Villanova holds on to edge UConn in Big East semifinal; Cats to face Creighton for title

NEW YORK – Here it was, the point of Connecticut rejoining the Big East Conference, a packed Madison Square Garden for a late Friday night game in March … “Let’s go Huskies” filling the Garden air. UConn fans, a huge part of the 19,812 crowd inside, up on their feet in joy, or up in arms.

Villanova played the foil. By now, the Wildcats play it so well, the school every Big East team wants to beat, seemingly impervious to crowds or stakes.

The Wildcats advance to Saturday’s Big East final after a 63-60 victory over UConn. Since 2015, Villanova has played 23 games at Madison Square Garden, won 20 of them. The Cats have played six Big East semifinals in that time, won all of them. Next up, Creighton, which had earned its way to the final earlier by decimating Providence, the Big East regular-season champ.

This game really didn’t follow a usual Villanova script. The top two scorers for the season were not the scoring stars this night. Jermaine “What back spasms?” Samuels was scoring from the start, inside and out, scoring 21. Brandon Slater provided energy and 15 points, and punctuated it all by blocking a UConn shot that had looked like it was about to be a UConn dunk.

Villanova played a lot of small ball, and outshot UConn from the field, the three-point line, and made its foul shots. With just over 3 minutes left, the Wildcats had committed five turnovers.

Villanova needed to be that efficient, since UConn was matching it, with just 5 turnovers of its own to that point. The sixth came right then, Slater tipping a pass, Samuels grabbing it.

The Wildcats looked like it had all but put it away, taking a 60-53 lead with just under 5 minutes left. But 60 wasn’t enough, and Villanova was still at 60 with 15.4 seconds left, Jermaine Samuels at the foul line for the front end of a one-and-one. Samuels made the first, took four dribbles, put the second one softly in off the rim for 62-57 lead.

So that was enough? Not yet. A three-pointer by Connecticut’s Andre Jackson hit high off the rim and dropped through, 8.6 seconds left. UConn within 62-60.

A great high-wire inbounds-pass catch by Justin Moore, maybe saving the whole thing, was sent ahead to Gillespie, who hit a free throw with 3 seconds left. He missed the second free throw, but a halfcourt attempt by UConn didn’t find its mark.

Not just because of his play. Because he played.

“We had a chiropractor up from Philly, we had a masseuse with us,” Wright said of Samuels. “He couldn’t go through walk-through today. He couldn’t stand long enough to go through walk-through. I’m amazed at him. Once he gets going ... he’s done it before, incurred injuries. He played with a broken finger last year. He had surgery, missed the whole summer. ... We just prop him up, put him out there.”

Jordan Longino scored to get Villanova a late seven-point lead.

“I thought it was a huge play,” Wright said. “We got stuck at the end of the shot clock. They denied everybody. Jordan went and drove it. He got stuck, pivoted, hit a fadeaway at the end of the shot clock. He’s a gutsy kid for a freshman. We need his depth, we really do.”

Other than when UConn scored the first-pointer of the game, and before Villanova immediately answered with a three from Samuels, the rest of the first 10 minutes were spent with neither team owning more than a two-point lead, that lead trading back and forth. Eight lead changes in those first 10 minutes.

The Huskies had the edge in early three-point efficiency, making 4 of 8 for a 21-19 lead with 7 minutes left, while ‘Nova made 5 of 14 (and only 1 of 4 from two-point range in that time.)

Points in paint with 4 minutes left in the half were 12-0 for UConn. But not as big an advantage as it sounds, since this was a chess match, Villanova living with that, because the Wildcats had heated up from three — Samuels, Brandon Slater, and Caleb Daniels each hitting from deep for a 30-25 lead.

You’d be quite the clairvoyant. Moore and Gillespie were a combined 1-for-6 from the field in the first half, 0-for-5 on threes.

But Samuels and Slater had combined for 22 points by the half, making five three-pointers between them. Caleb Daniels hit on both three-pointers he tried.

Those 12 points from Samuels were especially noteworthy since he hadn’t started Thursday’s quarterfinal because of back spasms. If you want to look at what it means to be a fifth-year player in this kind of situation, go to the last seconds of the first half. Villanova was running the shot clock way down and the ball ended up with Samuels on the right wing. He drove to the paint, where there was plenty of midtown Manhattan traffic. A panicked floater was all that was available? Nah, there was time for another dribble, Samuels finding contact, hitting a shot, getting a foul too, 1.3 seconds left on the shot clock, 9.5 seconds left in the half.

That extra second gave Villanova its 33-32 halftime margin. Or did UConn get it back at the other end? Nope, the Garden UConn contingent went nuts as an official decided Slater had gotten in position in time to pick up a charge.

And Villanova made a point of getting Moore into the flow of the offense. He scored inside and then a pull-up 18-footer. Slater then hit a corner three off a Gillespie pass, before Slater had UConn big man Adama Sanogo on him out on the wing. Slater drove and arched a shot over the big man to put Villanova up 42-38. The only Villanova miss over six straight possessions was a missed dunk by Moore. Samuels and Slater had continued their hot streak. Then Eric Dixon, sick this week made his first appearance of the second half. Left open up top, Dixon’s three-pointer filled up the net. Villanova, playing the foil, was up eight points, 10 minutes to go. It just wasn’t over.