Villanova upsets no. 9 st. john’s
PHILADELPHIA PA. – No. 9 St. John’s travelled to Philadelphia to take on unranked Villanova. In a highly unanticipated close game, Villanova ended up stealing a victory over one of the top-ranked teams in America.
St John’s who is expected to be a top seed, if not a #1 seed prior to this loss, in the March Madness tournament played one of their most depressing games of the season. Facing the 14-10 Villanova’s men's basketball team, it should’ve been a for sure win. St. John’s sitting at 21-3 should have molly-whopped this team and walked away with a victory of ten points or more. Aaron Scott the forward for the Red Storm balled out, scoring 22 points paired with a couple assists. Guard Kadary Richmond, also did his piece scoring 17 points with 10 assists in the loss to Villanova. These two players couldn’t corral enough offensive points to push them in a victory over Villanova. The supporting cast for the Red Storm did not have it today, lots of mental miscues and mistakes lost them the game. They played their same physical and dominant game that has been heavily successful throughout the year, but mentally their miscues mixed with poor in-game coaching decisions made it tough for the Red Storm to come away with the victory. Possibly stemming from emotions of not wanting to play Villanova because it is a “free” win, although that turned out to be the opposite. The Red Storm may have taken their opponent too lightly, and it showed.
For Villanova, they had similar stats for each of their players. Forward Eric Dixon, scored 17 paired with a couple rebounds and assists. While Guard Wooga Poplar scored 22 and 6 rebounds. In the end it came down to the mental mistakes that St. John’s was having, and every chance the Wildcats had they took it and executed it for points. Whether St. John’s was leaving open nets or missing shots, it almost seemed as if the Wildcats capitalized on each miscue from the Red Storm.
A very good and gritty win for the Wildcats put them at 15-10 for the season, while the loss for the Red Storm sets them back to 21-4 on the season.
Cameron Williams
DiSportsPhotoAgency
Senior Writer
