By PAUL GOTHAM
BROOKLYN — Villanova came to the Barclays Center with a nagging narrative on its heels.
The Wildcats put previous frustrations behind them.
Four Wildcats scored in double figures and No. 2-seed Villanova advanced to the South Region semi-finals with an 87-68 win over No. 7-seed Iowa Hawkeyes, Sunday afternoon.
The victory ended a six-year drought for Villanova which had not reached the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet Sixteen since a 2009 trip to the Final Four.
Hitting 20-of-33 (60.6 percent) from the floor including 7-of-12 behind the arc, Villanova jumped to 25-point lead at half.
“We haven’t played a first half like that in a long time,” Villanova head coach Jay Wright said. “We played a game against Xavier at home that we played like that, and we’ve been on the other side of this. When you just have a team that comes out and makes shots, makes every play defensively, it’s tough to get back in it.”
Kris Jenkins sparked Villanova midway through the first half. The junior forward scored five as the Wildcats grabbed an eight-point lead. Jenkins took a handoff from Daniel Ochefu and hit a pull-up jumper from the right wing. Next trip down the floor he connected from behind the arc for a 21-13 Wildcat lead.
Phil Booth gave Villanova its first double-digit advantage at 31-21 with a triple from the top of the arc. Booth ignited a 9-0 run as the Wildcats pushed the lead to 18 at 39-21.
Jalen Brunson made it a 20-point game with a layup ahead of the defense for 50-29 Villanova lead.
The Wildcats scored on 23 of 36 first-half possessions.
For seniors Arcidiacono and Ochefu the win secured their first trip to the Sweet Sixteen. This despite being the winningest class in Villanova history.
“It’s definitely a sigh of relief,” Arcidiacono said. “I just think the biggest thing is I’m honestly just done answering the questions about getting past the second weekend. I know it was always in the back of our senior minds and our team. But we definitely can go all the way as long as we stick to what we do.
If we defend like we did in the first half and stay solid like that, our offense will eventually come. I just think, once we set the tone on the defensive end in rebounding, we can go as far as that takes us.”
The Wildcats picked up where they left off in the second half.
Ryan Arcidiacono and Josh Hart sparked a 11-2 run to start the second half. Half finished a layup. Arcidiacono connected on a three-pointer and followed with a pull-up jumper outside the lane. Hart converted an Arcidiacono feed on a two-on-one break for a 65-31 Villanova lead.
“I was very proud of our guys in the second half as well as we played in the first half. We said at halftime that Iowa doesn’t have to press us to speed this game up because they play so fast anyway,” Wright noted. “So don’t — all they have to do is play the way they play because they’ve beaten teams the same way in the first half. They’re capable, and I thought our guys responded to that really well.
“Some teams, they play a slower pace, they’ve got to change how they play to get back in it. They were not going to have to. And we know guys like Jarrod Uthoff and Peter Jok, they could just go on a spurt. That’s why we made the subs at the end. Them being down 16 isn’t that big of a deal. Those guys could hit threes consecutively, and you could be in trouble.”
Hart led Villanova with 19 on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor. Arcidiacono added 16. Jenkins had 15 and Brunson 12. Jenkins handed out a team-high five assists as Villanova collected 23 helpers on 32 field goals.
“They’re a really difficult team to guard,” Iowa head caoch Fran McCaffery said. “A lot of times, really talented offensive teams plays defense in spurts, and they don’t. They play defense equally as well as they play offense.
“Our close-outs weren’t as crisp as they needed to be because they’re a tough group to close out to because they’ll rip a drive on you. So we closed out a little bit short, and they were making threes. We had a couple uncharacteristic turnovers that led to easy transition layups, and that was a big part of it as well.”
Iowa committed just three turnovers (one short of the record set by North Carolina in 1997) in their win over Temple in Friday’s first round game. Villanova converted 13 Hawkeye turnovers in 14 points.
Iowa led for 1:28 of the game.
Villanova will play Miami in the regional semi-finals.
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