VILLANOVA, Pa. -- Villanova point guard Ryan Arcidiacono was marveling at the passing ability of 6-foot-11 teammate Daniel Ochefu Friday night and at one point asked a couple writers how many assists the sophomore center had in Villanova’s win over Seton Hall.
Six.
“He had six assists?” Arcidiacono joked. “I’m telling you, he might be bringing up the point. I might be coming off the bench.”
Villanova, No. 6 in the country, improved to 21-2 overall and 9-1 in the Big East Friday night with a 70-53 win over Seton Hall (13-10, 4-6) at the Pavilion (see Instant Replay), and on a night when the Wildcats made just 5 of 21 threes, the uniquely talented Ochefu put together a unique stat line.
Ochefu scored 10 points on 5 for 6 shooting and added a game-high 10 rebounds. And then there were the career-high six assists -- as many as Seton Hall’s two starting guards combined.
Four of Ochefu’s assists went to forward JayVaughn Pinkston, who had 19 points on 9 of 11 shooting. Pinkston had two assists as well -- both on dishes to Ochefu.
Why is Villanova a Final Four threat? A lot of reasons. But when big men have the ability to find the open man in the low block when they’re double-teamed, it’s very difficult to defend.
“He did it last year during practice -- it was crazy the stuff he was doing,” Arcidiacono said. “Daniel is so skilled. He has soft hands, very smart, a great passer. I’ve never seen anybody his size pass the ball like that.”
Villanova coach Jay Wright, who won his 400th game as a head coach, said Ochefu has always been a good passer, he’s just never been a scorer before, so he never got double-teamed.
Now that he’s starting to blossom on offense, those opportunities are there.
Ochefu averaged just 3.5 points as a freshman and was at 4.0 points per game a month ago. But in Villanova’s last eight games, he’s made huge strides offensively, averaging 9.3 points and making 31 of 37 shots (84 percent).
“He’s always been a great passer, but he wasn’t scoring, so they wouldn’t play him, and he couldn’t make the passes,” Wright said. “Now he’s a scorer.
“The one pass he had late in the second half, when he drove the right side? He had a dunk. Any other player would have dunked that, but he’d rather pass, and JayVaughn got the dunk. He just loves to pass.”
Ochefu had 24 assists in Villanova’s first 20 games but 10 in the last two.
“I just love seeing my teammates score and making them happy, really,” Ochefu said. “I couldn’t care less about myself.”
At this point, Wright interrupted Ochefu and said: “I would like to see him score more. But he’s the most unselfish (player we have).”
And the best passing big man Wright has ever had.
“I don’t know if we’ve ever had that here,” Wright said. “I don’t think we’ve had that type of interior passing.”
Ochefu and Pinkston combined to make 14 of 17 shots and pull down 16 rebounds against the Pirates, who have now lost 12 straight at the Pavilion going back to 1994.
Pinkston knows the better Ochefu plays, the easier his shots will be.
“It opens up scoring opportunities for me on the block and just getting my teammates open shots too,” Pinkston said.
Seton Hall led 25-21 late in the first half before three Ochefu dunks and a no-look pass to Pinkston sparked a 21-3 run that stretched into early in the second half and turned a close game into a rout.
Villanova led by as many as 21 points late in the game despite just 24 percent shooting from outside.
“Before the game, coach told us how they deny the guards and take away threes, so he said J.P. and myself would have to really work together and look for each other on the inside,” Ochefu said. “And we executed the game plan.”
James Bell led all scorers with 20 points on 7 for 11 from the field and 4 for 7 from three and added six rebounds.
Darrun Hilliard added 10 points and terrific defense on guard Fuquan Edwin, who averages 14.3 points but was scoreless after scoring eight points in the first five minutes of the game.
But nobody who suited up for either team was more impressive than Ochefu.
“Scoring is just a small part of the game,” he said. “There’s a lot of other things -- defense, rebounding, passing and getting your teammates involved.”