VILLANOVA MEN’S BASKETBALL Wildcat Game Notes Villanova Wildcats VILLANOVA BASKETBALL (18-16 overall) 2003-04 SCHEDULE & RESULTS Date Opponent Time/Outcome Nov. 21 at Temple W/73-48 Nov. 22 at Redlands W/114-103 Nov. 24 vs. Chaminade L/49-52 Nov. 25 vs. Santa Clara W/53-51 O.T. 2004 National Invitation Tournament Nov. 26 vs. Ohio State L/66-67 vs. Rutgers Scarlet Knights Dec. 6 vs. La Salle W/74-61 Dec. 9 at Pennsylvania W/73-63 (18-12 overall) Dec. 12 NORTHEASTERN W/74-55 Wednesday, March 24, 2004 Dec. 22 COLUMBIA W/74-66 ESPN2 TV Dec. 28 UNC GREENSBORO W/84-63 WZZD Radio (990 AM)/ESPN Radio (920 AM) Jan. 2 at Kansas L/79-86 Jan. 6 MEMPHIS * L/57-73 Jan. 10 NOTRE DAME * L/78-82 Jan. 14 at Boston College W/92-89 VILLANOVA PROBABLE STARTERS Jan. 18 ST. JOHN’S W/85-74 Jan. 21 at Providence L/56-62 NO. NAME (HEIGHT/HOMETOWN) PPG RPG Jan. 25 at Miami W/76-69 2 RANDY FOYE (6-3/NEWARK, N.J.) 13.7 4.7 Jan. 28 RUTGERS L/68-71 34 CURTIS SUMPTER (6-7/BROOKLYN, N.Y.) 14.3 7.2 Jan. 31 WEST VIRGINIA W/73-58 20 JASON FRASER (6-10/AMITYVILLE, N.Y.) 7.0 6.9 Feb. 2 SAINT JOSEPH’S L/67-74 12 MIKE NARDI (6-1/LINDEN, N.J.) 10.0 2.3 Feb. 5 at Georgetown W/75-60 14 ALLAN RAY (6-2/BRONX, N.Y.) 17.4 3.9 Feb. 11 PROVIDENCE L/74-100 Feb. 14 at West Virginia L/60-67 OFF THE BENCH Feb. 18 VIRGINIA TECH W/80-68 50 WILL SHERIDAN (6-8/BEAR, DEL.) 4.6 4.7 Feb. 21 at Seton Hall L/68-70 3 DERRICK SNOWDEN (6-0/BALTIMORE, MD.) 2.9 1.5 Feb. 23 at Syracuse L/59-64 1 ANDREAS BLOCH (6-8/WURMLINGEU, GER.) 3.7 2.3 Feb. 28 CONNECTICUT* L/74-75 O.T. 21 CHRIS CHARLES (7-0/MILWAUKEE, WIS.) 2.2 2.3 Mar. 2 MIAMI L/56-59 5 MICHAEL CLAXTON (6-0/HEMPSTEAD, N.Y.) 0.7 0.6 Mar. 6 at Pittsburgh L/45-59 Mar. 10 vs. Seton Hall (BET) W/61-60 HEAD COACH: JAY WRIGHT (52-45, THIRD SEASON) Mar. 11 vs. Providence (BET) W/69-66 Mar. 12 vs. Connecticut (BET) L/67-84 Mar. 17 DREXEL (NIT) W/85-70 THE TOP STORIES: Mar. 20 VIRGINIA (NIT) W/73-63 Mar. 24 at Rutgers (NIT) 7:00 p.m. ¾ Perimeter defense was a central element in Villanova’s 73-63 second round NIT victory over Virginia on Saturday. One game removed from connecting on 13 3-point goals in a first round win, Virginia converted just 1-of-10 from *Wachovia Center beyond the arc at the Pavilion. In its last six games, the ‘Cats have limited opponents to 26-of-95 shooting from 3-point territory (.274). On the year VU’s opponents are connecting on .333 of their triple tries. MEDIA INFORMATION ¾ The challenge of the homestretch faced by Villanova became clear on Interview Requests: Selection Sunday. Seven of Villanova’s last eight games were played against All interview requests should be addressed to Mike NCAA Tournament teams. What’s more, thirteen of Villanova’s 16 losses in Sheridan, Director of Media Relations at (610) 519- 2003-04 came at the hands of squads participating in either the NCAA 4120. Tournament or the NIT. Follow Villanova Basketball on the Web: ¾ Tonight marks only the second time in school history that Villanova has faced a Big East Conference rival in the NIT or NCAA Tournament. The other took Follow the Villanova men’s basketball team on the place on April 1, 1985, when Villanova upended Georgetown 66-64 at Rupp web at: www.villanova.com Arena to claim its only NCAA title. Villanova Media Relations Information: th ¾ This is Villanova’s 10 postseason appearance in the last 11 years and fifth Phone- (610) 519-4120; Fax- (610) 519-7323 consecutive visit to the NIT. Villanova is 24-16 (.600) lifetime in the NIT. Email- [email protected] VILLANOVA BASKETBALL GAMEDAY The Notebook Free Throw Facts One reason Villanova has prospered despite not shooting a high percentage of late has been its ability to get to the free throw Virginia Was Vanquished line. Through the end of the regular season there was one In its two NIT victories, the Wildcats have attempted 73 statistical constant about the 2003-04 Villanova Wildcats: when VU free throws and converted 56 (.767). Since beginning postseason was in an offensive groove, it flourished. When it wasn’t, earning play on March 10 in the Big East Tournament at Madison Square victories became difficult. Garden, has been to the stripe 138 times and made 101 (.732). Consider that in 16 Big East Conference regular season That’s an average of 27.6 attempts per outing. games, Villanova shot 50 percent or better six times. It won all six In its final five regular season games, Villanova visited of those contests – and dropped all 10 of those when it connected at the line just 83 times and converted only 51 (.614). a clip less efficient than that. On the season, Villanova averages 20.6 free throws per Things have changed in the postseason. game and converts its opportunities at a rate of .735. Villanova has not shot better than 50 percent once in five Curtis Sumpter and Allan Ray lead the team with 140 free games in the Big East Tournament and NIT. Yet it has won four of throw attempts each while Randy Foye has taken 130 free throws. those games on the strength of an improved defensive push. Never was that more evident than last Saturday. The ‘Cats Young and the Restless dictated tempo with their defense and held a potent University of That Villanova leans heavily on a youthful core is Virginia unit to 63 points and .386 shooting from the floor. It was apparent when one studies the stat sheet. A few figures shed some only Villanova’s third postseason tournament victory over an light on just how reliant on underclassmen the Wildcats are. Atlantic Coast Conference foe in 12 attempts and first since 1985. In 34 games in 2003-04, Villanova has played 6,850 “Our guys were tough and I’m proud of them,” stated minutes. A total of 5,984 of those minutes belong to first or second Villanova head coach Jay Wright. year players. That means that freshmen and sophomores have The Wildcats and Cavs staged a close duel for the game’s accounted for 87 percent of the minutes played at Villanova this first 12 minutes. But the ‘Cats built a 34-26 advantage with 1:24 to season. Only one upperclassman, Derrick Snowden (409), has go. Allan Ray put an exclamation point on matters when he sank an logged more than 400 minutes for Villanova this season. improbable 3-pointer from 30 feet out as time expired before the Of the 2,411 points scored by Villanova this year, 2,193 half to allow the Wildcats to claim a 36-27 lead at the break. have been supplied by sophomores or freshmen. That’s 91 percent Defense was the key in the second half. Villanova limited of the points. Virginia to just nine points in the first ten minutes of the half. With By class, the scoring breaks down like this: 9:26 to go, the ‘Cats owned a 51-37 lead. Freshmen: 21 percent Virginia did not wither, however, and made a methodical Sophomores: 72 percent charge at Villanova. An Elton Brown basket with 1:51 to go Juniors: 0 percent reduced the gap to 63-59 before Randy Foye took over, scoring Seniors: 7 percent eight points the rest of the way to lift the Wildcats to a 73-63 win. On the glass, 1,013 of the 1,237 rebounds pulled down by “Obviously this is a very good win for us,” stated Wright. the ‘Cats have been credited to first or second year players. That “Virginia is a good team, they were a bubble NCAA team. They are computes to 82 percent of the rebounding. a lot like us in that they are very young, and their best days are Of the 170 individual games started this year, only three ahead of them. This was a great test to see where we are. starts have been made by upperclassmen. Snowden and Andreas “We had a good crowd. It was just a good day.” Bloch started on Senior Night and Bloch started once at Miami when Curtis Sumpter was cited for a minor violation of team rules. Villanova 2003-04 Dress Roster 1 Andreas Bloch F 6-8 225 Sr.-3L Wurmlingeu, Germany/Fresno Central 2 Randy Foye G 6-3 195 So.-1L Newark, N.J./East Side 3 Derrick Snowden G 6-0 170 Sr.-3L Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Spalding 4 Ross Condon G 5-11 180 Fr.-HS Springfield, Va./Potomac School 5 Michael Claxton G 6-0 200 So.-1L Hempstead, N.Y./Christ the King 10 Tom Grace G 5-11 170 Sr.-2L Catonsville, Md./Cardinal Gibbons 12 Mike Nardi G 6-0 175 Fr.-HS Linden, N.J./St. Patrick’s 14 Allan Ray G 6-2 205 So.-1L Bronx, N.Y./St. Raymond's 20 Jason Fraser F 6-9 215 So.-1L Amityville, N.Y./Amityville 21 Chris Charles F/C 7-0 220 R-So.