Villanova hits a ‘bump in the road’ after struggling with the physicality and experience of St. John’s

Six minutes was all it took for the things that had to have worried Kevin Willard ahead of Villanova’s Saturday night showdown with St. John’s to make the difference.

Villanova’s deficit at halftime was just one point, but by the time St. John’s converted the fifth Villanova turnover of the second half into a layup, the deficit was 56-39 with 14 minutes to go in an eventual 86-79 St. John’s victory.

There were some inherent disadvantages working against Villanova Saturday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Chief among them were the size, strength, and experience that St. John’s possesses, and the way its defensive pressure can be unrelenting. Three of Villanova’s top five scorers — Acaden Lewis, Bryce Lindsay, and Matt Hodge — are in their first or second season playing college basketball. The Red Storm, meanwhile, start four seniors to Villanova’s one. All of that showed during a 20-4 run.

St. John’s had 12 offensive rebounds to Villanova’s seven. Four of the 12 came during that fateful six-minute stretch. Each team had eight turnovers by halftime, but Villanova finished with 14, five during the opening six minutes of the second half, and St. John’s had just one over the final 20 minutes. The Red Storm converted those Villanova turnovers into 17 points. St. John’s had 42 paint points to Villanova’s 22.

The youthful Wildcats eventually got back in the game and trailed by five with 6 minutes, 36 seconds left and again inside of a minute to play. But St. John’s was too big, too strong, and too experienced for Villanova to get over the hump no matter how hard junior Tyler Perkins and senior Devin Askew — who scored 23 and 21 points, respectively — tried.

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Villanova’s lone senior starter, center Duke Brennan, a transfer from Grand Canyon was no match for his experienced Big East counterparts. Zuby Ejiofor had 17 points and seven rebounds. Bryce Hopkins had 20 and six. Brennan was minus-14 on the night. Lewis finished with a season-low three points and a season-high six turnovers and was on the bench for the final 11 minutes.

Lewis, who was also minus-14, looked like a freshman, which has only happened a few times this season. Hodge normally scores 10.6 points per game but was held to four. Lindsay entered Saturday scoring 15.2 points per game and scored 11, all in the second half.

“Acaden, Bryce, Matt — freshman, freshman, sophomore — against grown men," Willard said. “That’s why Devin and Tyler played well, because they’re grown men. They’re physical, able to play against a St. John’s where I think Acaden, Bryce, and Matt are all trying to figure out ‘how do I play when I play against a physically dominant team?’ We’ve struggled against physically dominant teams for that reason.”

Saturday night offered Villanova (14-4, 5-2 Big East) a chance for its first real signature win. Instead, it showed, for now, where the Wildcats are. They have beaten teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament like Wisconsin and Seton Hall, but they have been knocked off by the three big dogs on the schedule so far: BYU, Michigan, and now St. John’s. Villanova is where it is — ranked 25th in the NCAA’s NET rankings and 27th at KenPom as of Saturday — in large part because it has beaten the teams it’s supposed to beat.

Villanova entered Saturday as the 21st team in ESPN bracket guru Joe Lunardi’s projected NCAA Tournament field. The best of all the No. 6 seeds. St. John’s, meanwhile, was 26th. Saturday should at least cause a flip-flop.

“You got to sit back as a coach every once in a while and realize there is a process to this,” Willard said. “Sometimes you got to play bad and go back and watch film and kind of … we did some things in the second half late, defensively, that made no sense."

It is not a talent thing, Askew said. Villanova has the players, but it needs to play in games like Saturday’s to get better.

“It’s an experience thing,” said Askew, a sixth-year senior who is averaging 18 points per game off the bench in his last three. “As they play more games in atmospheres like that, they’ll get better. ... They just have to get used to it and they will.”

The good part for Villanova is very few teams in the Big East are built to hurt Villanova the way St. John’s can.

The Wildcats are back at the Finneran Pavilion Wednesday night vs. Georgetown, which is 1-6 in the Big East. After that is another big test — a road game at No. 3 UConn next Saturday afternoon that will give Villanova a chance to quickly show what it learned from its step up in competition.

“It’s a little bit of a learning process,” Willard said. “This group, they have a great attitude, they work hard. We’re going to have some bumps in the road. It’s a part of conference play.

“We’re not at the level where we’re going to pitch a shutout. We can’t give up 50 points in the second half. We can’t give up nine offensive rebounds in the second half. We can’t come out and turn the ball over three times. That’s all part of the learning curve a little bit.”