South Florida stuns reeling Villanova
Maalik Wayns dropped to the floor as soon as he realized his shot was no good.
He had a chance to redeem himself, to make up for his errant inbounds pass that helped South Florida stage its dramatic comeback. But Villanova's sophomore guard only could hang his head in disbelief as the Bulls escaped with a 70-69 upset in the first round of the Big East Tournament Tuesday night at the Garden.
No. 15 seed South Florida will face No. 7 Cincinnati at 7 Wednesday night in the second round.
Shaun Noriega, who had six three-pointers, led the Bulls (10-22) with 22 points. Augustus Gilchrist added 16. Senior guards Corey Stokes and Corey Fisher finished with 16 and 15, respectively, for the Wildcats (21-11).
Though the Wildcats are expected to receive an NCAA Tournament bid, they've lost five in a row and 10 of 15.
"We couldn't get a stop down the stretch," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "When it rains, it pours, but we just have to play through it. Just keep trying to battle, keep trying to get mentally tougher. It's tough when you've got young guys to go through games like this. But that's life."
No. 10 seed Villanova dominated much of the game, leading by 16 at halftime. But the Bulls refused to concede, and with 27.3 seconds left got the break they needed. With Villanova up 67-66, Wayns threw an inbounds pass into the hands of South Florida guard Anthony Crater, who scored the easy layup to give the Bulls their first lead since 26-25 with 9:10 to go in the first half.
A pair of free throws by Wayns (game-high 24) put Villanova up by 1, but Crater drove down the lane for another easy layup on the Bulls' next possession to make the score 70-69 with :07 left. Wayns had a chance to save the day, but his three-pointer was off the mark.
Wright was not exactly sure why the Wildcats' offense fizzled in the second half.
"The main reason, I can't say,'' Wright said. "But the second important reason is, I thought we got tentative . . . We just didn't play with confidence with the lead."
Marquette 87, Providence 66: Darius Johnson-Odom scored 23 points and Jimmy Butler had 19 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists to lead 11th-seeded Marquette (19-13), which faces seventh-seeded West Virginia Wednesday night. Providence is 15-17.
