Men’s basketball can’t handle no. 2 Villanova

Mens+basketball+cant+handle+no.+2+Villanova

Sometimes you need to win on offense, and sometimes you need to win on defense; when you play the defending national champions, you need to win on both ends of the floor.

DePaul played tough defense in the opening minutes of Monday night’s highly anticipated rematch with the Villanova Wildcats, forcing an uncharacteristic shot-clock violation less than three minutes after tip-off.  Unfortunately for the Blue Demons, it seemed as though every time the Wildcats managed to get a shot off, it went in.

On offense, the Demons played too quick for comfort, throwing passes out-of-bounds and frequently mishandling the ball in a maze of Villanova defenders for a nine-turnover half.

While the Wildcats cruised along shooting over 50 percent from the field, DePaul’s shooters were cold, converting only 28 percent of their shots (nine percent from three-point range).

It took the Blue Demons five minutes to score there first points of the second half, once again leaning on Chris Harrison-Docks precision from three-point range.

The Demons found some energy at the ten-minute mark with a Garrett to McCallum ally-oop, but Villanova was unfazed, maintaining their 20-point lead with little trouble.

Billy Garrett Jr. saw his first points of the game with just over three minutes to play, ending his night with two points, going 1-9 on his field goal attempts.  Harrison-Docks lead the way for the Demons through both halves for a season-high 18 points, followed by Cain with 12.

DePaul continued to fight till the final buzzer, but the second-ranked Wildcats held on to win 75-62.