NEW YORK – Jay Wright anxiously awaited Villanova’s semifinal matchup in the NIT Season Tip-Off to see how his Wildcats would fare if faced with adversity, and he got what he wanted to see.
The Wildcats came out for the second half holding a 15-point lead Wednesday night and suddenly couldn’t make a shot. Some of it was their own misfiring. Some of it was UCLA’s energized defense, which sagged into the paint to blunt the drives of Corey Fisher and Maalik Wayns.
But Fisher and Wayns helped their team stay in front, and Mouphtaou Yarou contributed with the best rebounding game of his career, to lead the seventh-ranked Cats to an 82-70 victory over the Bruins at Madison Square Garden.
Villanova (5-0) moved into Friday’s championship game against No. 24 Tennessee. The Volunteers knocked off Virginia Commonwealth, 77-72, in Wednesday night’s other semifinal.
Fisher led all scorers with 26 points and Wayns added 19. Yarou contributed 13 points and a career-high 16 rebounds to go with three blocked shots.
Fisher and Wayns enjoyed success in the first half taking their defenders to the basket at will. But in the second half, the drives weren’t nearly as effective, with the Bruins forcing them into the occasional wild shot off the drive.
The Wildcats hit just 4 of their first 20 shots from the field in the second half, including a drought of 6 minutes, 43 seconds without a field goal. But the Bruins (3-1) never were able to get closer than six, in part because of a 2-of-7 dry spell from the free throw line at one stretch.
“Nothing changes,” Fisher said. “Me and Maalik are going to be aggressive at all times. If we don’t get a shot, we’re going to see the next guys. We have guys like (Corey) Stokes and (Dominic) Cheek and guys that can knock down shots. We got in the lane and we just took what the defense gave us.”
Wright appreciated the constant attacking but admitted Fisher and Wayns might have been a little overly aggressive at times, especially with the defense backing into the lane.
“I think that’s something they can learn from,” he said. “I would always rather them be aggressive and make mistakes on aggression rather than not looking for the shot. It was a little bit too aggressive sometimes. But we’ll learn from that.”
