The Wildcats Win on a Late Three-Pointer by Justin Moore
NEW YORK, NY 3/13/2024 –
The Villanova Wildcats avoided an upset bid by the DePaul Blue Demons in a first round game in the Big East Tournament. Wildcats guard Justin Moore drained a three-pointer with 8.8 seconds left to give his team a 58 – 57 win at Madison Square Garden. Villanova will play Marquette in the quarterfinal round game on Thursday.
“I think we are a resilient crew and am proud of our guys for their resiliency,” said Villanova Coach Kyle Neptune. “We just kept coming. And thank God for Justin Moore.
DePaul led late and had control of the ball with under a minute to play. Villanova needed a stop and got one to set up the critical possession. The ball got to Moore and he responded by hitting the shot from beyond the arc.
“I’m just trying to make big time plays,” said Moore.
Moore scored 10 points in the game. Center Eric Dixon led the team with a game-high 21 points. Mark Armstrong added 11 points.
Jalen Terry scored 18 points for DePaul and set a school single game tournament record with 15 rebounds.
A key for Villanova has been defense. They held DePaul to 36.7% (22 of 60) shooting from the floor and 9 of 28 from distance. The Blue Demons got to the foul line 5 times making 4. Nova was good on 22 of 52 from the floor and 11 of 35 three-pointers. The Cats got to the line 6 times and made half of those attempts.
Now, a game with Marquette awaits.
“You look at that game,” Neptune pointed out. “They shoot 36% for the game, 36% is pretty good. We look at it like who else can go and miss the shots that we did, and still get stops, and hold a team to 57 points, and find a way to win. That’s how we are going to look at it. Second round.”
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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