VCU vs. Villanova: Halftime Notes

It's halftime at the Barclays Center, and the No. 12 Villanova Wildcats lead the No. 14 VCU Rams 32-30. Here are a couple of notes after 20 minutes of basketball.

-Villanova has realized one of the main weaknesses of VCU and the overall weakness of "Havoc," they foul a ton. Already, the Rams have committed 10 fouls, which is actually rather low for them. From what I've seen of this VCU team this season, it's a common theme and a common problem, as the Rams overpursue without stop. For Villanova, the key is to take advantage of this and continue to attack this defense and get to the foul line.

-It's the same stuff, different day for the Wildcats from beyond the 3-point arc. Currently, the 'Cats are only 1-8 from 3-point range, and with these quick VCU guards defensively, nothing is going to come easy from long range.

-So far, Villanova has done a great job of handling the "Havoc" defense. So far, the 'Cats only have three turnovers, and they've done a great job of not only handling the initial press, but then scoring afterwards.

-Beyond just committing a lot of fouls, the Rams also commit a ton of turnovers themselves. Usually though, they are able to mask this with turnovers they create on the other end. Not so much in this one, and the beautiful thing is the 'Cats won't really have to change what they are doing, because the turnovers will naturally come from VCU's up-tempo offense.

-The difference so far has been the ability of Villanova to finish inside and in contrast VCU's inability to finish at times inside. It really comes down to Nova taking more controlled shots, while VCU is taking a lot of off-balanced, forced layups.

-Going off of that, BOX OUT. If VCU is taking off balance layup attempts, the worse thing that can happen as a defense is to bail the Rams out by not boxing out.

-Villanova needs to keep going to JayVaughn Pinkston inside. The strength of VCU lies in its guards (Weber, Burgess and Graham) so Nova's best bet is to continue to attack inside with Pinkston, who is the only player currently in double figures

-Finally, If Dakich mispronounces Ryan Arcidiacono's name wrong one more time, I'm going to scream.