NEW YORK — Jay Wright was hoping for a Philadelphia Big 5 matchup in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
That would have pitted Villanova against Temple in a second-round game in the South Region with a spot in the Sweet 16 on the line.
“We all take great pride in Philadelphia basketball,” Wright said after No. 2 Villanova routed No. 15 UNC Asheville 86-56 at Barclays Center. “I’d like to see Temple win this game, but then I’d have to play against them, and I really don’t enjoy that, to be honest.”
Wright didn’t get his wish but depending on what happens Sunday, he may not enjoy that, either.
The Wildcats will meet No. 7 Iowa in the second round after Adam Woodbury made a putback at the buzzer to lift the Hawkeyes to a 72-70 overtime win over No. 10 Temple. Jarrod Uthoff, the projected No. 45 pick in the NBA Draft by DraftExpress.com, went for 23 points for Iowa and Peter Jok added 16.
The. Shot. #Iowa wins 72-70. #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/I8rITTKQfM
– Emily Van Buskirk (@Emilnem) March 18, 2016
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Quenton DeCosey led Temple with 26 points, while former St. Anthony’s guard Josh Brown had 16 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Jaylen Bond added 14 points and 15 rebounds.
The second round of the NCAA Tournament hasn’t been kind to Villanova in recent years — as everyone well knows by now. In the last two years, the Wildcats lost to UConn and N.C. State, respectively. In their previous two appearances, in 2011 and ’13, Villanova was bounced in the first round.
Wright’s bunch hasn’t been past the second round since reaching the Final Four in 2009, but they continue to handle the questions and the pressure well.
“I’m happy for them, how they’ve handled everything to get to this point,” Wright said. “And now everyone’s going to ask the question. We’ve got to go do it. That’s the bottom line. If we don’t do it, it’s failure. But there’s nothing wrong with failure in sports if you give your best effort.”
Seniors Daniel Ochefu and Ryan Arcidiacono have gone 48-6 in Big East play the last three seasons with a Big East Tournament title in 2015. They lost this year’s Big East Tournament championship on Saturday to Seton Hall, who fell to Gonzaga Thursday night in the first round.
This is their last chance to break through in the NCAAs.
“Everyone’s been talking about this next game coming up for the whole year, even before we got in the tournament, but it’s very humbling for us to be able to get this first win,” said Ochefu who went for 17 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks. “Just going forward in this game, we can’t think about the shortcomings in the past years. We have to focus on the things we can take care of that will help us get this ‘W’ on Sunday.”
“We’re just excited to be able to get a win in the first round, and we’re just excited to be able to play again,” said Arcidiaono, who had 14 points and 4 assists. “I think any opportunity you get to play, especially with the guys that we have, we’re looking forward to it and eager to get on the court and just play with each other on the floor.”
UNC Asheville coach Nick McDevitt said this is a different Villanova team, with some new players, who won’t necessarily all feel the pressure of the school’s previous losses.
“I think they played like a team that is probably tired of hearing it, for one, for the upper classmen,” he said. “But you also have a lot of players in their locker room that are significant contributors for them that haven’t been there for that. They’ve heard about it, but that happened for the Villanova program but not them. And so for them, you look at [Jalen] Brunson and [Mikal] Bridges and those kinds of guys that are freshmen that are significant contributors for them.
“So I think probably the upper classmen are tired of hearing it, but I thought, looking at some of Coach Wright’s comments, they kind of addressed it head on early, as far back as last year. Looking at some of his comments, we haven’t made it out of the first weekend, and as soon as the NC State game was over last year, they started addressing it. I thought they looked awfully comfortable out there today.”
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NJay Wright was hoping for a Philadelphia Big 5 matchup in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
