The Villanova Wildcats came into this season with the stench of last season’s tournament loss to North Carolina State in the second round still on their mind. With majority of the team returning, the focus was on seniors Ryan Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu to see if they could lead Villanova to the Big East Title and a deep run into the NCAA Tournament. While all the attention has been on the two seniors. Another guy, who has improved each year and has been the ex-factor this season is guard Josh Hart.
This season, Hart has taken his game to another level averaging 15.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 31.2 minutes per game. His fantastic play earned him first-team All-Big East.
In conference play this season, Hart upped his scoring from 9.1 points per game, the previous season to 16.3 points per game. He has also shot a ridiculous 52.2 percent from the field with a two-point field goal percentage of 61.2 percent.
Josh Hart is not going to beat you off the dribble or from the outside. Instead, he is going to do the little things such as hustling for 50/50 balls, grabbing rebounds, and driving into the paint for easy baskets asserting his will. That mindset has helped Hart this season and in the NCAA Tournament.
But Hart faced his toughest test of the season on Saturday night going against college basketball’s most prolific scorer in Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield. Hield came into Saturday night’s game averaging an absurd 29.2 points per game in the NCAA Tournament, while shooting 55.8 percent from the field and 47.5 percent from three-point range.
For Villanova to advance to the National Championship Game on Monday night, Arcidiacono and Ochefu were going to have to do their parts but Hart had to be the ex-factor on both sides of the ball.
Hart, the 6-foot-5, 202-pound guard from Silver Springs, Maryland did just that as he scored 23 points on 10-of-12 from the field, leading Villanova to a 95-51 victory over Oklahoma, sending the Wildcats to the National Championship Game. Hart and the rest of the Wildcats outscored and outperformed Hield and Sooners, asserting themselves throughout the game.
From the opening tip, Hart started out defending Hield, then another Wildcat was defending him and then head coach Jay Wright threw another defender at the country’s prolific shooter. Hield was held to nine points on 4-of-12 shooting from the field and 1-of-8 shooting from three-point range. In the second half alone, Villanova held Hield to only two points.
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On the other hand, Hart had a fantastic game including an outstanding 15-point first half, which culminated with a made three-pointer to end the half. Hart’s teammates fed off his energy as they made plays too, scrapping for 50/50 balls, forcing Oklahoma into 17 turnovers and converting them into fast break points. As a team, Villanova shot 71.4 percent from the field and Hart played a huge role in that.
But this kind of performance isn’t unusual at all for Hart especially in this year’s NCAA Tournament. If we look at Villanova’s last three games in the tournament excluding Saturday night’s game against Oklahoma, Hart scored 19, 14, and 13 points respectively.
Last weekend against the Kansas Jayhawks in the Elite 8, Hart did not have an efficient game. He shot 6-of-17 from the field but in the two previous games before against Miami (FL) and Iowa, he shot 55.6 and 63.6 percent from the field. He is the ultimate stat sheet stuffer and is one of the reasons why Villanova is one win away from a national title.
On Monday night, Villanova will face their toughest test yet going up against the North Carolina Tar Heels, who defeated Syracuse 83-66. Hart and the rest of the Wildcat guards will have a challenge defending Marcus Paige, Justin Jackson and Theo Pinson. Hart will most likely have to defend Jackson, who had 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field against Syracuse.
While it will be tough on Monday night, Hart and Villanova have proven over and over that they will outwork, outplay, and outscore you. If the Wildcats do that on Monday night and Hart duplicates his performance from Saturday night, then Villanova maybe cutting down the nets in Houston, Texas.
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