The Cards went into this game knowing they had a chance to avenge one of five losses from this season. 1) Syracuse…got them. 2) ND…got them and now 3) Nova…got them good. Behind Russ Smith’s 28 points,on the day his High School coach passed away, the Cards came up big in the second half after another frustrating slow-paced first half start which saw the Cards lead only 30-21.
The Cards came out in the second half and outscored the cats 44-34 to raise the pace offensively. Defense wasn’t the issue in either half. The Cards forced 25 Turnovers in the game with 18 in the first half, and had an unbelievable 58 deflections in the game. The Cards only out-rebounded Villanova by 2 but the bench came up big with a 17-4 scoring advantage led by Luke Hancock’s 12 points. The Cards hit 10 3 pointers to Nova’s 2. I was really impressed with the way our D held Nova’s Fab freshman Ryan Arcidiacono who shoots well from the three, to a 1-8 shooting night from the field. Yarou was in double figures with 11 and Pinkston with 21, all in all another stellar outing for the Cards. After the game Villanova coach Jay Wright said “I can see this team winning it all”. The Cards will play conference rival #24 ND in the Semi-finals tomorrow night at 9pm on ESPN. The Cards are trying for their third straight Conference title game. As you can see they got to hang with the prez after their win tonight. 6 more wins until Atlanta and 8 more for that elusive National Championship. Go Cards! #L1C4
