90-83, before a record crowd of 10,727.
It marked the first time the Wildcats lost since falling to Providence in overtime on January 23. The setback snapped Villanova's seven-game winning streak and it also made the Cats the sixth No. 1 team this season to lose.
Xavier improved to 25-3 and 13-3 in the Big East, while Villanova dropped 24-3 and 13-2.
Villanova is now 1-3 facing Top-10 AP poll teams in '15-16, losing now to Oklahoma, Virginia and now Xavier, with its only top-10 victory coming against Xavier at home on Dec. 31.
The 90 points was a season high for most points given up by Nova, and the most the Wildcats had yielded since the 82-76 overtime loss to Providence.
Xavier found holes in Villanova's defense, a strong part of Wildcats' game all year. The Musketeers were 30-for-60 shooting, with no middle help at all, as Xavier drove the lane at will at times. Freshman guard Edmond Sumner, who suffered a concussion early in Xavier's first meeting at Villanova, struck the Wildcats with 19 points, and junior guard Myles Davis stabbed Villanova with 16 points, going 4-for-9 from three-point range. Sophomore guard J.P. Macura was very annoying to Villanova, both on the court and with his fist-pumping antics, then backed it up with 19 points.
Villanova wasn't able to do much offensively, either. The Wildcats shot 30 of 67, but their only source of offense came from junior forward Kris Jenkins, who scored a game-high 22, but fouled out with 8:47 left to play. Jenkins was 7-for-10 from the floor. The rest of Villanova's starters were a combined 16-of-43 (37%).
Josh Hart, Villanova's leading scorer averaging 15.0 ppg, and Ryan Arcidiacono were the worst offenders, combining to shoot 7-of-24 (29%), which included 3-of-12 from three-point range (25%).
Overall, it was a bad effort for the Wildcats. But if there is a time to slip, now is the time to do it.
What had to be nerve-wracking to Nova coach Jay Wright, however, were plays like the one when Macura ripped the ball away from Jenkins and fed it to a breaking Kaiser Gates, who was immediately fouled by Jenkins—which was his fifth—with 8:47 to play and the Cats trailing, 68-59, at the time.
