Villanova loses to Furman: What’s wrong with defending national champs?

The Villanova Wildcats have had two disappointing losses in a row, but can the defending national champions get back on track quickly?

After a stunning overtime loss to Furman, Villanova’s title defense is the worst since UCLA started 2-2 in 1995-1996.

Villanova has won two of the last three national titles. But a mass exodus of talent (Mikal Bridges, Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo and Omari Spellman) had some predicting a significant drop-off this year. After a 76-68 overtime loss to Furman on Saturday, on the heels of a blowout loss to Michigan on Wednesday night, a proverbial low point has been reached.

To be fair, Furman has now already beaten two of last year’s Final Four teams. But beating Villanova is a big step up from beating Loyola-Chicago, and the Wildcats managed to get to overtime despite shooting 31.8 percent from beyond the arc (14-for-44), led by seniors Phil Booth (3-for-13) and Eric Paschall (2-for-11).

After that 73-46 loss to Michigan, Wright shortened his rotation against Furman. Against the Wolverines, 10 players played and eight played at least 13 minutes (none more than 34). Against Furman, eight guys played and even in the context of an overtime game three (Booth, Paschall and Collin Gillespie) topped 40 minutes.

The most notable absence on Saturday was highly touted freshman guard Jahvon Quinerly, who did not see a minute of playing time. He played just eight minutes against Michigan, with four points and three fouls, but since no one played well in that game, it’s hard to see Wright singling anyone out. Shy of a disciplinary measure or a yet-undisclosed injury, Quinerly never getting off the bench on Saturday is pretty inexplicable.

The Wildcats also struggled from beyond the arc against Michigan going just 3-for-15, which puts them at 17-for-59 (28.8 percent) over the last two games. Couple that with allowing 74.5 points per game, and you have an easy recipe for the 0-2 start.

Wright’s squad has some time to work out the kinks, with games against Canisius, La Salle, Temple, Saint Joseph’s and Penn before games against Kansas (Dec. 15) and UConn (Dec. 22) to wrap up non-conference play.

It’s easy to overreact to a bad loss or two early in a season. Another national title is probably not coming this year, but Villanova should take their place toward the top of the Big East and have a solid tournament run come March.