1985 ncaa championship game box score

See Sportsbooks. New York. Betting Tools. Free Picks. Buy Picks. Futures Market. All rights reserved. With 70 seconds to go, Jensen dribbled from near midcourt to the top of the key, encountered no resistance and continued all the way to the basket for a layup that gave Villanova the lead and, eventually, the win.

After a late-season loss to Boston College Jensen was so upset that he hyperventilated in the postgame locker room and needed treatment from the Villanova medical staff. We called him Norman Bates because he had this snappability; he could just go nuts. I remember in the latter part of the regular season, I was really wondering about myself. I was wondering if I could really make it at this level of basketball.

Coach Mass helped me through it. On the decisive play in the Dayton game, Jensen had the ball in the middle of the floor, far from the basket. Villanova was in no hurry, but the center of the defense suddenly parted. One of their big guys swatted at it, but he missed and it went in. Villanova reached the regional final and played North Carolina on a Sunday afternoon in Birmingham.

At halftime Villanova trailed Massimino pulled a chair into the center of the room. A big bowl of spags, with clam sauce. The players started softly chuckling, until the tension was sucked out of the room.

Then Massimino took a deep breath. The Wildcats began celebrating on the floor with a minute to play when Tar Heels coach Dean Smith chose not to challenge the ball for which Massimino is eternally grateful.

Massimino had his wish. They were a family. And they were going to the Final Four. The Big East prospered in large part through media friendliness and access, but Georgetown was the exception. Four minutes! One minute! Locker room is closed! Shapland died at age 57 in April of The players themselves found this coverage hilarious. We just listened and laughed. That image sold papers and made people watch us on television.

We were physical, and we were aggressive. We knew we intimidated people, and we milked that, and John was the leader, along with Patrick, who was about as intense an individual as I have ever met. He was telling me that I was playing soft, and I took serious offense at that. Sometimes the things he said to people got pretty personal. Yet Thompson was much more than a scowling manipulator.

On Martin Luther King Jr. It was reported that Villanova took a day trip to Calumet Farm to watch stallions gambol in their paddocks. And Georgetown? But everyone assumed we were locked in our rooms. Thompson shrugged then and shrugs now. I just wanted our program to be respected. And in , that might have been the best team I had. We had a terrible time with [St. Bad matchups, bad history, everything.

Both games had been tense, grinding battles, which history has lost when establishing the magnitude of the championship game upset. Georgetown was the better team, but anyone close to the programs, or the Big East, expected a fight. He loved to play against Patrick.

It was a daunting assignment and would require the game of his life. On Monday afternoon Villanova gathered in a meeting room at the Lexington Ramada Inn for its pregame Catholic mass and meal.

The meal was customarily a time for family fun. Massimino had never delivered a postmeal speech, but on this day he did. First he spoke softly about former Villanova coach Al Severance, who had died that morning at age And then he went in another direction. Play it to win. Believe you can win.

It gave us a sense of calm, almost in a meditative way. I could feel a real quiet confidence in the room. But like we know them, and we can play with them. Several hours later Villanova players sprinted onto the floor of Rupp Arena, filled to its capacity of more than 23, fans, raucous in their support of Villanova.

His hands are sweating. It started when Pinckney took the ball directly at Ewing on an early possession and dealt a soft pass to Pressley, who willed in a wild reverse layup. McClain drove the lane and dunked thunderously on the next Villanova possession. Before the night was finished Villanova would make 22 of 29 field goal attempts, a mind-boggling And McLain? He was flawless and cocksure with the ball against pressure. It was all on Gary. And he played great.

Georgetown was so tough and nasty and we worried about getting the ball over halfcourt. The game is worth watching again just for the way Gary played. They beat the best team in the country.

Nineteen Thirty years later, a viewing of the game yields two nuggets. Villanova had 58 possessions in the game and only four times held the ball more than 45 seconds the duration of the first college shot clock, in , including a nearly two-minute possession at the end of the first half, when Georgetown refused to come out of a passive zone. On 41 of those 55 possessions, Villanova shot, was fouled or committed a turnover in less than 30 seconds.

Jensen alone had six. Part of what is so fascinating about the game is that Villanova, when it did not turn the ball over, almost always scored. Among many critical moments in an excruciatingly tense game, two stand out. Trailing with left in the first half, Villanova took possession off a Georgetown miss and went into a four-corners delay. Georgetown stayed in a passive zone, allowing Villanova to hold the ball. Everson pleaded for a foul, and Massimino ran onto the court.

But that game, we never had one of those lulls. They had to. People kind of barked at the fact that John Thompson took it off, but what was he going to do?

JENSEN: They were playing four corners, but we were happy to be in a one-point game with them holding the ball with just a few minutes left. Back then, they had a running clock, so when the ball went through the basket, it continued on, where now it stops. The next choice would have been to throw it to halfcourt and let someone bang it around and take a footer.

I was just waiting for that clock to expire. You want to clone yourself because the range of emotions is so high. I had never cried just pure tears of joy until that moment. It was unbelievable. It was an out-of-body experience. MASSIMINO: The thing I remember most was, when it was all over, taking a shower and getting on the bus and wondering who we were going to play next and realizing that there was no next. Every single year, you go to the tournament, you lose a game, you go home, clean out your locker and wait until next season.

I just remember that being a strange feeling, but such a great, great way to end the season. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies.

Stories Schedule Roster Stats. Filed under:. Tournament Throwback: 8 Villanova vs. Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. Loading comments The Wildcats, after shooting better than 59 percent in the opening 20 minutes, led by as many as 41 points in the second half. Four Villanova players scored at least 15 points, led by Dwight Wilbur's 20 points. Ed Pinckney had 22 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out as Villanova lost its first game of the season to Georgia in overtime at the Omni.

Pinckney fouled out just seconds after teammate Harold Pressley had fouled out, leaving the Wildcats one win short of their first start in 20 years. Playing No. Dwayne McClain's basket gave Villanova a lead and the Wildcats never trailed again.

Ed Pinckney took just five shots but scored 13 points. We didn't need that to fire us up. We were ready anyway. Villanova played its second overtime contest in a three-game stretch, except this time the Wildcats won after UConn's Eddie Williams tied the game at the end of regulation.

Dwayne McClain scored 23 points to lead Villanova. John's star Chris Mullin scored 20 points as the Red Storm improved to on the season, giving Villanova its first Big East loss of the campaign. Playing undefeated Georgetown for the first of three times during the season , Villanova fell by just two points in yet another overtime game. Dwayne McClain was just 6-of from the field as Georgetown center Patrick Ewing made it difficult for the Wildcats to get clean looks.

Villanova held an eight-point lead but it scored just nine points in the first 15 and a half minutes of the second half, going almost 14 minutes with one field goal and committing five turnovers in a row at one point.

Villanova took down No. Villanova needed just seven minutes to build a double-digit lead and the Wildcats led by as many as 21 behind Dwayne McClain's 23 points on 9-of shooting. Carlesimo said, according to The Record.

Playing at the Palestra, Villanova was once again led by Dwayne McClain, who scored 18 points, including 10 in a four-minute stretch. My teammates know I can play. If I get notoriety, fine, but it's not a real major concern of mine. Playing at Maryland, Villanova fell by three despite a career-high 29 points and 16 rebounds from Ed Pinckney. Villanova locked down on defense during a critical second-half stretch, holding Pitt scoreless for more than five and a half minutes, and the Wildcats forced the Panthers' starting guards into 13 turnovers.

Playing in Syracuse in front of the largest on-campus crowd in the Orange's history 32, fans , Villanova fell by 13 as six Syracuse players scored in double figures, led by Dwayne Washington's 25 points. Ed Pinckney scored 23 points but Harold Pressley was just 4-of for eight points and Dwayne McClain was 4-for for nine points.

Senior Dwayne McClain spent the lead-up to Villanova's rematch with UConn watching the replay of the schools' first meeting and Villanova assistant coach Mitch Buonaguro told him to be more aggressive the second time around. McClain scored 23 points on of shooting as UConn played a zone to combat the inside presence of Ed Pinckney. Villanova fell to No. John's by two points as the Johnnies set the Big East record with 11 consecutive conference victory.

Villanova led early in the second half but after Chris Mullin was held to four points on four shots in the first half, he had 17 in the second half, including 12 in the final six-plus minutes. John's coach Lou Carnesecca said, "but they are the most difficult, the way they undress you inside and the way they play defense. For just the second time all season, Villanova lost back-to-back games both times were against St.

John's and Georgetown in consecutive games. The Wildcats had now lost three out of four, but all three were against top teams, including No. John's and No. Villanova's slide got worse as the Wildcats blew an point lead in the final 10 minutes as Boston College won on Michael Adams' layup.

Villanova had beaten Boston College by 19 points earlier in the season. The Wildcats held onto the ball for the last shot but Harold Pressley's game-winning attempt was off the mark.

Villanova's three-game losing streak and four losses in five games nearly spiraled but Dwayne McClain's buzzer-beating baseline jumper — his second of the season and fifth in two years — gave the Wildcats a much-needed victory. Led by upperclassmen Harold Pressley and Ed Pinckney, who had 25 and 21 points, respectively, Villanova built an point lead, saw it dwindle to one, then held on with free throws in the final moments. Pitt shot 59 percent in the first half and 60 percent in the second, and with remaining, Villanova coach Rollie Massimino pulled his starters as the Panthers' lead swelled to , and the Wildcats lost by One game and five days after being run off the floor by Pittsburgh when Villanova coach Rollie Massimino waved the white flag and pulled his starters, the Wildcats beat the Panthers by seven in their first game in the Big East tournament.

That's how we feel every day. Villanova lost in the Big East tournament semifinals in what would prove to be its last loss of the season as the Wildcats fell to St. John's for the third time of the season. Ed Pinckney paced Villanova with 27 points and the Wildcats cut the deficit to five with 10 minutes left by scoring eight points in a row but they never got closer than that.

Phil Anastasia of the Courier-Post wrote after the game that "the Wildcats, however, probably still will receive an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament. Ed Pinckney led all scorers with 20 points and the player who was guarding him, Dayton's Jeff Zern, fouled out with more than seven minutes remaining.

Villanova's biggest lead was four points, , and the Wildcats trailed before rallying for the win. Playing a nearly impenetrable zone defense and playing with quickness on offense, Villanova upset No.

A tough Big East schedule paid off in the form of a huge upset in March. After losing by three points at Maryland in late January, Villanova got revenge in a low-scoring affair, winning by three in the Sweet Villanova's Ed Pinckney finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds, including 13 points in the second half, while holding Len Bias to eight points on 4-of shooting. Pinckney and Pressley took him when he was down low, and our wings picked him up when he was on the perimeter.

Despite Villanova shooting under 37 percent, the Wildcats posted a plus advantage on the boards and they held the Terrapins to an 0-for start from the field in the second half with three turnovers.

Villanova beat No. The Wildcats trailed at halftime but blew up for 39 points in the second half on for shooting after shooting just 6-for in the first half.

After Villanova led , the Wildcats didn't lead again until the score was That's really not the strength of this team. It confused Memphis, and at times, even Villanova's own players.

But it worked. Memphis State was called for 23 fouls to Villanova's 13 and Lee scored just 10 points.