As Creighton coach Gregg McDermott said back in February, “Nobody wants to see that team in the Garden, nobody.”
McDermott’s words after suffering a double-digit loss were prophetic and more than just flattery. While it had been a turbulent year for the Villanova Wildcats, they started to build momentum late in the season.
The defending Big East Tournament champs made quite the entrance in their opening round game as the No. 6 seed against rival Georgetown, burying the Hoyas — and potentially Patrick Ewing’s coaching tenure on the Hilltop — with a three-point barrage in a building where they had built up a championship pedigree in recent years.