Defense is making Villanova the most ruthlessly efficient team in college basketball

There’s something about Brooklyn that brings out the best in the Villanova defense.

Last year, JayVaughn Pinkston’s dramatic last-second block to seal a win against Michigan endured as one of the most clutch plays of the season. This year, an all-out swarm that forced 37 turnovers over two days helped ‘Nova win the NIT Season Tip-Off, and in the process establish itself as the most impressive team of college basketball’s first month.

That’s right: after an 69-52 win over Georgia Tech, the Wildcats are now No. 1 in KenPom’s rankings. An offense that ranks No. 13 in efficiency is keeping up its end of the bargain, but at this point Villanova is being carried by the top defense in the country. So far, Villanova has yet to allow more than 63 points in a game, and that’s with half of its opponents coming from power conferences.

The Wildcats rotate well, recover quickly and communicate effectively — something few teams are able to perfect so early in the year.

“I’m actually a little surprised at it right now,” head coach Jay Wright said of his team’s defensive effort this season. “We’re turning people over and getting a lot of stops.”

The numbers support Wright’s praise. Per KenPom, the Wildcats are No. 3 in effective field goal percentage defense (37.2) and fourth in two-point field goal percentage defense (36.2). The Wildcats have also forced an average of 17.5 turnovers per game.

It’s what you would expect from an experienced team. The Wildcats start two seniors and two juniors alongside freshman star Jalen Brunson.

“We have a really good basketball IQ and we have two seniors that really take pride in defense and demand it of everybody else,” Wright said.

Wright added that even though Brunson only has a few games under his belt at this level, he has the tendency to play more mature than that.

“He is a combination of Ryan Arcidiacono and Kyle Lowry,” he said. “He’s got the basketball IQ of Kyle, probably the smartest player I’ve ever coached. He’s got the mental toughness and maturity of [Arcidiacono].”

Led by Brunson, Villanova has a combination of talent and discipline that can give opposing coaches fits. As Georgia Tech head coach Brian Gregory explained, this makes up for the Wildcats’ lack of size.

“Even when they go small, they’re tough enough to front the post,” he said. “They do a great job of walling up under the basket. Their hands are up. They’re physical and you’ve got to be able to pay to that physicality.”

The Wildcats’ frontcourt was supposed to be a glaring weakness on this team. Opponents were supposed to dominate the glass, staying in games through second chances. To an extent, that’s what has happened.

Senior forward Daniel Ochefu has had to do too much inside, but he’s filled his role as well as Wright could have hoped. He leads the team in rebounding with 8.3 per game and has blocked 14 shots, more than half of the team’s total. Senior Josh Hart has helped on the glass, but Villanova desperately needs the rest of the team to step up.

While Wright admits that rebounding has been a problem — the Yellow Jackets beat them 39-28 on the boards Friday and Stanford out-rebounded them by 20 in the semifinals — he says the turnovers the team forces somewhat make up for that.

That has included 50 steals through six games, or better than one for every 10 defensive possessions. It helps that on the other end, the Wildcats take care of the ball, turning it over only about half as often as they force the other team to.

This team is as good, probably, as anybody in the country right now,” Gregory said. “They’re disciplined with Arcidiacono kind of leading the way.”

It’s been an impressive start for Villanova, but the competition picks up from here. The Wildcats still face No. 7 Oklahoma on a neutral floor and No. 12 Virginia on the road before conference season. Both of those teams pride themselves on their own defenses. In games that figure to be rock fights, it just might come down to the little things, like rebounding. The Wildcats will have to respond.