In a must-win spot, Villanova rolled past Providence and might have saved its season

It was easy to get carried away with what Sunday meant for Villanova.

A five-game losing streak had flipped what was a shoo-in NCAA Tournament season into one marked with scattered boos for the head coach, questions about his future, and comments from a veteran guard Saturday criticizing the treatment of said coach and his teammates.

Forgive the hyperbolic nature of the phrase, but it was put up or shut up time for the Wildcats.

No, a loss Sunday to Providence wouldn’t have mathematically eliminated Villanova from anything, but it didn’t take an Aristotle-level understanding of logic to realize the ramifications of a defeat. Falling to 4-7 in the Big East, losing six straight times, means pack your bags for the NIT again and means the questions over Kyle Neptune’s future only get dialed a little louder.

It was TJ Bamba, the Washington State transfer from the Bronx, who preached patience Saturday and said the losing streak wasn’t on one person or coach, it was a collective thing.

But there was Bamba in the first half of Villanova’s 68-50 win over Providence on Sunday night at the Wells Fargo Center, knocking in a three-pointer nine minutes into the game to give the Wildcats an 8-6 lead they would never relinquish. There was Bamba, scoring all nine of his points on 4-for-7 shooting in the opening 20 minutes, hustling in the corner on the defensive end to save a ball and start another Villanova possession that would end with an Eric Dixon hook shot and a 10-point lead at halftime.

» READ MORE: Villanova gets back on track in a 68-50 rout of Providence

The game was all but over 4 ½ minutes into the second half, when Villanova used a 13-0 run to silence Providence and, at least for now, its critics.

The Wildcats won by doing the things Neptune — almost boringly — preaches most of the time a microphone is near his face: playing defense and rebounding. They held Providence to just 16 first-half points on four made field goals and turned the Friars over nine times in the first half and 13 times on the night, leading to a 21-4 advantage in points off turnovers. Only four Friars scored. Villanova’s bench outscored Providence’s, 26-0. Providence coach Kim English called it “the most embarrassing performance I’ve been a part of since I’ve been in basketball.”

It was an 18-point Villanova win that felt like a 38-point win. At least it probably had to feel that way for Villanova.

“Every single game is the biggest game of our lives,” Bamba said when asked if Sunday felt like a must-win. “That’s what we preach here. Our approach today would’ve been the approach for the next game, and the next game. Every game, we just go in with one goal in mind: to play as hard as we can and to treat that game like it’s your last.”

In some ways, Sunday had the opportunity to be the last one that really mattered. The result, in a lot of ways, saved Villanova’s season.

The Wildcats are now 12-10 overall and 5-6 in the Big East. They play Xavier, a team they beat in early January, in Cincinnati on Wednesday night, then their next three are home vs. Seton Hall, at Georgetown, home vs. Butler. Winning three of four starting Wednesday isn’t out of the question. It should probably be expected. That would lift Villanova to 8-7 in the Big East ahead of a Feb. 24 game vs. No. 1 Connecticut in Storrs.

» READ MORE: 5 thoughts on Villanova as the Wildcats suffer through a rare long losing streak

If the target to get an at-large NCAA Tournament bid is 10 or 11 conference wins, as ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has indicated, losing Sunday would have made that path a lot more difficult. Nine games remain.

Providence entered Sunday’s game barely in Lunardi’s tournament field. Villanova was eight spots out of it. There’s still more work to do.

Neptune called Sunday the Super Bowl earlier in the week, not hyping the game but just because it was Villanova’s next game. It’s an overstatement to say he was coaching for his job Sunday, but it’s not an exaggeration to say Sunday marked the most important 40 minutes of his young Villanova tenure.

“To our guys’ credit, I thought our focus in practice has been great this season and our guys are focused on just getting better no matter what the results are in the game,” Neptune said.

Still, it had to feel a little better with this result.

“It feels so good,” Bamba said with a smile.

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It all had to be wearing on them, right?

“Not really because if you see our practices, it sounds like a war sometimes, just watching it and hearing what’s going on,” Bamba said. “Our energy has just been up in practice. We’ve just been trying to get better because we know it won’t be like this forever.”

It was probably starting to feel to some like it might.

In a must-win game, Bamba and the Wildcats kept hope alive, at least for another day.