OK, we’ll fess up. We were among those who harbored a doubt or two about Your Villanova Wildcats despite their lofty ranking in the national polls to start this season. But our reasoning seemed sound: We just didn’t think the ‘Cats had enough up front to compensate for the losses of Dante Cunningham, Dwayne Anderson and Shane Clark to graduation. And while we know it’s only been five games, and we know they haven’t yet stepped into the cauldron that the Big East figures to be (even if the water in that cauldron won’t be nearly as hot as it was last year), we have to admit we’re impressed thus far with Antonio Pena.

Pena, a 6-8 redshirt junior from Brooklyn, registered his third double-double of the season in last night’s 79-67 win over Mississippi in the championship game of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off. In fact, Pena had 17 points and 16 rebounds, which are pretty good monster numbers. He actually averaged 15.0 points and 11.7 rebounds in the Wildcats’ three games in San Juan. He was named the tournament’s most outstanding player, and ‘Cats coach Jay Wright called him “a beast” afterward, according to The Inquirer. If there’s a negative, it’s that he turned it over six times. But today, anyway, there’s no need to dwell on that, even if there’s still a looooong way to go this season.

Corey Fisher and Scottie Reynolds both spent a chunk of time on the bench in the first half with two fouls. But Pena had nine points and nine boards before halftime, and ‘Nova still led at the break. Reynolds finished with 21 points (18 after halftime), but he shot just 6-for-16 (37.5 percent) and turned it over four times while dishing out just one assist. The ‘Cats had just eight assists on 27 field goals, but they had 24 second-chance points because they yanked down 17 offensive boards. So there.

For the season, by the way, Reynolds is leading ‘Nova in scoring (13.8 ppg), but he’s shooting just 35.5 percent (22-for-62) and has turned it over 15 times. That said, he still made the all-tournament team along with Pena.

Corey Stokes had 18 points, and while no one else had more than nine, ‘Nova did hold the Rebels (4-1) to 38.1 percent shooting, which is right about where the ‘Cats are holding every team this season (38.0 percent).

Now 5-0, the Wildcats host La Salle at the Ski Lodge on Saturday.

Links: 2009-10 Villanova preview [BIG FIVE POST]
‘Nova takes Puerto Rico [The Inquirer]