Villanova Drops One To Pittsburgh, 79-70

Filed under Game Recap on February 5th, 2012

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In Pittsburgh on February 5th the Wildcats lost to the Panthers, 79-70, in conference play.

Some notes on this matchup: The Wildcats are not a good team playing on the road, and this loss puts that record at 2-8. Last season, Villanova went 0-2 against Pittsburgh. Through four years, the Wildcats are 3-5, and that includes 0-4 at Petersen Events Center. Since 1980, the Villanova record against Pittsburgh is 27-27.

Pittsburgh had a solid statistical showing in three-point shooting and defensive rebounding.

Pittsburgh was too powerful at the basket, with 26 defensive rebounds to only 20 by Villanova. Pittsburgh shot 44% from three-point range and used that to blow by Villanova, who managed 31%.

Maalik Wayns played hard for the Wildcats with 18 points in 38 minutes. Mouphtaou Yarou added a game-high 14 rebounds.

Nova Players Mins Pts Reb Ast Stl Blk TO A+ Mouphtaou Yarou 31 12 14 2 0 3 1 A Maalik Wayns 38 18 7 4 0 0 3 B J. Pinkston 35 10 5 0 2 0 1 B Maurice Sutton 8 5 2 0 1 0 0 B James Bell 23 10 4 1 0 0 1 B- Dominic Cheek 35 13 1 2 1 0 3 D+ Ty Johnson 22 2 0 2 0 1 2 - Markus Kennedy 6 0 0 0 0 0 0

PITT Players Mins Pts Reb Ast Stl Blk TO A+ Tray Woodall 37 29 6 5 2 0 6 A Ashton Gibbs 36 25 2 1 0 1 3 B+ Dante Taylor 22 9 5 0 1 2 0 B Talib Zanna 28 4 8 1 0 2 0 B- Lamar Patterson 21 8 3 2 0 0 2 C+ Cameron Wright 11 0 2 0 4 0 0 C Nasir Robinson 26 4 4 2 0 1 3 - John Johnson 9 0 1 0 0 0 0 - J.J. Moore 10 0 1 0 0 0 1

The Wildcats now drop to 10-13. Their Big East record goes to 3-8, still good enough for 14th place. Their record against RPI Top 100 teams (Pittsburgh #61) falls to 2-12. This adds yet another loss to their 3 game string.

The Wildcats are coming up on Providence at home on February 7th.

• Villanova has lost 90% of the time this season (1-9) after recording 36 or fewer rebounds.
• This game was statistically over in the 2nd half with 0:07 left to go.
• The last time Villanova started the season 10-13 was 1997.
• Mouphtaou Yarou accounted for 38.8% of the team's rebounds.
• The Wildcats have lost 75% of the time this season (1-3) after having a field goal percentage of 35.9% or worse.

• Talib Zanna has led the team in rebounding 6 times in 24 games this season.
• Cameron Wright recorded a team season high in steals with 4.
• Ashton Gibbs has 7 straight double-digit point games.
• This marks the 31st 20-point game of Ashton Gibbs's career.
• Tray Woodall tallied a team season high in free throws made with 12 and free throws attempted with 12.

Check out the complete Games Notes

Tags: Maalik Wayns, Mouphtaou Yarou