Nova Loses to Texas

The Villanova Wildcats fell to the Texas Longhorns 67-58. It was the nightcap of the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden. The 'Cats started out strong, but they were unable to maintain any momentum or find good shots from the field.

While most of the Wildcats were struggling from the field, Dante Cunnigham flourished. Cunnigham was 9-14 from the floor for 23 points and he also added 12 rebounds. Yes, I know Villanova lost, but sometimes a loss against a good team can help them more in the future than a win. This isn't college football. Villanova should make the tournament without an issue and that is what the regular season is all about.

Villanova needs to clean up their help defense. Maybe they started to get tired in the second half, but once Texas figured out how to beat the zone and press, there was pretty much no coming back. They'll go back and look at the tape to see what they need to fix and I'd expect a strong effort on Thursday against St. Joseph's in the Holy War. That game can be seen on ESPN2 at 8pm.

You can be upset with the loss, but I think the game could have gone either way. Texas is a damn good team and one of the best in the country. This loss was their first real test of the season and it'll help them see where they're at on the season. Villanova does need a little more bench production if they want to distinguish themselves as one of the top Big East teams.