MANHATTAN, N.Y. “”mdash; It’s all about the defense.
In an all-too-familiar manner, UCLA’s defensive woes flooded back and No. 7 Villanova ran away with an 82-70 victory over the Bruins in the NIT Season Tip-Off semifinals at Madison Square Garden Wednesday night.
At the heart of UCLA’s well-documented struggles last season, there was a defensive issue. Ben Howland, the coach who had vowed never to use a zone defense, was forced to abandon his beloved man-to-man teachings because of his team’s defensive ineptitude.
The Bruins just had a bad flashback.
UCLA could not catch up with Villanova’s speedy guards, who consistently beat not one, but two Bruin defenders on many of their offensive sets. The Wildcat backcourt of Corey Fisher, Corey Stokes and Maalik Wayns finished with 71 combined points.
The Bruins were led by junior guard Malcolm Lee’s 13 points, despite him not scoring in the first half. Sophomore forward Reeves Nelson had 14 boards.
UCLA will play VCU on Friday at 11:30 a.m PST in the tournament’s consolation round. Villanova will go on to play Tennessee in the final.