Luigi Suigo’s big night, another point guard time share, and more from Villanova’s 95-66 win over Holy Cross
Coming off of their late-game collapse Sunday in Rome, Villanova responded with a business-like defeat of a lesser opponent.
Any analysis from Villanova’s 95-66 victory Friday night over Holy Cross needs to acknowledge that the Wildcats were favored by more than 30 points against a team that entered the game rated 362nd of 365 Division I men’s basketball teams by KenPom metrics.
OK, that’s out of the way.
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Coming off of their late-game collapse Sunday in Rome, Villanova responded with a business-like defeat of a lesser opponent.
Here are three observations from Friday’s victory:
The allure of Luigi Suigo
Luigi Suigo’s final stat line tells part of the story. The 7-foot-3 freshman finished with 16 points, 15 rebounds, five assists, four blocks, and two steals in 27 minutes. He was plus-26.
But more importantly for Villanova was how the stat sheet was filled out. Suigo’s debut in Rome on Sunday was a bit up-and-down.
Friday night you saw what Villanova imagines things can look like when the team is in the flow of the season. Suigo was active on the offensive end. He made contact with his screens. He passed well out of the post. He scored there, too. He rolled to the rim and caught lobs for easy dunks.
And a few days after defensive rebounding was an issue, Suigo pulled in 10 on that end. Granted, Holy Cross’ biggest player was giving up four inches, but Suigo showed why his presence can help Villanova contend with the best of the Big East.
“I’ve been telling everybody for a couple weeks that everyone is just going to have to be patient and let Luigi kind of figure out and let everybody get together and jell a little bit,” Villanova coach Kevin Willard said. “The more he gets comfortable with the speed, the more everyone gets comfortable with what he can do, he’s going to continue to play better.”
Regarding the speed of the game, Suigo said that’s a work in progress still, and right now he’s working on losing weight.
“I’m getting leaner, losing weight,” he said. “That type of basketball, the speed … I’m too heavy right now so I’m trying to lose weight to get even more comfortable playing at this level."
Suigo said he’s on a meal plan and working extra with coaches on conditioning in an effort to “be more professional and get leaner.”
Jake Fiegen, who scored 15 points on 5-for-6 shooting from three-point range, played with a much smaller team last year at Cornell and hasn’t been around many players with the size and skill of Suigo.
“Playing with a guy like Luigi, who especially can pass out of the post so well, it just opens up the whole floor for everyone,” Fiegen said. “And obviously the lob threat, can look for him on slips, coming off down screens. It’s just awesome to play with.”
Point guards share the ball and the court
Elijah Crawford started at point guard five days after Buddy Simmons was the starter in Rome.
The Wildcats had turnover problems in Italy, where they gave it away 20 times in their 74-72 defeat.
Friday night, Villanova turned it over just five times and had 26 assists on 38 makes. They assisted on 15 of 19 makes in the first half.
Crawford played 20 minutes and had eight assists and one turnover. He had four points on 2-for-4 shooting. Simmons played 24 minutes and six assists against zero turnovers while also scoring 10 points on 11 shots.
Willard said Villanova will go “game by game” with their point guards. He thought the Wildcats were “rushed” and “disorganized” against Notre Dame but settled down Friday.
“I thought Eli and Buddy did a good job of just controlling the pace and getting us into the offense a little better,” he said.
Royal returns
Devin Royal, Villanova’s best player during their three exhibition contests, was barely a factor in Sunday’s loss. He took one shot attempt that he didn’t get fouled on.
He was much more involved Friday night, scoring a game-high 22 points on 9-for-16 shooting to go with seven rebounds and three assists.
Villanova was able to get him into some high-percentage spots in the offense. On a few occasions, he successfully sealed off his defender in the low post and caught a pass from Suigo for easy baskets at the rim.
“He’s going to be like this most of the time,” Willard said. “I think Dev just has to react to getting a little bit more attention than he has.”
Tip-ins
Kwame Evans Jr. did not dress Friday night due to left hip soreness. Reserve big man Nico Onyekwere, who was not in Rome due to a vis issue, got the backup center minutes and had four points and seven rebounds in 13 minutes. Willard had “no comment” when asked about a timetable for Evans. ... Freshman wing Adam Oumiddoch had 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting in 22 minutes. ... The Wildcats are back in action Tuesday at Finneran Pavilion vs. La Salle (7 p.m., truTV).
