BUFFALO — It is hard to win — impossible, really — if you can’t score, a trick Villanova tried to pull off Thursday night when for long stretches it was as if the ball could not or would not go in the basket.
Shot, miss. Shot, miss. It wasn’t so much that the Wildcats as the No 2 seed in the East Region were in danger of getting knocked off by No. 15 seed Milwaukee, it was more that Villanova was playing hard but not very well, especially offensively. A slim four-point halftime lead expanded and Villanova finally found the range in a 73-53 victory at First Niagara Center.
“When you have games like this when you don’t make ’em and you win, it gives these guys more confidence,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said.
Villanova was coming off an unwanted respite, after it was one-and-done in the Big East Tournament, bounced out of the Garden by Seton Hall. The Wildcats (29-4) now get to face a familiar foe in seventh-seeded UConn, their former Big East partner.
“We like it that way,” Villanova senior James Bell said of facing UConn. “We’re used to those battles.’’
For so long — too long to suit Villanova — this was a close game, mainly because the Wildcats assaulted the basket and backboard with an array of shots that clanged and clunked and glanced and banged without ever seeing the inside of the net. A full 28 minutes into the action, Villanova was 0-for-16 from 3-point range, which is not as easy as it sounds. Finally, freshman Kris Jenkins broke through with a pull-up 3 to put Villanova ahead 42-33.
As this was the fourth and final game of the day and night, perhaps the baskets got bent or crooked from all the use. How else to explain Milwaukee starting 4-of-22 and actually being a tick better than Villanova’s 3-of-20? These were the gangs that couldn’t shoot straight.
Villanova finished 4-for-23 from 3-point range. Darrun Hilliard led the Wildcats with 16 points and JayVaughn Pinkston from Brooklyn added 13.
That supposedly mighty Villanova took so long to shake the Panthers could be a sign of danger to come. After all, Milwaukee, coming off an 8-24 record in 2012, was picked to finish last in the Horizon League and didn’t do much to impress anyone by going 7-9 in their league for fifth place out of the nine teams. The Panthers got hot when it counted and won their conference tournament.
It didn’t help Milwaukee that Jordan Aaron, a 5-foot-10 senior point guard from The Bronx, went 1-of-15 from the floor and ended with six points. Aaron led the Panthers in scoring this season at 15 points a game.