A quick tempo-free breakdown

A quick, tempo-free look at some of the marquee Big East games this weekend, courtesy of Ray Floriani.

A quick look back on two particular Big East games of note from Saturday.

Georgetown 103, Villanova 90

What’s wrong with the Wildcats they say? Not a whole lot except they ran into a very tough team on their home floor still smarting from a home loss to South Florida. Issues were brought up regarding the Villanova defense. Granted it was better last year with a few more experienced interior players but the numbers aren’t drastically different.

• Villanova '09: Off. Efficiency = 109, Def. Efficiency = 98
• Villanova '10: Off. Efficiency = 115, Def. Efficiency = 102
  

The ‘10 numbers include the Georgetown game on Saturday where the Hoyas racked up a 116 offensive efficiency clearly outdistancing Nova’s 105. The difference between Nova’s ‘09 number and the present one is .04 points per possession. A difference but not drastically huge.

The schedule has been in Villanova’s favor say some. Granted they did face Rutgers and St. John’s and entertained Seton Hall at home. Jay Wright’s team has swept Marquette, already defeated Georgetown at home and walked out of Freedom Hall with a W. Not a shabby resume to date.

You can pin some of Villanova’s problems Saturday on two factors, fouls and pace. Villanova committed 38 fouls and Georgetown shot 39 of 50 from the line (to Villanova’s 17 of 23). The Hoyas pushed the pace to an 89 possession tempo, a good fifteen higher than Villanova’s average Big East place. No doubt that ’NASCAR’ tempo had a bearing on Nova’s foul frequency.


West Virginia 79 St. John’s 60

In a game at Madison Square Garden this was your ‘tale of two halves’.

• West Virginia's offensive efficiency: 1st half - 61; for the game - 115.
• St. John's offensive efficiency: 1st half - 92; for the game - 87.
  

St.John’s led by double digit’s the first half and brought a 33-22 lead into the locker room. After a break, probably punctuated by a few of Bob Huggins’ ’encouraging words’, West Virginia switched to a 1-3-1 half court trap and essentially changed the course of the contest. Having a senior and marquee player in Da’Sean Butler go for 33 points helped on the offensive end. Butler was an unconscious 7 of 7 beyond the arc. On the other end, DJ Kennedy, whom St.John’s relies on for scoring , came up with an unimpressive 4 points (2 of 11 shooting) in 34 minutes.

The second half numbers:

• West Virginia: 57 points on 33 possessions for an efficiency of 187.
• St. John's: 27 points on 33 possessions for an efficiency of 82.
  

That phenomenal efficiency posted by the Mountaineers was largely aided by a perfect 8 of 8 beyond the arc and 11 for 11 from the line over the course of those final twenty minutes. A long twenty minutes for coach Norm Roberts & company.