Michael Cohen
College Football and College Basketball Writer
Las Vegas – The most lively matchup in the first four days of the first college basketball crown, and the game between Villanova and the two most respected brands at USC, both the Power-Conference Lore games, scores tied for less than a minute remaining, and the best players from each team are given chances of accidentality to each hand, guaranteeing their respective financial rewards.
From his position on the right wing, Villanova star Eric Dixon contemplated an isolated duel with Rashaun Agee, the bouncy big man who poured 22 points on Thursday night. He stuck a step of jab as the clock melted in 30 seconds, squeezing his decision to drive or shoot. He pumped to test Agee’s resolve that USC knows well enough that USC begs not to fall into his savvy antics, like all the teams Dixon has faced this season. But the bit of age, Dixon jumped and the referee blew whi. Dixon made one free throw to give the Wildcats a one-point lead.
On the other side of the court, the Trojans turned to key scorer Desmond Claude, a novel guard who was quiet for most of the match in this quarterfinal. Claude picks and rolls two defenders, distorting them to create a small piece of space on the rim, with the right-handed layup brutally spinning, hanging above the cylinder in front of Dixon. Of course, I snatched it.
“He’s an incredible player,” USC head coach Eric Musselman said when asked about Dixon at a post-game press conference. “He knows how to draw a foul. We were supposed to remain pump fakes, so obviously the final point of the game was off pump fakes. But he is Villanova’s greatest scorer ever.”
That fake and subsequent free throw proved to be the night difference the Wildcats needed all 28 points. Dixon single-handedly erased the team’s 10-point deficit by embarking on a personal 13-2 run during a breathtaking stretch that split the second stanza. He scored 24 points after halftime, including Villanova’s seven final nine, and promoted the Wildcats to the semi-finals against UCF at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday afternoon. Nebraska is intertwined with the state of Boise on the other side of the bracket.
They overcame the unsightly start of Thursday’s game to ensure the Wildcats get to it ever. A series of five consecutive field goals that pushed Villanova into the early lead suddenly gave way to an astonishing chorus of cranks, cranks and rattle mistakes so that USC could seize control of the game. The Wildcats finished the half by bricking 12 of their last 14 shots. This includes nine misfires from across the arc. Without a timely score from Poplar, who netted 14 of the team’s 27 points in the opening half, Villanova would have packed his bags in the break.
“They had that to us in the first half,” interim head coach Mike Nardi said.
How much competitive juices Nardi can squeeze out of this group was a legitimate question, especially from the moment Villanova accepted his invitation to the college basketball crown, in the wake of Kyle Neptune’s shooting. One of Las Vegas’ main goals was that the fifth-year player, Eric Dixon Center, could have the opportunity to break the school’s all-time high-ranking scorer, which was held by the greatest wildcat of all time, Kelly Kittles, held for nearly 30 years. But after the item was checked off the list against Colorado on Tuesday evening, Dixon passed the kitten in another pump-fake support jumper in the first half – it’s fair to wonder how motivated a team that hadn’t always been passionate during the regular season would be realistically called for the rest of the tournament.
As the Wildcats returned to the floor for a second-half warm-up, Nardi took a stroll to where Dixon had set up his baseline jumper with a heating pad wrapped around his waist. Nardi told Dixon that he was too hesitant in the first half, especially in win-losing situations, encouraging the star to “shoot, sleep on the street, take shots” and confirming he has no regrets about how the second half unfolded.
There was then an onslaught of another world from Dixon, where he exploded 24 of the team’s 33 points in the second half with an 8-16 shooting. He scored seven points in under 16 media timeouts, earning USC’s lead to five. After that, after Agee’s basket instantly stopped the bleeding, he scored seven more points in under three minutes, moving Villanova forward at the 8:32 mark. The barrage of baseline spins and muscular layups was enhanced by five free throws and three three pointers, including one of the difficult stepback types. Dixon tried more shots in the second half than the rest of his teammates.
“It was amazing,” point guard Jhamir Brickus said of the flying voice. “It was definitely surprising just the way he was able to get the ball and play for others. But that’s something I’m used to.”
That’s why there was absolutely no doubt who had the ball in his hand for Villanova’s most important possessions. Nardi knew it, the Trojans knew it, everyone inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena knew it. The only uncertainty was the move that Dixon would choose, and he would release it from any part of the floor.
The answer seemed rather obvious in hindsight. He caught the ball on the right wing and fed Age into a game of cats and mice. There was only one winner.
“I’m just trying to read the body language,” Dixon said when asked about the final sequence. “And I also think about my past possessions and what they did. [Agee] It was offensive – obviously – it was a good, tough defense. I tried to remove him from his leg.
“And I got him.”
Michael Cohen covers Fox Sports’ college football and college basketball. Follow him on Twitter @michael_cohen13.
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