The Wildcats (7-2) got off to a roaring 4-3 start, but from that point were outscored 50-19 to end the half. There was a short stretch where Devin Askew made back-to-back threes (with the second being
an and-1) to cut the lead to 8, but the Wolverines went on a 29-7 run from there. Askew finished with a team-high 18 points on 6/16 shooting (5/13 from three-point range).
Things weren’t much better in the second half, as much of it was clearly played at a “run out of the clock” pace. Acaden Lewis scored all but 2 of his 11 points after halftime. Askew and Lewis were the only two who could create any sort of offense for Villanova. Kevin Willard tried a number of different lineup combinations searching for rhythm, but nothing worked. We even saw two early time-outs in an attempt to stop the Wolverines’ momentum. The only other double-digit scorer was Chris Jeffrey, who scored all 10 of his points in garbage time.
Michigan is the real deal, having beaten the last six opponents by an average of 34 points. Elliot Cadeau was the catalyst in the first half for the Wolverines, scoring 15 of his team-leading 18 points on the night. Past that, all of the other eight rotation players for Michigan scored at least 5 points. It was a thorough effort from arguably the best team in the country.
The Wildcats will look to rebound in their upcoming home game against in-state rival Pitt on Saturday, Dec. 13 at 4:30 p.m.
