Villanova stops Iowa in epic Atlantis finale

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas – Confetti shot up to the low-hanging ceiling and filtered to the floor as the D.J. queued up Kool and the Gang. Villanova players celebrated through their postgame handshakes, as Iowa players shuffled quickly through the line toward the locker room.

Villanova won the nation's last, and perhaps best, college basketball game of November, 88-83 in overtime, to claim the Battle 4 Atlantis championship. The teams traded leads eight times and momentum was at times overwhelming and fleeting. Both coaches received rousing applause leaving their postgame news conferences.

“It was two really good teams going at each other,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said.

“That was a great game,” Villanova counterpart Jay Wright countered in his postgame comments.

Villanova (7-0) scored on eight of its nine overtime possessions, including 3-pointers on its first two trips up the court to take control. No. 23 Iowa (7-1) fought as close as 82-81 with 2:10 left in the extra frame on a Devyn Marble 3-pointer, but the Hawkeyes couldn't match Villanova at the free-throw line late.

Iowa dominated the game's first 29 minutes, building a 55-43 second-half lead and thwarted the Wildcats in every way. Then Villanova struck back furiously with three 3-pointers from James Bell in a four-possession span. From then on, it was on. And it was electric.

Villanova took a 64-57 lead with 4:32 left on a sizzling 21-2 run. The Wildcats hit five 3-pointers, including Bell's three, and nailed all six free-throw attempts over 6 minutes and 30 seconds. Bell sank an easy 3-pointer when he was open and nailed another way behind the line. Dylan Ennis, who Iowa smothered in the first half, hit two free throws and a 3 of his own in that span.

But it was Bell, who was named the tournament MVP, who elevated the Wildcats.

“What I really admire about him is you can tell a player's self-esteem by his willingness to take big-time shots when things aren't going well,” Wright said. “He's missing shots, missing shots, we are struggling and we can't score. He takes it on his shoulders and big shot after big shot, he gets us back in the game.”

“I thought once he got going, it changed everything in the game, in terms of the momentum and we got a little tentative offensively after that,” McCaffery said. “But I think we showed great fight after falling down five to come back and to tie it. “

Iowa roared back. Senior Zach McCabe, who scored all of Iowa's eight points over nearly 11 second-half minutes, knocked down a 3-pointer to bring Iowa within 64-60. Then Iowa's defense stiffened, forcing two loose balls. Senior Melsahn Basabe capped the first steal with a breakaway dunk to bring Iowa within two.

The Hawkeyes retook the lead twice in regulation, both on Marble traditional three-point plays. Marble, who joined McCabe, Bell, Villanova's JayVaughn Pinkston and Kansas' Perry Ellis on the all-tournament team, scored a game-high 24 points and put Iowa ahead 71-69 with 55.7 seconds left. But Villanova countered with Ryan Arcidiacono, who popped a 3-pointer 12 seconds later to take a one-point lead.

Marble was fouled with 27 seconds left and made one of two free throws to knot it up at 72-72. Iowa defended Villanova's final possession to force overtime. Aaron White scored on a three-point play to open the extra frame, but Villanova's Kris Jenkins and Ennis each knocked down 3-pointers to keep Iowa working from behind.

Iowa was hit with 28 fouls, including 17 after halftime.  McCabe, White and Mike Gesell all fouled out. But the biggest impact was Villanova's perimeter offense. The Wildcats sank 14 of their 38 3-point attempts, nine after halftime.

“You know that they're going to make some 3s in the second half,” McCaffery said. “You don't know that they're going to make 14 necessarily, but you know you just can't sit in the zone and you've got to be able to get out and contest.”

The first half belonged to Iowa. The Hawkeyes led 42-33 at halftime and scored 16 points off 12 Villanova turnovers. Iowa's offense attacked the Wildcats and had nine assists on 14 baskets. The Hawkeyes produced their own 16-2 run and led by 15 when Gesell and McCabe dropped  back-to-back 3-pointers. The second half, Villanova flipped the script.

“I think we're very similar teams,” Wright said. “I think we both can play fast, we both can attack pressure. We both can elicit pressure. We're very similar except they run better half-court offense than us, definitely. They run the best half-court offense. Fran always has. But they attack pressure, we attack pressure. Our pressure didn't both them at all.”

McCaffery called the three-day tournament “grueling,” especially with two overtime games. Iowa rallied from its own 15-point deficit to beat Xavier in the opener. Iowa crushed UTEP by 36 points in the semifinals.

“When you look at the caliber of team that's here, the preparation that goes into playing those games, little sleep,” McCaffery said, “what I learned about our team is I already knew we had great depth. I'm really proud we've got so many positive things out of so many different guys. I learned that I think we have a certain mental toughness. We're not maybe where we need to be yet, but we're getting a lot of closer.”