Villanova rose from the dead — only to return to the grave.
After surviving Kam Jones’ apparent buzzer-beating bank shot — reviewed by officials and determined to be touching his fingertips as time expired in regulation — in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals, No. 6 Villanova still dropped a season-defining overtime matchup to No. 3 Marquette, 71-65, that will likely kill the Wildcats’ hopes of returning to the NCAA Tournament.
Marquette (24-8), which played without injured star guard Tyler Kolek, advances to Friday’s semifinal at Madison Square Garden against No. 7 Providence, moving two wins from defending its Big East Tournament title.
“Anytime you have a shot like that that goes in and you have a high of feeling like you won and then it gets taken away from you, that can be dangerous,” said Marquette coach Shaka Smart. “The longer it took to review it, obviously, you’re preparing for the possibility that you have five more minutes to play. There was really good eye contact between one another about what we needed to do next.”
“But the longer it took, obviously, you’re preparing for five more minutes to play.”
Should Villanova (18-15) again be relegated to the NIT under second-year coach Kyle Neptune, it will mark the first time in 20 years that the Wildcats have missed consecutive NCAA Tournaments.