HOUSTON — They know he’s capable of going off for 30 or 35 points at any time.
And they know if they’re going to have a chance to get to the NCAA Championship Game, they can’t let it happen to them.
Buddy Hield is second in Division I in scoring this year at 25.4 points per game. He has scored 30 points 12 times and even scored 46 points against the same Kansas team that Villanova just beat in the NCAA Tournament South Region title game.
Hield has taken more threes and made more threes than anybody in Division I. And he's shot 47 percent from three, 11th-best in Division I.
Villanova has stopped some explosive players this year — Kris Dunn and Brian Lentil in the Providence rematch. Jarrod Uthoff and Peter Jok of Iowa. And on Saturday night Perry Ellis of Kansas.
But this is will be the Wildcats’ biggest defensive challenge this year.
“He’s going to be a pro, a lottery pick, he can do it all,” Villanova’s freshman defensive specialist Mikal Bridges said. “It’s going to be a whole team effort. One person on the ball, another person helping. It’s never one person.
“When teams play him, maybe they think one person is going to guard him and that’s going to be the end of it. But you can’t guard a person like that just 1-on-1. He’s just too talented. You’ve got to have all other four guys on the court to have that one person’s back, and I feel like that’s what we’re going to do.”
Hield has scored 2,282 points in his career and 916 this year. The only Division I player with a higher average this season was James Daniel of Howard, who averaged 27.1 points per game playing in the MEAC.
Villanova prides itself on its defense and is allowing only 63 points per game so far in the NCAA Tournament.
The Wildcats are 15th-best in Division I in points allowed, giving up just 63.6 points per game. They’re also No. 39 in field goal defense (40.5 percent).
It's a fascinating matchup.
“We can’t focus on stopping Buddy Hield,” junior Josh Hart junior said. “We have to focus on stopping Oklahoma. If you say, ‘OK, I’m going to hold Buddy to 10 points,’ then (Isaiah) Cousins could have a huge game, (Jordan) Woodard could have a huge game, (Ryan) Spangler could have a huge game, a guy off the bench could have a huge game.”
Hield is the first Division I player in at least 20 years to make at least 140 threes and also shoot 46 percent or better from three-point range.
But he is not a one-dimensional offensive player.
“He’s not just a shooter,” Hart said. “He’s athletic, he can get to the rim, changes speeds well, he’s a tough all-around player. There’s not many guys like him who can make shots, who can get in the lane, who can get shots for his teammates.
“When you focus on denying him, he sets ball screens to get his teammates shots. He’s so gifted getting himself shots and getting his teammates shots.
“There’s times you’ll see him, he’ll be on the opposite wing just chilling, and you don’t think anything is going on, and as a defender, you just stop for a second, and then he breaks for the ball, he changes speeds so well, and then if someone else gets the shot, he pursues offensive rebounds.”
A year ago, Hield averaged 17.4 points per game and shot just 36 percent from three. He scored 51 points in three NCAA Tournament games, shooting just 37 percent.
This year, he’s scoring 29.3 points in the tournament and shooting 57 percent.
At his current pace — if Oklahoma reaches the title game — Hield will finish with the third-most points in NCAA Tournament history, behind only Glen Rice's 184 points in 1989 for Michigan and Bill Bradley's 177 in five games for Princeton in 1965.
Villanova coach Jay Wright said Hield is one of those rare players who achieves greatness ... and then improves dramatically.
“I think putting the ball on the floor and finishing at the rim, extending his range, have been two areas where the best player in college basketball has actually gotten better, which is incredible,” Wright said.
“It's hard when you're that good to get better. That range distorts everything. If you're playing around the line, you get up on a guy, you press him, he goes by you, at least you're forcing him into two. He's taking the ball so deep, he's making some of them. If you get up on him, he can go by you and still pull up for a three. I don't know if that's part of his plan, but it's genius if it is.”
Hield scored 27 points in Oklahoma’s NCAA Tournament opener against Cal State Bakersfield, then added 36 against VCU, 17 vs. Texas A&M and 37 against Oregon.
He’s made 19 threes so far in the tournament, nine fewer than the tournament record of 28 set in 1989 by Michigan’s Rice.
Villanova knows what it’s up against.
“It’s always a group effort,” freshman Jalen Brunson said. “We’re never going to leave any guy 1-on-1, especially a guy like Buddy Hield. He’s so good, everyone’s going to have to lock in. Not just on him but everyone else.
“They have so many good players, so many good pieces. Not just Buddy. Buddy gets a lot of hype — as he should — but there are so great pieces to that team we’re going to have to account for all of them.”