Malcolm Grant Gets Revenge Against Nova

The Nova Southeast Knights that is. The former Wildcat had 17 points and 4 assists in a 108-58 Miami win last night. It's good to see him playing well... I don't know where he would have fit in with this already stacked backcourt.

Malcolm Grant to Miami

Sources say Malcolm Grant will transfer to the University of Miami. Malcolm should be able to find plenty of playing time there because only two guards from the Hurricanes' current roster will remain on the team when Grant is eligible to play in the 2009-2010 season. I wish him the best of luck and hope he has a great career in the ACC.

Grant to transfer

Malcolm Grant has received a release to transfer. Jay Wright stated, "Malcolm is an integral part of our basketball family and a great young man. He has been exemplary as a student and a teammate at Villanova. However, he deserves starters' minutes. We are grateful for all that Malcolm has given to Villanova and support him in this decision."

It's a shame to see Malcolm leave, but I wish him the best of luck wherever he ends up. He struggled to find playing time in Villanova's crowded backcourt this season, and if Villanova lands Tyreke Evans, Grant would have had even more difficultly getting on the floor next season.

I think he should have received more playing time this past season. Who knows what would have happened if Malcolm played more, but without him Villanova would have lost to LSU and Pitt at home. Those losses would have put Villanova at 18-14, and most likely out of the NCAA Tournament. So even though he played a total of two minutes in three tournament games, Villanova never could have made their Sweet Sixteen run without Malcolm Grant.

The Malcolm Mystery

Interesting article about Malcolm Grant. In it Grant dispels the rumors floating around about his lack of playing time.
Notable Quotes:
Grant: "People were telling me that, and I was laughing, like, 'Are you serious?' People were saying, 'Your grades,' or 'You were talking back to Coach,' all this and that. I'm laughing like it's crazy, but that's college. You live through it and you block that stuff out."
"It's been tough, but I just stay positive. My teammates have spoken to me, telling me to stay positive and that they need me out there. I just try to give positive energy to the team. If I don't play, then it's the coach's decision. I know he knows what's best for the team."
"I want to improve my defense... I knew coming in I was the underdog and I had to prove myself. I used that as motivation."
"I haven't gotten into trouble. I haven't done anything wrong in school. I'm doing excellent in school. I haven't talked back to my teacher. I haven't done any of that. It's crazy."

Jay Wright: "It's just that we've struggled playing young, small guards together. That wasn't something we anticipated, but it's become a problem for us. I think when those guys are older, they're going to be able to do it better."

I understand Jay's reasoning, but the situation still seems skeptical to me. If there was no deliberate reason for benching Grant, why wouldn't Wright play him in the Georgetown game when Corey Fisher was struggling (1-16 fg). They were just one Malcolm Grant 3-pointer away from winning the game. Also why wouldn't he play Grant more than one minute in the St. Joseph's game when everybody was struggling. At least Malcolm is staying positive through all of it.

#18 Villanova at Rutgers

Final Score: Rutgers 80, Villanova 68

Player of the Game: Malcolm Grant 23 points (6-7 3-pt)


Recap:
I don't know why Jay Wright waited until the last 3 minutes of the game to put his three best players on the court at the same time: Scottie Reynolds, Malcolm Grant, and Corey Fisher. As soon as Grant re-entered the game he put on an amazing performance, reminiscent of the LSU game, scoring 17 points in about 2 minutes. But by that time it was too little, too late. Simply put, Grant and Fisher need more playing time. Jay Wright seems to want to go with a bigger and more experience lineup, but players like Shane Clark, Dwayne Anderson, and Reggie Redding are not getting it done, especially on the offensive end. Villanova went for a long stretch in the second half where they failed to even attempt a field goal due to turnovers and blocked shots. As a team you need to maximize your strengths, and Villanova's strengths are its quickness, depth, and offense. But Jay Wright is taking away those strengths with the lineups he is putting on the floor. In years past Wright has been a guy that put his best players on the floor, regardless of height or position, as evidenced by the 4-guard lineup in 2005-2006. I can't understand why he won't do that now. Sure these guards are freshmen and sophomores and have much less experience, but right now the experienced players aren't playing well anyway. This is a team that should be running up and down the floor and scoring in the 90s. A lineup of Reynolds, Fisher, Grant, Pena, and Cunningham may not be as good defensively, but it wouldn't matter how many points they give up if they outscore their opponents, which they should with all those offensive weapons.

The team as a whole only had 5 assists in the game, which is horrible for a team with 3 great point guards. Reynolds had a horrible shooting night going 5-19 from the field and 1-9 for three, and finished with 16 points. When he's having an off shooting night Reynolds needs to defer to his teammates and collect more than 2 assists. Reynolds has carried the team to victory several times, but when he's having a bad night, Jay Wright needs to give the ball to Grant or Fisher. Malcolm Grant got the start, but disappeared for most of the game until the final 3 minutes, when he was on fire. Dante Cunningham had a below-average game scoring 9 points and only grabbing 4 rebounds. Antonio Pena had a rough night scoring 0 points, although he did collect 8 rebounds. They went to Pena in the post early in the game and he made some good moves, but failed to make the baskets. Shane Clark's play lately is getting to the point where it's hurting the team. He only had 2 points and 2 rebounds in 24 minutes of play. I know he can play better because I've seen him do it in the past, but if he can't step it up, he needs a significant reduction in his minutes. Corey Fisher only played 15 minutes, and it seemed like even less than that. It's unacceptable to kept you're second leading scorer on the bench that long for no apparent reason. Corey Stokes seemed to be inspired by his return to his home state of New Jersey by breaking out of his shooting slump to make three 3-pointers. They were all in the first half however, and he failed to get any open looks in the second half. Anderson and Redding combined for 3 points and 26 minutes.

Villanova cannot continue to have lapses like this and expect to make the NCAA tournament. Big East road victories are hard to come by this season, and this game was perhaps Villanova's easiest opportunity against the previously 0-6 Scarlet Knights. Hopefully the Cats will rebound with a strong performance at home this weekend against Notre Dame.

Next Game: Sat. Jan. 26, 12:00 pm, vs. Notre Dame at the Wachovia Center

#16 Villanova vs #13 Pittsburgh

Score: Villanova 64, Pitt 63
Player of the Game: Malcolm Grant 22 pts, 4-7 3-pt


Recap: Villanova overcame Pittsburgh by one point in a thriller at the Pavilion behind Malcolm Grant's stellar performance. Grant took over, remenisicent of the LSU game. He led all scorers with 22 points, hitting big shot after big shot. He brings so much energy and seems to really feed off of the crowd. When the fans were cheering the loudest, he came through by making a big 3-pointer. From this and the LSU game it is clear that Grant is a clutch performer and flat-out winner, which begs questions about Corey Fisher. Fisher had only 4 points and 1 assist against Pitt and only had 2 points against LSU, while his best games have come in Villanova losses: 21 points vs. NC St. and 23 points vs. DePaul. It may be too early to tell, but I hope Fisher isn't one of those players who puts up great stats, but can't lead his team to victory.

In the end turnovers were the cause of Pitt's downfall. They had 22 turnovers in the game, which was due in a lagre part to the injury of point guard Levance Fields. No Villanova starter scored in double figures, and the continued struggles of Scottie Reynolds are somewhat puzzling. Reynolds was held to 4 points on 1-6 shooting (0-5 3-pt), although he did have 4 assists, and made the pass to Dante Cunningham which led to the foul call and the winning free throws. Reynolds seems to have lost some confidence shooting the ball. He seemed to hesitate and pump fake the ball way too many times, instead of trusting his stroke and releasing quickly. I'm sure he'll grow out of this funk, but let's just hope it's sooner than later. Dante Cunningham stayed calm under pressure to make the tying and winning free throws. He had a quiet offensive night with only 6 points, but he cleaned up the glass with a team high 9 rebounds. Once again the absence of Casiem Drummond was felt, as the Wildcats had difficulty in containing DeJuan Blair who finished with 12 points and 15 rebounds, 7 of them offensive. Antonio Pena stepped up in a big way scoring 12 points off the bench, and was the only other Villanova player to score in double figures. He also had 4 rebounds and 3 steals, including the big steal in the final seconds to secure victory. Pena may have earned himself more playing time, especially with the continued struggles of Shane Clark who had 7 points, 3 rebounds in the game. I though he deserved it after the LSU game, but now Malcolm Grant will definitely see more minutes. He is the team's best 3-point shooter at 55%. He probably won't start, but will be a key sixth man because of the energy and scoring he brings into the game.

Next Game: Sat. January 12, 7:00 PM at Cincinnati

#21 Villanova vs. LSU

Score: Villanova 68, LSU 67

Player of the Game: Malcolm Grant, 18 pts

Recap: Wow. That's all I can say. LSU dominated almost the entire game, but Villanova came back to take its first lead of the game, off of a Dante Cunningham put-back to make it 68-67 with 5.9 seconds left. The epic 21 point comeback was led by freshman Malcolm Grant. He led all scorers with 18 points, all in the second half. He scored 13 points in the last 6 minutes. He was 3-4 for three and the only Wildcat to make a 3-pointer (3-9), and he also had a 4-point play, which was a key part of the comeback. He also went 9-10 from the foul line down the stretch. It was a sloppy first half for the Wildcats with A LOT of bad passes and Scottie Reynolds missed an open lay-up. LSU had 14 blocks in the game. Nova's guards kept trying to take it inside, but their two big men, Johnson and Randolph, were too talented at shot-blocking. It was like they thought they were playing Penn again, where they could go inside at will and score. They should have done more kick-outs to the open man or pull-up for mid-range jumpers. LSU also did a great job guarding the perimeter, as Villanova only attempted 2 threes in the first half. A key part in Nova's comeback was Randolph fouling out with 4 minutes left. With one of the shot blockers out it was easier for Nova to score inside.

Dante Cunningham played a great game and had a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. He also had 3 blocks, 2 steals, and an assist. He had 8 offensive rebounds. His biggest points of the game were the last two on his put back off of Grant's miss to win the game. That's the 2nd time this season he's had a tip-in to take the lead in the final seconds of the game, although they wound up losing to NC St. Casiem Drummond, coming off the bench for the first time this season, had a great first half scoring 10 of Villanova's 24 points. He was able to use his size and strength to score down low, but he saw limited playing time in the 2nd half. Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher had horrible shooting nights, both going 1-8 from the field and 0-1 for three. Reynolds did contribute in other ways, grabbing 8 rebounds, 3 steals, and dishing 3 assists, to go with his season-low 4 points. Fisher had some amazing drives but tried to be too fancy and wound up missing a lot of difficult shots. He finished with 2 points and 3 assists. Antonio Pena got the start over Drummond. He only played 12 minutes but showed some flashes and scored 4 points. Reggie Redding also struggled shooting going 3-13, but he did have 8 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals. In his first game back from injury Shane Clark was back in the starting lineup and had 6 points and 8 rebounds. He didn't take many shots and went 3-5 (0-1 3-pt). Corey Stokes played 9 minutes off the bench and failed to score, but had an assist and rebound.

So the big story of the game was Malcolm Grant taking over in the final minutes and just refusing to lose. The carried the team to an unprobable victory. The game appeared to be over, but Malcolm and the Wildcats played the full 40 minutes and it payed off. Up next for Villanova is at Temple on Sunday.