Villanova Cordially Invites You to a Wine-and-Cheese With LSU

This guest post comes to us from Villanova alum Carl Patrizio, who witnessed the dramatic action from last night's 'Nova-LSU game in person.

The Villanova Wildcats have never been known to be a “Philly” team.  Ok, sure, they reside in Philly and contribute to Philly’s well-respected college hoops scene.  But let’s just say that Nova has never been known to have that gritty blue-collar spirit.  The AP article from this game described the crowd as “wine-and-cheese.” That might not exactly warm up to the folks on Pattison Ave.

Last night, however, with the Cats down 64-49 and 2:59 left in the game, Malcolm Grant decided to show Philly why they might enjoy this team for the next few months.  His 13 points in the last three minutes of play along with a strong penetrating move to the hoop on the game’s final sequence vaulted Nova to a scrappy, unfathomable comeback win that certainly wasn’t wine-and-cheese.

(Update: Our readers are awesome. Within minutes of this post going up, we get the above video of the last shot and ensuing pandemonium from the crowd. More on this, Malcom Grant's sensual encore weekend, and a link to the video highlights, after the jump.)

Nova spent most of the game uncharacteristically driving the ball to the basket and repeatedly getting stuffed. LSU had 14 blocks on an evening that felt like Nova was simply overmatched by LSU’s athleticism.  Jay Wright’s gritty gameplan was getting very stale by the second half, when nova was down 16 points with ten minutes left in the game and had only attempted a measly three jumpers from beyond the arc.

Hidden in the box score, however, is that when LSU’s 6-11 power forward Anthony Randolph fouled out with four minutes to go, everything opened up.  Pick and rolls started working, shots started falling, and the comeback was on.  It was the freshman Grant’s coming out party in those last three minutes, but it probably doesn’t happen if Randolph stays in the game.

A little undercover research this morning found a message on Malcolm Grant’s whiteboard outside his dorm room : “Malcom – wear a condom. Love, the ass you’ll be getting this weekend.”

Regardless of wine, cheese, or the color of your collar, I think that little notice would make any Philadelphian happy.

Highlights

Comments

hey, I posted a video on youtube of the final shot if you want to use it.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ntgk6Tsdc1Q

killadelphia-pa.blogspot.com

[Justin]

btw, it is a live shot from the game. Section 115, I think we were in.

[Matt P]

done and done. thanks!

[Justin]

Welcome. Sorry I went a little nuts at the end and didn't record the LSU missed shot.

[theKrisheim]

killadelphia?

not the best time to have that URL on hold i am guessing.

[Justin]

What about it?

[GE]

"Ok, sure, they reside in Philly..."

I'm hoping that was a typo, because Villanova is not in Philly. Seeing that you went to Nova, I really hope that you realized the difference between leafy green Nova and the streets of Philadelphia. LaSalle, Temple, Drexel, UPenn, even St. Joe's are in Philly. Nova's not.

[Tim]

Hmm. Defensive much?

Focus on the completely wrong part of the story much?

[Teabagger]

Nova may not be within city limits, but I sure wouldn’t mind if some of the so-called “real” Philly teams started showing some of the grit and heart that Nova showed last night. When was the last time the Eagles showed anything like that? Respect!

[Nova La Isla Pinot]

This is a genius piece of writing. Malcolm Grant is a born leader. Fisher and Reynolds will score more and have more highlight buckets but the guy really running this offense even if it is off the bench will be Grant. Especially if he takes the note on his nova board as sound advice and partakes in some nova wine and cheese lovin' in Stanford Hall.

[T]

In the comments section of theNova season preview on this very site, who did I say would be the gem of this recruiting class?

That's right, Malcolm Grant.

[the_major]

GE thats exactly the first thing I thought when I read the article, that and they killed the big five

[Cliff]

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=villanova+university&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=30.875284,63.984375&ie=UTF8&ll=40.008946,-75.285187&spn=0.116494,0.249939&z=12&om=1

[Chamomiles Davis]

Grant and Cunningham were exactly what the Wildcats needed Thursday night, since LSU focused on keeping Reynolds off of his game. Credit goes to the Tigers' D; they were tenacious in the first half and for most of the second, but they completely lost their composure once the comeback started.

I couldn't have been prouder of the way these guys battled back. You can argue that a nationally-ranked team shouldn't allow itself to be down 21 points so late in the game. I'd counter that by saying a team that can battle back from that deficit and win deserves to be in the top 25. Go Cats!

(As for the "are they really a Philly school?" controversy, who cares?)