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NEW YORK — Ryan Arcidiacano had two curtain calls Sunday — one when it seemed like the game was over and one when it actually was.
And after Villanova’s senior point guard was removed for good with 30 seconds left and the Wildcats leading Iowa by 21 en route to an 87-68 victory and an overdue trip to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 (see game story), he and coach Jay Wright shared a long embrace.
“He said this is your team, you can take us however far you take us, to a national championship,” Arcidiacano said later.
It goes without saying that Arcidiacano, who has worked in concert with his coach the last four years, is all in with that line of thinking.
“I think we can do that,” he said. “But I think it takes one game at a time and just focusing on the little things.”
So while it was unquestionably “a sigh of relief,” as he put it, to finally end the frustration of five first-weekend flameouts in the NCAA Tournament (three since his arrival), it could be something more.
It could be a springboard.
“We definitely can go all the way,” Arcidiacano said, “as long as we stick to what we do.”
The Wildcats were tremendous for the first 24 minutes Sunday, breezing to a 65-31 lead before easing off the throttle.
Josh Hart led the way with 19 points. Arcidiacano, playing in his school-record 140th career game (113 of them victories), contributed 16 points on 5 for 8 shooting, with four assists and nary a turnover.
Kris Jenkins scored 15 and Jalen Brunson 12. Daniel Ochefu collected 11 rebounds, four assists, three blocks and three steals. And as a team, the ‘Cats, who next face Miami Thursday in Louisville, Kentucky, shot a blistering 59.3 percent, including 52.6 percent three-point sniping.
“I think this was probably our best game of the year,” Arcidiacano said.
He will get no argument from Iowa coach Fran McCaffery.
“I really think they can go a long way,” he said, noting that great offensive teams typically aren’t as committed on the defensive end as the Wildcats are.
There was a notable stretch late in the first half when ‘Nova forced Hawkeyes turnovers on consecutive trips, leading to run-outs by Brunson and Hart. Then Ochefu swatted a shot, leading to a two-on-one that Arcidiacano converted. That capped an 8-0 flurry and made it 54-29, and it was all over but the bookkeeping.
“We haven't played a first half like that in a long time,” Wright said. “I just thought the first half was the key to the game. We were just hitting on all cylinders.”
Wright pulled Arcidiacano with 2:32 left and the Wildcats up 79-58. There were the obligatory hugs, handshakes and ovations, but the Hawkeyes kept coming.
And Wright kept glancing nervously at the scoreboard.
Finally, with the Wildcats’ lead at 82-66 and 1:40 left, he reinserted Arcidiacano, Hart and Ochefu. That restored order, and Wright removed his point guard one last time.
“I always have to be ready to go at any moment,” Arcidiacano said, sounding the part of coach on the floor, even after he had left it.
It seemed, as always, like more than lip service. He really does seem to walk in lockstep with his coach.
“He is me,” Wright said.
Arcidiacano was asked in the interview room about his relationship with his coach.
“I try to think of myself as him on the floor,” he said, “because he tells me, if he was to play and when he played, that's how he wanted a player to play.”
Jenkins, seated alongside him, was alternately grinning and covering his mouth with his hand as Arcidiacano answered. Then Jenkins whispered something to him.
Arcidiacano laughed.
“I can’t say that,” he said.
“We have our little jokes in the locker room about Ryan and Coach Wright,” Jenkins said as he sat at his cubicle a little while later, “but their relationship is great. We all strive to continue to grow here, as players and as men, and Arch is a great example of that.”
In other words, his real view on the topic is classified.
“We can’t let that outside the locker room,” he said.
The Wildcats’ opening-weekend woes, meanwhile, were “the elephant in the room,” as Arcidiacano said.
Asked if he would have been unfulfilled if he had never made it to a Sweet 16, he said, “Right after the game, yeah, but overall, after I step back and think about my career and our senior class’ career, I think it would be a great time, with the great teams we were involved with at Villanova.”
Then he looped back, saying that a failure to advance “would definitely always be in the back of my mind.”
“Now,” he said, “that’s not the case. Now it’s just on to the next one.”
And, he hopes, much more.