Villanova bullies Radford in dominant showing

In the Round of 64 of the NCAA Tournament, the No. 1 seeded Villanova Wildcats were matched up against No. 16 seeded Radford Highlanders.

Right from the start, Villanova came out throwing haymakers. Although the Wildcats allowed offensive rebounds in the beginning, their shots kept falling and continued to fall. ‘Nova opened up the game on an 18-7 run and kept their foot on the gas. The ball movement in the first half was crisp, and on defense, the Wildcats had multiple defensive stops as well as a highlight block by Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree. In the end, Villanova went on to win 87-61 in their NCAA Tourney opener.

In the second half, Villanova brought the hammer down and continued to increase their lead, surpassing 20+ points early on. Their hot shooting of 59 percent from the floor and 51 percent from deep carried them past their poor job in rebounding.

Six different Wildcats finished in double figures. Jalen Brunson finished with a team-high 16 points and Mikal Bridges had 13 of his own. Cosby-Roundtree had 10 coming off the bench.

For Radford, Donald Hicks had 13 points and Ed Polite Jr. had 8 rebounds.

Villanova will play the winner between the Virginia Tech Hokies and Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday in Pittsburgh.