On Friday, Nov. 17, the No. 21 Villanova men’s basketball team will host Maryland at 8:30 p.m. before heading to the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament in Nassau, Bahamas on Wednesday, Nov. 22. It will face Texas Tech in its first game at 2:30 p.m.
The ‘Cats’ first two games went as expected, as they defeated American, 90-63, and Le Moyne, 83-57. However, the ‘Cats were upset by Penn at the Palestra in their first Big 5 game of the season, 76-72.
Scouting The Other Team
Maryland has struggled to find its footing after winning its season opener at home against Mount St. Mary’s, 68-53. The Terrapins had trouble finishing their games in the 2023 Asheville Championship Tournament, losing by three points to Davidson, 61-64, and University of Alabama at Birmingham, 63-66.
Maryland was an eight-seed in the NCAA tournament last season, finishing fifth in the Big Ten. This season, it was voted fourth in the Big Ten preseason poll.
Key returners for Maryland include graduate student and All-Big Ten point guard Jahmir Young and graduate student forward Donta Scott. Notable contributors also include junior forward Julian Reese and freshman guard DeShawn Harris-Smith, who has already secured a starting position.
Keep An Eye On
Notably missing from the Terrapin squad is graduate guard Hakim Hart, who averaged 11.4 points and 4.1 rebounds last year. During the offseason, Hart transferred to Villanova, and will now have to match up against his former team.
Series History
The Villanova-Maryland series history includes five matchups dating back to the 1984-85 season. Villanova won its last encounter with Maryland in 2011, 74-66. Even so, Maryland head coach Kevin Willard, who previously coached Seton Hall, is familiar with Villanova.
Despite the limited history, the ‘Cats are in a good position for Friday’s game with their 2-1 record and the fact that last season, the Terrapins went 2-9 in away games.
Tournament Info
Following Maryland, the team will travel to the “Paradise of the Bahamas” and face similar, if not less, talented competition from Texas Tech. The Red Raiders were picked to finish eighth out of fourteen in the Big 12 preseason poll.
Known as one of the most challenging in-season tournaments, the Battle 4 Atlantis is a three-day tournament over the Thanksgiving break with little rest time between games. Villanova has won the tournament twice. It won in 2013 and 2018.
Scouting The Other Team
Like the ‘Cats’ last season, Texas Tech failed to make the NCAA tournament and finished the season 16-16.
However, the Red Raiders have started the season in a good place with a dominant 73-46 win against Texas A&M-Commerce and a 56-42 win against San Jose State last Sunday.
Texas Tech has had a mixed couple of years with a lot of coaching staff changes. In 2019, head coach Chris Beard led the team all the way to the national championship game in the NCAA tournament, which it lost to Virginia. Beard left for Texas in the 2021 offseason. Texas Tech then hired head coach Mark Adams. This arrangement did not last long, as Adams resigned after being suspended by the University in March for making an alleged “inappropriate, unacceptable and racially insensitive comment” to a player. The Red Raiders’ new head coach is Grant McCasland, who previously coached at North Texas.
This season, Texas Tech’s roster has undergone major changes. The Red Raiders lost their top three scorers from the previous season: Kevin Obanor, De’Vion Harmon and Jaylon Tyson. Obanor, who averaged 14.4 points, exhausted his eligibility. Harmon, who averaged 13.6 points, decided to enter the NBA draft. Tyson transferred with a teammate, Fardaws Aimaq, to UC Berkeley.
For the other remaining starters, the team has used four of their new transfer students. Graduate forward Darrion Williams came from Nevada and is already giving sophomore guard Pop Isaacs a run for top scorer. Graduate center Warren Washington comes from Arizona averaging 9.6 points and 6.9 rebounds with 60 blocked shots and a 56.3% field goal average. Lastly, Texas Tech picked up two of its remaining starters from West Virginia, graduate forward Devan Cambridge and graduate guard Joe Tossaint, who both averaged between around 10 points last season.
Series History
The squads team met previously in 2018, with Villanova securing a victory, 71-59. Both Villanova and Texas Tech are in the process of figuring out their chemistry, but Villanova may have an advantage in the tournament with their two previous titles and familiarity with its challenges.
Keep An Eye On
In the ‘Cats’ victories, most of the scoring for the ‘Cats has been spread out throughout almost the entire team due to the depth of its bench. In their loss, the scoring was much more concentrated.
Past Villanova stars, such as graduate guard Justin Moore and redshirt senior and forward Eric Dixon, have been contributing this season, with Moore averaging 15.5 points and Dixon averaging 7.5 points. New transfers such as senior guard TJ Bamba and graduate forward Tyler Burton are also top contributors for the ‘Cats, with Burton leading the team with rebounds and Bamba with assists. In addition, returning players such as sophomore guards Brendan Hausen and Mark Armstrong, along with junior guard Jordan Longino, made solid contributions. Hausen had a career-high 18 against Le Moyne after sinking six three-pointers, while Longino had 14 in the loss at Penn.
As long as Villanova focuses on applying the defensive pressures in both games, the offense should come to them from a variety of sources.
The Wildcats will face either Northern Iowa or North Carolina in their second game of the battle. The ‘Cats will then play a third game in three days against a team to be determined.
The game against Maryland can be viewed on Fox Sports 1, while the game against Texas Tech will be on ESPN.
