Xavier v. Villanova: Three Things We Learned

Jalen Reynolds is eating

Villanova didn't have an answer for Jalen in the middle today, and Xavier kept feeding the big man. He ended with 15 and could have had more if he had gotten a few more touches. If Xavier is going to make a run in March, they'll need the combination of Reynolds and Stainbrook to be playing at a high level.

We still can't defend the arc

Come on. It's no secret that Villanova can shoot the ball from deep, but Xavier gave them plenty of opportunities to do just that and you can see what the results were. Defensive rotations were too slow and ball screen defense was borderline embarrassing. Stop me if you've heard this one before.

We still can't close

With ten minutes to play, this was anyone's game. Then Xavier sputtered while Nova put on a run and that was all she wrote. Xavier gave up a 14-2 spurt that ended the game as a contest. That Creighton game is huge, and now Xavier probably needs a Big East tournament game win to feel solid in the field.