Villanova

After an NCAA Tournament opening day slate highlighted by a few massive upsets and dramatic overtime finishes, Delaware hoped to do the same against ...

I was trying to move out of the way, but it was an accident. “The ball was going out of bounds, and I was trying to jump out of his way, but he was trying to catch me,” Samuels said. The freshman guard was seen not dressed in uniform and was reported to have a left knee injury. “We were just reading their ball screen coverage, and if they were coming to help, see who was helping,” Moore said of what allowed Villanova to unlock its offense. “I think we played great team defense, and it’s just going to prepare us for Sunday,” Villanova guard Collin Gillespie said. For Delaware, Jyare Davis paced the Blue Hens with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting and six rebounds. Took us some time for us to figure that out too, and I think our guys did.” Then, they started the second half strong, with an 8-0 blitz to push their lead firmly into double digits, where it remained for the rest of the game. The Wildcats buried 13 three-pointers as a team, with five players contributing at least one basket from long range and a quartet of players connecting two or more times from beyond the arc. It was a balanced effort for the ‘Cats, with five different players scoring in double figures. “It took us some time to adjust to their speed and their intelligence, as we tried to figure out what they were doing,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. It was an ugly start for ‘Nova, who saw Delaware lead by as high as seven in a low-scoring start between both teams.