NEWARK, N.J. — Jay Wright doesn’t follow who is in the running for national player of the year. However, the Villanova coach thinks he has the best player in the country in senior guard Josh Hart.
After Saturday’s career-best performance, it would be hard to argue.
“He’s as good as any player in the country is and he’s so complete. He will do whatever it takes to win a game and he has the ability to do it and at the right time,” Wright said. “He got big rebounds at the end of the game. He got offensive rebounds, he scored, he made passes, he made free throws, he defended. He did everything. He’s as complete a player as we’ve ever had.”
Hart scored a career-high 37 points and No. 1 Villanova rallied from an 11-point deficit to beat No. 23 Notre Dame 74-66 on Saturday at the Prudential Center.
Hart was the only Villanova (10-0) player to score in double figures. He was 10 of 14 from the field, including 3 of 4 from behind the arc, and he made all 14 of his free-throw attempts.
Matt Farrell and Steve Vasturia had 18 points each for Notre Dame (9-1), which entered the game as one of eight remaining unbeaten Division I teams.
Villanova took its first lead of the game at 57-56 after Eric Paschall blocked Vasturia’s three-pointer with 9:15 left. Hart assisted on a layup by Jalen Brunson with 9:09 remaining to give the Wildcats the lead.
The teams exchanged the lead from there until Villanova pulled away in the final minute.
Farrell, a Bridgewater, N.J., native, made his first six shots, including a driving layup at the halftime buzzer, that gave Notre Dame a 41-36 lead.
Down 35-24 with 3:52 left in the first half, Villanova chipped away at the lead.
“We were trying to stop them in the first half. We really were. They make the right play every time, but we just were not doing a good job in the first half for whatever reason,” Wright said. “And they’re good. That’s the other reason. They’re really good. Nothing different at halftime. We just said we got to try to do what our game plan is. We’re trying and they’re beating us. We have to try harder.”
In other games Saturday involving Top 25 men’s teams, T.J. Leaf scored 21 points, fellow freshman Lonzo Ball added 19 and No. 2 UCLA shot 67 percent in beating Michigan 102-84 to improve to 10-0. … Frank Mason III had 18 points and seven assists without a turnover, Josh Jackson and Svi Mykhailiuk added 15 points apiece and No. 3 Kansas cruised to an 89-72 victory over Nebraska. … Grayson Allen shot 75 percent from the field — including a perfect 7 of 7 in the second half — en route to a career-high 34 points to lead No. 5 Duke to a 94-45 victory over UNLV. … Przemek Karnowski scored 14 points and No. 8 Gonzaga beat Akron 61-43 in a defensive battle, lifting the Bulldogs to the best start in program history. … James Blackmon Jr. scored 18 points, Robert Johnson added 16, and No. 9 Indiana dominated Houston Baptist 103-61. … Quentin Snider scored 15 points, V.J. King added 13 and No. 11 Louisville overcame a cold shooting start to beat Texas Southern 102-71 and give Hall of Famer Rick Pitino his 400th victory as the Cardinals’ coach. … J.P. Macura emerged from his shooting slump by scoring 18 points, and RaShid Gaston helped No. 13 Xavier get the edge up front against the nation’s top rebounding team, leading the Musketeers to a 77-69 victory over Utah. … Daxter Miles Jr. scored a season-high 20 points and No. 15 West Virginia overcame an early lull to beat VMI 90-55 and give Coach Bob Huggins his 799th career victory. … Kelan Martin came off the bench to score 20 points and was the catalyst in two key second-half runs that sent No. 16 Butler past No. 22 Cincinnati 75-65. … Bronson Koenig scored 18 points, and Ethan Happ gave No. 17 Wisconsin a spark, scoring all 11 of his points in the second half of a 93-84 victory over in-state rival Marquette. … Isaac Haas scored 14 points, Caleb Swanigan had 13 points and 10 rebounds and Dakota Mathias added 12 points on four three-pointers, leading No. 18 Purdue to a 77-53 victory over Cleveland State. … No. 20 Arizona got 19 points each from Rawle Alkins and Kobi Simmons to beat Missouri 79-60 and win its second game in a row.
Sports on 12/11/2016