Villanova blows out Penn, 103-65

VILLANOVA, Pa. — In the first Big 5 matchup of the young season between Penn and Villanova last night, the only five on anyone’s mind was the Wildcats’ gaudy No. 5 national ranking, and the only Big thing was their margin of victory.

Villanova blew out Penn virtually from the opening whistle and cruised to a 103-65 victory that was every bit as lopsided as the final score.

It was Penn’s worst ever regular-season loss to Villanova and the second-most points Penn has ever allowed in a Big 5 game. It was a domination so complete that for the first time he could remember, Wildcats coach Jay Wright did not call a single timeout. And it was a game so devoid of a silver lining that Penn counterpart Glen Miller could not point to anything specific the team could take from the game.

“You really just have to put this game behind you,” Miller said. “You don’t want to dwell on it. You’ve gotta learn from it obviously, but we know we’re better [than that].”

Wright said his team was wary of the Quakers after seeing them hang with Penn State in their season opener and agreed with Miller that they are better than they showed last night.

“Our guys saw that film and we know Penn State’s a good team,” Wright said. “So our guys, I think, really came in with great respect for [Penn] and a little bit of fear, and that was a good thing,”

Villanova came out of the gates firing on all cylinders, and within seven minutes, it built a 20-5 lead, an advantage that only grew to 55-25 at halftime. Meanwhile, junior Tyler Bernardini suffered a foot injury near the end of the first half, missed the rest of the game, and will have an MRI today.

“It’s Villanova, so we know they’re going to play hard and aggressive every night,” senior guard Darren Smith said. “We came out lax I guess and they just put it on us early.”

For the game, the Wildcats shot a blistering 58.7 percent from the field — including 11-for-21 from three-point range — and outrebounded the Quakers, 45-27. With the outcome never in doubt, Wright was able to go to his bench early and often, and six of the 12 players who saw action scored in double figures.

The Wildcats were still doubling up the Quakers, 90-45, when they went to an all-freshman lineup with 7:31 remaining. Villanova hardly missed a beat, indicating that this may be a lopsided series for years to come.

Ironically, Smith was the game’s leading scorer with 21 points on 6-for-15 shooting, but most of his damage came too late to make a difference.

Despite Miller’s attempts to slow the game down, Penn was unable to control Villanova’s up-tempo attack, which led to seven fastbreak points and 19 off of Penn’s 14 turnovers.

Meanwhile, the Quakers could not adjust to Villanova’s switching defense and once again suffered from questionable shot selection. Of their 58 field goal attempts, 32 of them came from beyond the arc, and they shot only 25.9 percent in the decisive first half. Sophomore point guard Zack Rosen was perhaps the worst offender, as he shot 1-for-8 from long-range for the game.

“You have to have an interior presence, whether you get that through the dribble or you get that through post play,” Miller said. “So that has to definitely improve for us. We want a balance.”

By the end of the game, one of the most memorable moments was freshman walk-on Malcolm Washington’s first collegiate action in garbage time. Serenaded by chants of “Denzel!” by the Villanova student section, Washington tallied two steals and a layup in the final three minutes.

Penn hopes, by the time it faces Delaware Saturday at the Palestra, that the rest of the massacre will be a distant memory.

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