NCAA Tournament: Mikal Bridges, top-seeded Villanova unstoppable in advancing to Sweet 16

PITTSBURGH — As far as Villanova was concerned, it was time for the college basketball world to get back on its axis. After having seen fellow top seed Virginia eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in historic fashion, Villanova did what favorites are expected to do. This “1” made sure it was not done.

“You’ve got to bring it every night. You can be beaten,” said Mikal Bridges, who watched on TV with his teammates as 16th-seeded UMBC knocked off the top team in the country Friday night. “That’s why we play Villanova basketball for 40 minutes against anybody. You could be a 16 seed, could be a 1 seed. We play our way.”

Bridges was especially effective for 20 minutes in a second-round game against Alabama on Saturday afternoon, scoring 22 of his 23 points in the second half in an 81-58 victory for the No. 1 seed in the East Regional.

Had the top-seeded Wildcats (32-4) been beaten, it would not have been as earth-shaking as Virginia’s loss to the America East opponent — the first time a 16 seed won a 1-vs.-16 matchup. Alabama (20-16) was seeded ninth with a couple of solid wins in the SEC Tournament. Still . . .

“There was a lot of attention with that. We’re a 1 seed, so it was more attention for us,” said Villanova sixth man Donte DiVincenzo, who stepped up in the first half with star guard Jalen Brunson on the bench with foul trouble. DiVincenzo scored 18 points before intermission, shooting 5-for-9 from three-point range and keeping Villanova from sinking into upset territory. That included a shot with four seconds left that sent his team into the locker room with a 32-27 lead.

Bridges took it from there. The junior forward, considered one of the best all-around players in the country and a likely NBA lottery pick, was determined to do better than he had in the first half, when he scored only one point.

“Coach was telling me to be aggressive and stay ready, play off your jump shot,” Bridges said. “My teammates found me open and I kept shooting.”

Coach Jay Wright said, “He’s a confident kid. He’s a nice kid. He used to be too nice where it would be, ‘OK, I’m not making shots. I’m not going to shoot anymore. I’ll let everybody else do it.’ ”

Wright designed the first play of the second half for Bridges to get him going. He made a jumper and soon followed with three free throws, a dunk and three successive three-pointers. All of that occurred in a span of 4 minutes, 30 seconds as he totaled 16 points in an 18-1 burst that pretty much put the game away.

Alabama realized there was no stopping the buzz saw. “Villanova, they can stretch you out,” guard Dazon Ingram said. “It’s very hard to defend once they are knocking down shots. They can get you off your feet if you go for the pump fake and they can get in the lane, find another player and they are going to knock down the shot.”

Crimson Tide coach Avery Johnson said, “The one they made right before the end of the first half, we’re in their face. And the guy steps back and makes a three.”

The defense was just as strong as the offense for Villanova, which did not allow potential lottery pick Collin Sexton to make a huge impact with his 17 points and held formidable outside shooter John Petty to three points.

Villanova had its own shadow to overcome in this second-round game. The 2016 national champion had been knocked out in the second round in three of the previous four years. “We don’t talk about it,” Bridges said. “Whoever our next opponent is, that’s who we look at, we locate and get locked in on.”