December 19, 2038
@#1 Villanova 90, Marquette 55
An opponent from the "old" Big East gives us all we can handle for 20 minutes. It's 37-33 at the half. After the break, it's a completely different game.
Zayden Calhoun remains hot, scoring 21 points, dishing out 5 assists, and making 2 steals.
Luke Christensen, our leading scorer this season (19.6 PPG) hits his average with 20 and grabs 6 rebounds.
Dane Barlow adds 18 points, 5 assists, and 2 steals.
Nick Spencer has 5 assists and 7 points in 17 productive minutes.
Record: 9-0.
December 23, 2038
@#1 Villanova 72, William & Mary 55
The Tribe visit for an interesting pre-Christmas contest. The visitors shoot well from behind the arc, making 9 threes; they probably should have tried more than 17 of them. Meanwhile, we work the ball inside more than we usually do, too.
That's where
Luke Christensen likes to operate, and he leads us with 24 points.
Zayden Calhoun scores 13 with 7 rebounds, and
Nick Spencer adds 13 more off the bench.
Dane Barlow scores only 4 points, but he has 7 assists.
Chris Wilson returns to action, collecting 9 points and 5 rebounds.
Record: 10-0.
December 30, 2038
@Lehigh 81, #1 Villanova 73
The Mountain Hawks pull off one of the biggest upsets Graham Sims' teams have ever experienced. I'm sure many Lehigh fans particularly enjoy putting one over on their former Lafayette nemesis.
We shoot often (72 field goal attempts) and terribly (28 field goals made).
Dane Barlow is especially profligate, firing 26 shots--the second most in team history--and making only 9. He also ties our all-time record with 20 three-point tries, making 7. Dane finishes with 25 points.
Zayden Calhoun is more efficient, hitting 5 of 10 triples and finishing with 23 points.
Luke Christensen (10) is the only other Wildcat in double figures.
Record: 10-1.
January 1, 2039
I wondered how we would respond after the surprising loss to Lehigh.
Code:
#1 Villanova 102, #22 Lafayette 77
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Lafayette (9-3, 0-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Jalen Christian C 23 4-8 1-3 2 3 2 1 9
Q. Derryberry PF 25 5-13 4-8 2 3 2 2 14
D. Lingenfelter SF 31 4-9 2-2 0 7 4 2 13
Morris Smith SG 22 0-1 4-4 0 3 1 4 4
Liam Harris PG 32 4-5 2-2 1 3 8 3 11
E. Leatherwood C 24 8-10 0-0 0 4 0 1 16
Jon Jordan C 11 0-1 0-0 1 2 0 1 0
Hugo Adams SF 7 1-4 0-0 0 1 2 0 2
Josef Edmonds SG 19 1-4 0-0 0 4 2 1 2
Clark Granado SG 7 2-2 0-0 0 0 1 2 6
Turnovers: 18 (J.Christian 2, Q.Derryberry 4,
D.Lingenfelter 1, M.Smith 3, L.Harris 1, E.Leatherwood
2, J.Edmonds 4, C.Granado 1)
Blocked Shots: 4 (Q.Derryberry 1, D.Lingenfelter 1,
M.Smith 1, E.Leatherwood 1)
Steals: 6 (D.Lingenfelter 1, L.Harris 2, E.Leatherwood
1, J.Edmonds 2)
3P FGs: 6-14 (D.Lingenfelter 3-6, M.Smith 0-1, L.Harris
1-2, H.Adams 0-1, J.Edmonds 0-2, C.Granado 2-2)
Villanova (11-1, 0-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Demetrius Reed C 26 1-1 0-2 0 6 0 2 2
Chris Wilson PF 20 1-3 0-1 0 2 3 4 2
Luke Christensen SF 28 6-12 0-0 2 6 5 2 13
Zayden Calhoun SG 26 11-19 0-0 3 6 4 3 31
Dane Barlow PG 31 12-17 0-1 2 7 4 1 30
Nick Spencer PG 17 3-4 4-4 0 0 3 1 12
Tony Flaherty SF 12 2-6 0-0 0 1 2 1 4
DeAndre Brown SG 6 2-2 0-0 0 1 0 0 6
Zak Marshall C 23 0-4 0-0 2 6 1 1 0
Jordi Ballester PF 10 1-1 0-1 1 1 1 3 2
Turnovers: 13 (Z.Calhoun 4, D.Barlow 2, T.Flaherty 2,
Z.Marshall 5)
Blocked Shots: 6 (C.Wilson 2, D.Barlow 1, Z.Marshall 3)
Steals: 9 (D.Reed 1, L.Christensen 3, D.Barlow 3,
N.Spencer 1, T.Flaherty 1)
3P FGs: 20-36 (L.Christensen 1-5, Z.Calhoun 9-15,
D.Barlow 6-10, N.Spencer 2-3, T.Flaherty 0-1, D.Brown
2-2)
Player of Game: PG Dane Barlow (VLNV)
I'd say we respond very well.
We tie our all-time record with 20 made three-pointers.
Dane Barlow and
Zayden Calhoun, who account for 15 of them, both achieve career highs in points.
The first half resembles an all-star game; we lead 63-47 going into the intermission. More normal college basketball is played during the following twenty minutes.
Record: 11-1.