Europe 2011 -- Villanova Closes Euro Jam With Loss

Villanova 54 87 Georgia
The Wildcats dropped their second game in the 2011 Euro Jam yesterday with their 33 point loss to the Georgia Senior National Team. Following the action on NovaAthletics-provided Twitter capsules, it seemed the 'Cats were in trouble early this time, unlike their first two Euro Jam games. Down by seven at the end of the first quarter, the Villanova squad souldered on without Isaiah Armwood, benched quikcly in the first quarter with two fouls, held that scoring gap to 7-to-8 points, when foul trouble benched starting point guard Maalik Wayns and low post mainstay Mouphtaou Yarou. With about a minute left in the half rising junior wing Dom Cheek found himself on the floor with four freshmen. It was quite an education. Team Georgia used the advantage to stretch the gap to 16 with an 8-0 run to close out the half. The Wildcats were bothered again by a press in the back court and a 2-3 zone when they crossed the mid-court stripe. Down by 16 at the half, the Wildcats conceded another 17 in the second half to finish the game on the short end of a 33 point gap. Scoring by the quarter...

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Gm
Georgia	28	18	25	16	87
Villanova	21	9	15	9	54

Rising junior Dominic Cheek paced the 'Cats in scoring for the second time in three games. Cheek scored 14 points on 5-13 (2-4, 3-9) shooting from the field and 2-4 from the line. Mouphtaou Yarou and Maalik Wayns chipped in nine points apiece, with the freshmen Jayvaughn Pinkston and Achraf Yacoubou following with eight and seven points respectively. shared team scoring honors with 15 points apiece. Yarou also led the 'Cats on the boards, grabbing 12 boards (3-9-12), missing a double-double by a single point. The twitter account inidcated he was very active until sidelined with his second foul about midway through the second quarter.

The possession-based stats provide a hint at where the 'Cats were uncompetitive...

						FTA
	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	OR%	TO%	FGA	PPWS
Georgia	76.4	1.10	60.0	20.5	15.2	43.3	1.20
Villanova		0.69	29.7	22.2	16.5	46.9	0.69

Scoring may be the nagging issue for Villanova this season. The pace, 76.4, is "exhibition-high", but consistent for a professional team. Team Georgia had several professional players, of whom Zaza Pachulia, an Atlanta Hawk last season, is (to American fans...) the most recognizable. Shooting at a 29.7% eFG% rate not only accounts for the loss, but also the scoring margin (compare to Georgia's 60.0%). The Wildcats had their chances at the line (note their FTA/FGA -- 46.9%), but did not exploit, going 16-30 from the line.

Further Reading
Look for Mike Sheridan's recap at Villanova's Athletic Department official website.
Another recap at VUHoops.com

Europe 2011 -- Villanova Upended by Netherlands

Bookends
At 2:00 pm the Nova Nation again turned to twitter to follow the action in Almere, Netherlands as Villanova faced off against the Netherlands National Team. Like Friday, the fans hung on to every tweet but listened glumly as Villanova fell to the Dutch, 75-63. NovaAthletics (kudos to SID Mike Sheridan) again provided capsules on action and scoring updates. Despite "winning" the first (21-20) and fourth (20-13) quarters, Villanova could not cope with a tall Dutch front court and their 2-3 zone in the middle quarters, and wound up on the short end of a 73-58 score. Bringing a one point lead out of the first quarter, the Dutch front court asserted it's presence at both ends of the court. A 5-0 second quarter run broke a 29-all tie and put Team Netherlands on top for the balance of the game. Consecutive possessions ended in turnovers stymied a potential 'Cat comeback in the second quarter's waning minutes, securing the Netherland's a six point advantage going into half-time. A 13-3 Dutch run to open the third quarter virtually sealed Villanova's fate, assuring the 'Cats would enter the fourth quarter tasked with climbing out of a 19 point hole. Though Villanova did cut into the Dutch lead, they were unable to come all of the way back, closing out with a 12 point loss, 75-63. Scoring by each quarter...

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Gm
Netherlands	20	21	21	13	75
Villanova	21	14	8	20	63

Rising juniors Maalik Wayns and Mouphtaou Yarou shared team scoring honors with 15 points apiece. Yarou also led the 'Cats on the boards, grabbing nine caroms, missing his second consecutive double-double by a single rebound.

Next
The Wildcats will play the Georgia National Team Sunday around 9 am Eastern time..

Look for Mike Sheridan's recap at Villanova's Athletic Department official website.

Europe 2011-03 -- Inside Villanova's Win Over Israel

A Second Look
Villanova SID Mike Sheridan posted his recap of Villanova's win over Israel (many thanks, it is his usual super job) at the Athletic Department website. Mike was kind enough to include a box score which contains enough information to do a possession-based analysis...

						FTA
	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	OR%	TO%	FGA	PPWS
Israel	81.6	1.13	56.7	34.3	18.4	13.9	1.20
Villanova		1.15	70.0	25.0	27.0	47.3	1.40

The four factors breakdown echos a few of the strengths (and weaknesses) of the past few seasons. The pace (calculated number of possessions) was consistent with an exhibition game -- just under 20% more than Wildcat fans can expect in a regular season game. Villanova's 1.15 points per possession (ppp) was consistent with last season, but allowing the Israelis 1.13 ppp was a bit high. Unlike the past few seasons however, the defensive breakdown was only partially due to shot defense (the Israelis scored at a 56.7% efficiency), but also due to their offensive rebounding (34.3% -- a bit higher than the Division 1 average) and unusually low turnover rate (18.4% -- a bit low over prior seasons). If Villanova's staff is unhappy about the somewhat passive defense (see Israel's offensive rebounding rate and turnover rate), they have to be happy about the lack of fouling (13.9%), a problem that hit a tipping point in 2010.

If the lack of defense is a strong game trait, how did Villanova win? Through shot efficiency. As Mike's recap points out, Villanova hit 63% of their field goals attempts and that includes three point attempts. The Wildcats' offensive rebounding rate (25.0%) is unusually low for a team that usually ranks in the top half of the Big East (a very competitive conference for board work), but given the high shot conversion efficiency, it did not diminish the Cats' chances to win. The team's eFG% of 70% reflects the very high conversion rate for three's and two's. Comparing shot efficienies (70% vs 56.7%) one would have to ask why the margin of victory was so small, but a comparison of the turnover rates (27% vs 18.4%) -- and rebounding -- suggests that Villanova's lost possessions and Israel's aggression on the boards were the equalizers.

Though assured by the event promoters that box scores would be available, they have yet to be posted. But I did run across the video (below) of about seven minutes of game action...

Despite leading off with one of Maalik Wayns' two 3FGMs -- the junior used a screen to lscrape his defender off, then stepped back nicely to hit the shot as the defender closed (and fouled him) -- most of Villanova's offensive possessions shown feature dribble penetration (with a strong finish by Cheek at the rim in one sequence), FGAs in transition (solid outlet pass from Yarou in one sequence) or low post entry passes. The defensive sequences suggested some aggressive defensive rebounding by Villanova's back court contingent and (unfortunately) several slow close outs on three point attempts...a side effect of packing the lane to prevent dribble penetration. Those pining to see Jayvaughn Pinkston and Darrun Hilliard in the Blue and White will see the two working hard on defense (Pinkston is #22) with Hilliard finishing an offensive sequence at the rim (he is #4).

Next
Euro Jam standings through the first round...

	W	L
Villanova	1	0
Georgia	1	0
Netherlands	0	1
Israel	0	1

The Wildcats will play the Netherlands National Team Saturday around 2 pm Eastern time, while Georgia and Israel will play the undercard.

Further Reading
Two recaps (I did not include the sports brief treatment at philly.com)...
The official recap can be found at the Villanova website.
Joe Juliani from the Inky penned recap on the Super Nova blog over at philly.com

(h/t to Mike Sheridan for his recap and box score information)

Europe 2011 -- Villanova Opens Euro Jam With a Win

At Last...
Facing the #26th ranked (FIBA) Israel National Team to open the Euro Jam Tournament in Almere, Netherlands, Villanova ran out to an early 56-45 lead at the half, hung on to close out the Israelis 94-92 and snap an eight game losing streak dating back to February 21 last. The 'Cats were paced by rising junior off guard Dominic Cheek's 34 points -- 24 of which he posted in the first two quarters -- on 15-19 shooting from the field. Classmates Mouphtaou Yarou (forward-center) recorded a double-double on 22 points and 12 rebounds. Villanova staunched an Israeli rally in the third quarter to take a one point, 73-72 into the last quarter.

Yarou made a crucial basket with 4:50 left in the game to knot the score at 82 and then an and-one to put Villanova back on top. The Israelis came back to score two at the free throw line that forced Villanova Coach Jay Wright to bring rising junior point guard Maalik Wayns back into the game carrying four fouls. Down by one Cheek rose to the occasion with a strong drive to the basket that put the 'Cats back on top by one and earned the guard an and-one opportunity. With the lead going back and forth freshman Jayvaughn Pinkston hit a basket that put Villanova back on top by two 89-87, with 1:29 left in the game. The 'Cats added two more to stretch the lead to four with just over a half minute left to play, and the Israelis resorted to threes and fouls to stay in the game. No doubt fighting memories of games with Rutgers, DePaul and South Florida from their 2011 season-ending struggles, Villanova's young squad stepped up and maintained a two-to-three point cushion through the last possession. An Israeli three point attempt at the buzzer failed and Villanova breaks on top of the Euro Jam field 1-0.

I will post links to recaps and (hopefully) a boxscore as they become available.

Next
The Wildcats will face off against the Netherlands National Team Saturday at 2:00 pm Eastern time.

(h/t to Mike Sheridan's account, via twitter, of the game)