In a rout of Maryland, Villanova shows its potential, but also its flaws

Maryland coach Kevin Willard was in the middle of answering a question about his message to a team that has started its season with one win in four games when he trailed off, his eyes fixated on a television in the back of the media room inside Villanova’s Finneran Pavilion. Highlights from Villanova’s 57-40 win over his Terrapins team were playing.

“I just watched it,” Willard said. “I don’t really think we need to have that on for the rest of the time.”

A staff member quickly turned the TV off, and Willard thanked them.

“First thing someone from ‘Nova has ever done nice to me,” the former Seton Hall coach quipped.

Finneran Pavilion hasn’t been kind to Willard over the years, and even escaping Seton Hall and joining the Big Ten and Maryland couldn’t change the vibes. In fact, Friday night’s drubbing might end up being the worst of Willard’s Villanova memories down the road.

No. 21 Villanova scored the game’s first eight points, 17 of the first 20, while playing suffocating defense, forcing Maryland to go just 4-for-27 from the field as it built a 39-15 halftime lead. The team that lost Monday night to Penn at the Palestra? Hard to believe it was the same one. For parts of that first half, Willard looked like a guy who didn’t have any answers, using the scorer’s table to lean on as he watched it all unfold.

It was a night where everything was going Villanova’s way. Even the Wildcats’ airballs were positive. Three minutes into the second half, Justin Moore took a transition three-pointer that went long ... right into the hands of Tyler Burton, who made an easy putback layup to extend the lead to 46-15.

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Now began the fun part of covering a game like this, the end result already decided. It was time to go on a scavenger hunt. Villanova has had some great defensive efforts over the years, but are we talking record-low for points allowed? To the internet machine we went.

But it seemed like every time you looked up from your computer, the number next to Villanova’s logo on the scoreboard wasn’t changing.

The Wildcats made 13 of their 21 first-half shots, including 6-for-11 shooting from three-point range, and then connected on three of their first six second-half shots to build that 31-point lead with 17 minutes left.

Villanova made just two shots the rest of the way, one of them with just 55 seconds remaining in the game. The Wildcats went more than 12 minutes without making a basket.

Asked if he felt his team took its foot off the pedal with a big lead, Villanova coach Kyle Neptune credited the way Maryland played by slowing Villanova down.

The Wildcats turned the ball over 11 times in the second half.

Neptune has said he wants Villanova’s identity to be the way it plays defense, and while the Wildcats were sloppy with the ball and not getting enough open shots on offense, they still made life difficult for Maryland at the other end.

“We’re still a work in progress,” Neptune said. “We can still get a lot better.”

» READ MORE: Villanova’s depth, talent was easy to see in season-opening win over American University

Neptune said Thursday that he wanted his team to be able to look in the mirror and say it played Villanova basketball for 40 minutes. While they can probably only say they completed half the mission, those 20 minutes showed glimpses of how good this new-look Villanova team can be.

The opening tipoff needed to happen twice because there was a scramble for a loose ball off the first attempt. Bodies hit the floor and a tie-up was called. Mark Armstrong grabbed the redo jump ball, and Villanova’s first possession ended with Eric Dixon passing out of a double team in the post for an open TJ Bamba three-pointer.

After Maryland missed a three-point attempt late in the shot clock, the next Villanova possession ended with the ball swinging to Burton in the corner, and his three-pointer gave Villanova a 6-0 lead. Another long Maryland possession ended with a missed shot, and Bamba forced a foul on a drive.

A few possessions later, former Terrapin Hakim Hart made it a perfect 3-for-3 start from beyond the arc with a step-back triple. Then Armstrong got to the rim twice in a row to extend the lead to 17-3.

“I loved our effort and intensity, especially to start the game,” Neptune said. “I loved our attention to detail.

“That first five or six minutes was awesome to watch, just the way we set the tone. I thought it was kind of what led to the victory.”

It was. But even on a night Villanova strolled to a 17-point win, you wondered how it didn’t win by 30.