Missouri tops Villanova at Jimmy V Classic

Missouri no longer plays the "40 minutes of hell" full-court pressing style it did under former coach Mike Anderson, but you'd have a hard time convincing Villanova of that. The 10th-ranked Tigers ran up a 16-point second-half lead, then weathered a late surge by the Wildcats to score an 81-71 victory in the Jimmy V Classic Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.

Mizzou (8-0) remained undefeated, but Villanova (5-3) could take some solace in the fact that it pushed the Tigers to the end instead of folding as Notre Dame did in a 29-point loss to the Tigers and as California did in a 39-point loss. "It's no surprise how good they were," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "We tried to scrap and fight and keep it close. But they have so many answers, and they're so disciplined and intelligent."

In the second game of the doubleheader, Jae Crowder hit a three-pointer with seven seconds left to give 11th-ranked Marquette (8-0) a 79-77 victory over Washington (4-3).

It wasn't a great shooting night for Missouri, which hit only 38.5 percent from the field in the first half, but it was a great share-the-ball night, which has been the Tigers' trademark. Guards Phil Pressey and Michael Dixon combined to make only 3 of their 21 shots, but they totaled 19 assists, 12 by Pressey.

"I've been on a lot of teams in high school, AAU and college, and I've never seen anything like it," Missouri forward Ricardo Ratliffe said of the Tigers' guard play. "This is the most unselfish team I've played on."

The perfect example came with 4:47 left and Missouri clinging to a six-point lead. Pressey drove and drew two defenders, then tossed the ball back over his right shoulder to a trailing Ratliffe for a wide-open dunk and a 70-62 lead. "Phil not only has eyes in the back of his head, he has eyes on the side of his head," Ratliffe said. "My teammates have been telling me to dunk more, so I did."

Ratliffe shot 8-for-9 from the field on his way to 17 points and a team-high 11 rebounds, including five offensive boards. Kim English added 15 points, and Marcus Denmon had a sensational 28-point game, scoring 15 points in Mizzou's 23-8 run to finish the first half and take a 42-29 lead. Denmon also scored the first five points for the Tigers in the second half as they extended their lead to 47-31.

A young Villanova team had five double-figure scorers: Maalik Wayns (14 points, eight assists), Darrun Hilliard (13), Dominic Cheek (12), Mouphtaou Yarou (11, eight rebounds) and JayVaughn Pinkston (10). Wayns hit a three-pointer and a pull-up jumper to cut the deficit to 75-68, but with 1:10 left, Wayns got trapped in the corner and turned the ball over.

"I was looking for the three, and they denied it," Wayns said. "I should have called timeout."

Wright said that was the Wildcats' best shot to win. "You can't press Missouri because their guards are so good," Wright said. "You've got to grind, get it close at the end and make some plays. We got it to 7, but Maalik threw it away in the corner."