Villanova Hits Clutch Shot To Avoid Ending Season In Embarrassing Fashion

Getty Image / Sarah Stier

DePaul is an absolutely terrible college basketball. The Blue Devils came into the first round of the Big East Tournament with a record of 3-28.

But, they almost ruined the season of traditional powerhouse Villanova with what would’ve been an all-time embarrassing loss for the Wildcats.

To recap, DePaul is an astonishing 3-28. Their only wins are against South Dakota, Chicago State, and a terrible Louisville team. Their KenPom rating was a truly abysmal 316th out of 362 teams as a power conference team. Meanwhile, Villanova came in at 17-14 (10-10) and firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble.

Thankfully for Nova, DePaul is awful, and as 24-point favorites, they surely would’ve cruised to a win, right?

That was not the case. Villanova did not play well at all, and found themselves down eight points with just under thirteen minutes remaining in the game. A loss meant that Villanova would surely miss the tournament and head coach Kyle Neptune would likely be out of a job.

They clawed their way back to tie the game at 55, but this shot put DePaul ahead. All of a sudden, it looked like Villanova was going to exit stage left in the most humiliating way possible.

Unfortunately, losing teams do losing team things. DePaul blew it with terrible three-point defense and a disastrous final possession.

As of Wednesday morning, Villanova was one of the first four teams out in ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi’s bracketology. A loss to DePaul would’ve put them closer to the NIT bubble than the March Madness bubble. But, in March, it’s all about survive and advance. That’s exactly what Villanova did..

Up next for the Wildcats is a date with Marquette, who will be without star guard Tyler Kolek. A win would likely move Villanova into the field.