No. 4 Villanova will have plenty of weapons ready when No. 11 Georgetown comes calling Sunday afternoon, but none are more deadly than Scottie Reynolds.
The Wildcats (15-1, 4-0 Big East) have four guards that score over nine points per game which Georgetown (13-2, 4-1 Big East) must be aware of on defense, yet the senior Reynolds is the motor that makes Villanova go.
Averaging 18.8 points as a fourth-year starter, Reynolds has switched into a higher gear in Big East play.
In Villanova’s league opener at Marquette, Reynolds twisted his way through two defenders and into the lane to hit the game-winner in the closing seconds.
Last time out, Reynolds was nearly perfect. Facing Louisville’s relentless pressure at Freedom Hall, Villanova fell behind by 17 at halftime. Reynolds scored 36 points on 9-of-10 shooting to give the Wildcats the win and keep them perfect in league play. The guard saved his best for last, however, pouring in 16 points in the final 6:05 of the game.
“We just had to man up and it just had to come from within,” Reynolds said after the game. “We just started playing with confidence and not worrying about the crowd.”
Even Jay Wright, Villanova’s head coach who has seen Reynolds go above and beyond the call of duty many times, was a little surprised.
“We probably got more out of him than we deserved,” Wright said. “The kid is great.”
Villanova will look to join Pittsburgh as the only 5-0 teams in the Big East Sunday against Georgetown. The Wildcats were picked to finish first at the beginning of the year, following their trip to the Final Four last year.
Reynolds, named the Most Outstanding Player in Villanova’s regional, hit a game-winner as the clock expired to beat top-seeded Pittsburgh and send the Wildcats to the Final Four.
The guard is now a Villanova legend, but he almost never went to Philadelphia. Reynolds originally intended to play for Coach Kelvin Sampson at Oklahoma, but he changed his mind when Sampson left for Indiana.
Wright began recruiting Reynolds when the coach was at a tournament to watch future Georgetown guard Chris Wright. Reynolds impressed him so much that Wright thought this must be Chris Wright, the talented guard he was there to recruit.
When his assistant told him the player hitting shots from all over the floor was Scottie Reynolds, Wright began to recruit him. After Reynolds decommitted from Oklahoma, Wright had not forgotten about him.
A Herndon, Va. native, Reynolds has had success against Georgetown. He has averaged 15.7 points per game against the Hoyas in six contest since his freshman year. As a sophomore, the guard scored 24 at Verizon Center, nearly half of his team’s points in a 55-53 loss.
With that game tied in the closing seconds, Georgetown forced Reynolds into a turnover as he drove to the basket, setting up two game-winning free throws by Jon Wallace (COL ’08). If the Hoyas hope to knock off the Wildcats on Sunday, they will need to shut down Reynolds again.
*Tip-off against Villanova is set for noon at Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. Follow all of the action live on [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/thehoyasports) and [The Hoya Paranoia](https://blogs.thehoya.com/paranoia).*”
