Villanova collapses late in season-opening loss to Notre Dame in Rome
Villanova blew a 10-point second-half lead and made two critical turnovers in the final four minutes in a 74-72 loss to Notre Dame on Sunday.
ROME — Asked in late September about the upcoming Villanova and Notre Dame trip to his city, Pope Leo XIV mentioned that he was told there would be a lot more Villanova fans in attendance than those from Notre Dame, and that “the voice of the people of God will be very strong on the Villanova side.”
There would be no holy power, not even a day after a blessing from the pope himself on Saturday, to save Villanova in the waning minutes on Sunday.
Villanova blew a 10-point second-half lead and collapsed late in a 74-72 loss to Notre Dame in the first game of the college basketball season.
They kept a seat open for Pope Leo, a 1977 Villanova graduate, in case he decided to make the 12-kilometer trip from Vatican City to the Palazzo dello Sport, but the leader of the Catholic church — who said during his audience with both teams on Saturday that his former identity, Bob Prevost, would have a strong rooting interest — ultimately did not attend as expected.
The final 10 minutes might have sent him to confession.
Everything was turning up Villanova. Tyler Perkins drilled his fourth three-pointer of the second half to give the Wildcats a 60-50 lead, their largest of the game, with 10 minutes, 24 seconds remaining.
It all unraveled from there.
Villanova made just two of its next nine attempts from the field before Buddy Simmons’ meaningless layup at the buzzer. The Wildcats also committed two critical turnovers in the final four minutes, giving them 20 on the night.
“They hit two big threes ... but we just gave up too many offensive rebounds,” said Villanova coach Kevin Willard after the loss. “It’s been one of our struggles so far. We just got to fix our offensive rebounds and turnovers. You can’t have 20 turnovers and 18 offensive rebounds and expect to win.”
Villanova gave up at least 10 offensive rebounds in its three-game exhibition slate, an issue that continued into the first game of the regular season. The turnovers were especially problematic in the first half. Villanova committed 15 first-half giveaways and led by four, a differential that should and could have been much larger considering how well the Wildcats were defending.
They took better care of the ball in the second half, but not in the key moments. Devin Royal was Villanova’s best offensive player during the exhibitions, but the forward from Ohio State was out of sync offensively. Out of a timeout after Notre Dame’s Brady Koehler dunked on Perkins to cut Villanova’s lead to 67-66 with 1 minute, 44 seconds on the clock, Royal drove into the lane and lost the ball.
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Down the other end, Notre Dame big man Logan Duncomb was left alone at the top of the key and hit a go-ahead three pointer. Willard elected to hold onto his timeout. Villanova’s possession ended when Kwame Evans Jr.’s corner three-pointer was blocked by a closing Koehler and rebounded by Braeden Shrewsberry.
Later, Villanova had a chance to tie the game, but Elijah Crawford’s pull-up jumper from 14 feet went in and out with 10 seconds left, and Notre Dame sealed the game at the free-throw line.
“It was more defense,” Perkins said when asked about the issues down the stretch. “But offensively, I always look at myself. I made some questionable plays that I’ll learn from and we’ll all learn from at the end of the day.”
Perkins connected from beyond the arc on three consecutive possessions to open the second half for Villanova. The team’s leading scorer from last season — one of only two returners from last year’s team — was providing a steadying presence for a team that looked out of sync at times.
Perkins led Villanova with 18 points on 6-for-12 shooting (5-for-11 from deep). His three-pointer midway through the second half, though, was followed by a six-minute stretch where Villanova missed four shots from the field and three free throws while committing a turnover and allowing three offensive rebounds.
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“We talked about at the under eight media (timeout),” Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry said. “Let’s take a deep breath, let’s settle, and let’s play our best basketball these last eight minutes and I felt like we did that.”
Villanova didn’t, and heads back to Philadelphia Tuesday morning with a bitter taste.
“We’re playing 30-some games this year,” Perkins said. “That’s one game. We obviously wanted to win. We should have won. We hurt ourselves at the end of the day, but we just got to stay together.”
