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NEW YORK — Only 19 schools in Division I take more threes than Villanova.
Nobody in Division I defends the three better than UNC Asheville.
Do you sense trouble?
Villanova has shot better the last six games — 42 percent — but even with that, the Wildcats rank 185th in Division I this year at 34 percent from beyond the arc.
So in Friday’s first-round NCAA Tournament matchup, No. 2 Villanova faces a No. 15 seed that specializes in defending what Villanova does more than almost anybody in the country … and already doesn’t do very well.
It all makes for an intriguing matchup at 12:40 p.m. Friday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
“(UNC Asheville coach) Nick McDevitt has done a great job,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “He's on to something really good there. They're like the old Louisville teams with Denny Crum, where everybody is 6-foot-5, 6-foot-6, and everybody can switch everything.
“If they get their five-man on your point guard, he can guard them, and he can get out. So there's nobody on the floor that they can't guard. So whatever three-point shooter gets open, every guy on their team can guard him. And they do a great job of it.
“That's what Denny Crum's teams used to do with all those 6-foot-6 guys. They switched everything. But the three-point shot wasn't as impactful then. Now it is, and they're using that same size to take away your three.
“It's smart. They do it really well. And it's easier said than done. You've got to teach your guys how to do it, but they do it well.”
Teams are shooting 28 percent from three against Asheville and making only 5.8 per game. Only two schools — Winthrop twice and Coastal Carolina once — have made even 38 percent of their threes against the Bulldogs.
Villanova is taking 25 threes per game and making about 8½.
“We know they have great athletes on the floor,” Villanova senior guard Ryan Arcidiacono said. “They're all like 6-foot-2 to like 6-foot-6. They really get out in passing lanes. They're one of the top defensive three-point field goal percentage teams. They cause a lot of turnovers.
“We know that they get out in transition a lot. Even though they might not have size, they play a lot bigger than their size may seem.”
UNC Asheville, out of the Big South Conference, is making its fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament and third in the last six years. It won a play-in game in Dayton in 2011 over Arkansas-Little Rock, and gave Syracuse a scare as a 15-seed in 2012 before losing by seven.
“They’re a tough team, very talented,” said Josh Hart, Villanova’s leading scorer. “They beat Georgetown, which shows you how good they are. Very gritty.
“It’s not going to be a cakewalk. Going to be a tough, physical game.”
The Bulldogs went 22-11 this year, including that win over Georgetown in Washington, D.C. They beat Winthrop in the Big South championship game.
“It’s the NCAA Tournament, so you’re playing against all the best teams in the country,” said Kris Jenkins, the Wildcats’ leading scorer since the start of February at 17.8 points per game. “We have to come out and play Villanova basketball or we could lose.
“UNC Asheville’s a great opponent. The most important game because it’s the next one. We can’t overlook anyone.
“They got our attention when we saw we were playing them in our first game. In the NCAA Tournament, if you don’t come out and play hard, you can lose to anyone on any given day. We’re not overlooking anyone.”
Villanova dropped from a No. 1 seed to a No. 2 seed after losing to Seton Hall by two in the Big East title game.
The Wildcats actually came back to take the lead after trailing by 14 points. But the slow start was costly.
Hart said that’s a big lesson for the Wildcats going into this year's NCAA Tournament.
“We’ve got to be the hardest-working team out there,” Hart said. “Even if shots don’t go in, we’ve got to be the toughest team out there. We’ve got to be the physical team. We’ve got to play hard and that’s something we didn’t do the first eight, 10 minutes [against Seton Hall], and we dug ourselves a big hole, and you can’t do that.
“You wait until you’re down nine, 10, 11 to get it going, you can’t do that against tough teams, especially in the NCAA Tournament. You do that, you’re going to go home.”
Since the tournament was expanded to 64 teams in 1985, No. 2 seeds are 117-7 vs. No. 15 seeds, although three have won in the last four years — Norfolk State over Missouri in Omaha, Nebraska and Lehigh over Duke in Greensboro, North Carolina in 2012, and Florida Gulf Coast over Georgetown at the Wells Fargo Center in 2013.
“Obviously, seeding-wise a big difference,” Jenkins said. “But once the ball gets tipped, there’s no seeding involved, nothing like that. It’s about who can defend, who can put the ball in the hole.”
The winner faces the winner of the Iowa-Temple game, with the survivor advancing to the Sweet 16 in Louisville, Kentucky.
“We know we’re going to get teams’ best shot,” Hart said. “That’s something we’ve been preparing for the whole season. We know it’s coming, and we just got to make sure we go out there and match their intensity.
“They’re going to be very excited, very hungry to play, and we have to match that.”