Las Vegas-The most enthusiastic competition during the first four days of the opening crown of the college, which is a game between two of the most respectable brands in the field in Villanova and USCBoth conference traditions were distilled, to this: less than one minute remaining, the associated result, the best player from each team gave one chance with the ball in their hands and a guaranteed financial reward on the line.
From his position on the right wing, Villanova star Eric Dixon Think and investigate the dueling of his isolation with Rashon AjiRabi Big Man Poured 22 points on Thursday night. He was overcoming his cheerful step when the hour melted under 30 seconds, and weighed the decision to drive or shoot. It has been pumped to the AGEE design test, knowing well that USC, just like every team that Dixon interviewed this season, asks its players not to fall due to its smart instincts. But Agee Bit, Dixon jumped, and the verdict dawn. Dixon made one free throw to give Wild cats Serve one point.
At the other end of the court, Trojan horses Turn into a main top scorer Desmond ClaudeThe partner goalkeeper who was calm for most of the quarter -finals match. Claude divided two defenders of selecting and wrapped him before his body was committed to create a slice of space in the edge, where the right ball throwing the right ball was cruel inside and out, hanging over the cylinder moments before Dixon-of course-can take it away: Villanova 60, USC 59. Final.
“He is a great player,” said Erik Moussamian, the coach of the University of Southern California, when he was asked about Dixon during a post -game press conference. “He knows how to draw mistakes. We were supposed to stay on a fake pump, and it is clear that the last point of the game was outside the fake pump. But he is the leading Villanova top scorer for some some reason.”
That free throw that followed it proved that it was the difference on a night when Wildcats needed all the 28 points that Dixon gave to overcome Wooga Poplar and Jordan LongoThose who achieved only five of 22 field goals combined. Dixon was the one who wiped his team’s power by 10 points by starting a 13-2 personal race during the breathtaking extension that drank the second clip. He scored 24 points after the end of the first half, including seven of nine Villanova, to push the brutal cats to a semi-final with UCF on Saturday afternoon at T-Mobile Arena. Nebraska will tangle with Boise State on the other side of the bow.
In order for Wildcats to reach this extent, they overcame an ugly start to the Thursday game in which its offensive power is incomprehensible near the mid -half point. A series of five consecutive field goals that led Villanova to suddenly advanced, giving way to a disturbing choir of loudspeakers, and strict matures that allowed the University of South California to control the game. The Wildcats team photographed 12 out of 14 shots to finish half, including nine fog behind the bow, as its narrow feature turned into a seven -point deficit. Were it not for some time scoring from Poplar, who scored 14 points from his 27th team in the first half, Villanova could have a burden of her bags at the end of the first half.
“They took it to us in the first half,” said Mike Nardi, temporary coach.
The amount of competitive juice that Nardi could press from this group was a legitimate question from the moment Villanova accepted an invitation to the total basketball crown, especially in the aftermath of the launch of the Kyle Neptuune. It was widely assumed that one of the main goals here in Las Vegas was to make sure that the Eric Dixon center, a player in the fifth year, has an opportunity to break the record for school registration for approximately 30 years by Kerry Ketellis, which is a wonderful cat and a wonderful fold. But once this element was examined from the list against Colorado on Tuesday evening-Dixon passed the priests with the help of another pump in the first half-it became fair to wonder about the extent of the incentive that the team that did not always emerge from passion during the normal season in a realistic way to the remainder of this tournament.
When Wildcats returned to the ground to protect the warm -up in the second half, Nardy toured where Dixon was releasing the foundation line players with a heating pillow wrapped around his back. Nardi Dixon told that he was very hesitant during the first half, especially in a winning or home position, and encouraged his star to “shoot, sleep in the streets, take your shots”, and make sure that there is no remorse for how the second half was revealed.
This was followed by another attack from Dickson in which he exploded for 24 out of 33 points for his team in the second half in 8 against 16. He scored seven points in less than two minutes from the period of the media under 16 years, and made USC progress to five. Then, after a basket of AGE temporarily stopped the bleeding, he scored seven points in less than three minutes to push Villanova forward by 8:32. A barrage of primary rotation and muscle archers have been increased through five free throws and three triple throws, including one of a difficult variety. Dixon tried more shots from the rest of his teammates in the second half.
“It was amazing,” a point goalkeeper Jumeir Brukos He said about that wave. “The way it could be able to record the ball and photograph the plays for others, it was definitely great. But this is something you used to.”
This is why there was no question at all who would have the ball in their hands to possess the most important Villanova. Nardi knew that, he knew the horses of Trojan that, everyone inside MGM Grand Garden Arena knows this. It was the only uncertainty that would choose Dixon, and from any part of the floor he launched.
The answer, after it was too late, seemed somewhat clear: the ball caught on the right wing and hit the fetus into a game of cat and mouse. There was only one winner.
“I just try to read the body language,” Dixon said when asked about the final sequence. “I am also thinking about the previous property and what they did. [Agee] It was aggressive – on the right – to play a good and difficult defense. I just tried to get it out of his feet.
“And I got it.”
Michael Cohen covers university football and university basketball for Fox Sports. Follow it on Twitter @michael_cohen13.
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