Heard in the Cheap Seats

Watching the Villanova game last night, you kept waiting for the moment when the Wildcats would start their furious charge to the finish.  It has happened so many times before for this Villanova team that fans were left believing something big was in the works.

When Nova closed out the first half with a run to narrow the gap to nine points, Wildcat fans had to feel good about the effort.  Despite allowing 49 points to the Tar Heel offensive juggernaut, the Wildcats were still within 10 points.  With a few more defensive stops and knocking down of open looks, Villanova would be right back in this thing.

Or at least so it seemed.

When things started to break right to start the second half, the Villanova faithful was convinced they would be rewarded for their blind faith.  Villanova had closed the gap to five points and had this UNC team reeling.  But it was not meant to be—not on this night.  Villanova eventually fell to the to the Tar Heels 83-69.

On a night when Villanova needed to play one of its best games of the season, it instead went ice cold from beyond the arc.  After falling in a deep hole, Nova fell victim to playing catch up and hoisting up threes at a staggering rate.  And on a night when the rim appeared smaller for the Wildcats, a three-point shootout was not going to get the job done. As a team, Villanova shot 33% from the field and 18% from three-point land. On the other end, North Carolina was 40% from the field and 50% from downtown.  Had it not been for North Carolina’s poor shooting performance from the free throw line this game may have been more lopsided than the final result.

Villanova did not lose this game because of the physicality of North Carolina or because they were awe struck by the mystique of UNC.  In fact, Nova came out aggressively and held its own on the glass.  It did not lose because the stage at Ford Field was too grand or the lights were too bright.  Jay Wright would not let his boys succumb to the pressure of the Final Four.

No, Villanova lost this game because UNC was the better team.  To knock off the Tar Heels, Villanova needed to summon some March Madness magic and there were just no more tricks left in the hat.  UNC simply played like the talented team of future NBA players that it was and Villanova could not keep pace.

On this night, Villanova fans were left waiting until after the final buzzer for a piece of magic that never came.