Xavier-Villanova Preview

8:00 PM ET, March 14, 2015
Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
     
          Points                 Rebounds         Assists
XAV Stainbrook 12.2 Stainbrook 6.9 Dee Davis    6.2
VILL Hilliard      14.1 Ochefu       8.4 Arcidiacono 3.6

Villanova's riding a school-record winning streak and has established a single-season program best for victories. Adding one more win to each would mean it's also gotten over the hump with something that has eluded it since 1995. A Big East Tournament championship.

In their final act before the NCAA Tournament, the fourth-ranked Wildcats will try to end that two-decade drought Saturday night in New York against Xavier.

"The final game in Madison Square Garden is a thrill for anybody that's in the Northeast in basketball, man," said Villanova coach Jay Wright, who believes his team is worthy of a No. 1 NCAA seed should it celebrate a conference tournament title. "You just dream about that."

Top-seeded Villanova (31-2), winner of 14 straight, reached the championship game with Friday's 63-61 win over Providence thanks to Ryan Arcidiacono's two free throws with 3.1 seconds left.

Josh Hart, the Big East Sixth Man of the Year, led Villanova for the second straight game, scoring 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting. The sophomore is averaging 17.0 points on 66.7 percent shooting in the last 3 games.

"There is something special about him," Wright said. "He's good enough to be a starter. We have him penciled in as a starter preseason, and Dylan Ennis just had a ridiculous summer and fall."

Daniel Ochefu added 15 points and 13 rebounds, while Arcidiacono, the co-Big East Player of the Year, was limited to 6 points and was treated for a rib injury after the game. The junior has been limited to 6.0 points on 33.3 percent shooting over the last 3 games.

Top scorer Darrun Hilliard (14.1 points per game) has also been in a shooting rut. He was 5 of 13 for 12 points against Providence and is averaging 10.4 points on 35.7 percent in the last 5 games.

Villanova last appeared in the Big East title game in 1997 and won its lone Big East championship in 1995 -- 6 days after Hart was born. The Wildcats have won the conference's regular-season title 2 years running, but Wright said this year's team has something that was lacking when they were eliminated in the quarterfinals a season ago.

"It's really that these guys, they're coming into these games having been in lots of big games, having been the top of the league all year," Wright said. "Everywhere we went on the road, it was the biggest game, it's a sellout, everybody's out to get us, and they've been through all that."

The Wildcats last lost on Jan. 19 at Georgetown and have wins against Xavier (21-12) on both sides of that loss, giving them 4 victories in as many tries since the Musketeers joined the conference. Those wins have come by an average of 13.7 points while shooting 42.5% from 3-point range, and Villanova has been ranked at worst sixth in the country in each.

This season, Arcidiacono averaged 16.5 points and hit 7 of 13 from beyond the arc, while Ennis averaged the same with a 9-of-17 mark from long range.
Xavier reserve Jalen Reynolds has averaged 14.5 points and shot 81.3%.

Sixth-seeded Xavier nearly blew a 21-point lead Friday before hanging on for a 65-63 win over No. 23 Georgetown. The Musketeers have won 3 straight by an average of 3.0 points and have likely played themselves into an at-large tournament bid, but they're as hungry for their first Big East trophy as the Wildcats.

"We came here to win a Big East championship," guard Dee Davis said. "We didn't come here to beat Georgetown. We came here to win a Big East championship. So that's our plan."

Matt Stainbrook had a game-high 20 points against Georgetown, but the Musketeers lost J.P. Macura to an ankle injury in the first half.
The freshman guard had 8 points before exiting and also had one of his best games of the season at Villanova on Jan. 14 with 14 points. Coach Chris Mack doesn't expect him to play.