BOSTON -- It was exactly what West Virginia wanted.
The Mountaineers had Villanova rattled with their pressure, Sagaba Konate had the block of the NCAA tournament against Mikal Bridges, and West Virginia took a six-point lead with 11:08 left in Friday's Sweet 16 game.
Villanova coach Jay Wright called timeout.
"I knew there was a lot of time," Wright said. "We just thought it was necessary at that time because they were getting on a good run. And I just wanted to make sure we kept our confidence and stayed committed to our game plan. I just looked at Jalen [Brunson], Mikal and Phil [Booth], and I could see in their eyes we were good."
Wright was right. Villanova was good.
Over the next 5 minutes, 21 seconds, Villanova outscored West Virginia 22-6, turning that six-point deficit into a 10-point lead and sparking the Wildcats to a 90-78 victory and a trip to Sunday's Elite Eight game against Texas Tech.
Five players scored during the run, with four players making a 3-pointer. Omari Spellman blocked a shot, then went downcourt and had a putback dunk. Spellman hit a 3 a couple possessions later. Brunson got to the free throw line at will and hit a 3-pointer to cap the run. It was a steady avalanche at both ends of the floor to take the spirit out of West Virginia.
The scariest thing about that Villanova run? It wasn't unusual.
No team in the country has the ability to completely bury teams in a five-minute stretch like Villanova does, and the Wildcats have done that all season. In the second round, they opened the second half against Alabama on an 18-1 run to essentially end the game within minutes. Against Xavier in February, they went on a 30-9 run spanning two halves to knock off the eventual Big East champions.
It's a trick the Wildcats can pull out of their back pocket at any time to knock out an opponent.
"We're a very talented team," forward Eric Paschall said. "Any night, somebody could go off. We have a lot of weapons, and we're very unselfish. We sacrifice for each other. We know we can make the right play. It just helps us in the long run."
The barrage of 3-pointers gets the attention. Duke has the ability to overpower opponents with its size in the post, but that doesn't happen in the blink of an eye like Villanova's runs seem to happen. Twenty-two points in just over five minutes is nearly impossible to keep up with, even if it's West Virginia's Press Virginia.
Spellman makes the difference because he can make shots from the perimeter. He had 18 points on Friday, including four 3-pointers. His ability to stretch the floor kept Konate from staying at the rim and contesting every shot.
"Coach always tells me to catch and shoot," Spellman said. "We were just looking to come out and run offense and score. I was just having a shoot 'em up, battle in the streets mentality. I was just trying to take the right shots and be aggressive."
But the Villanova players take offense for granted. They know it's always going to be there, especially given how they shoot the ball from the perimeter. For them, the runs come when they buy in on the defensive end of the floor.
One stop begets another, and suddenly a 6-0 run turns into a 15-2 run.
"You can see it in our bench. When we get three or four stops in a row, our bench is fired up," guard Donte DiVincenzo said. "As a team on the court, we're fired up. If we're kicking the ball ahead and we're making shots, that's the easy part.
"We all know that we can make a run defensively. If we make a 3, next possession we get a stop or steal and then a dunk at the other end. That one steal, kick-ahead to a dunk, that gets us going. That sparks us."
Paschall said the team gets an extra boost on the defensive end of the floor, and suddenly, the players are looking at each other and know the momentum is turning in the game.
"Of course we feel it," he said. "You'd think we knew each other for 10 years, we're so connected out there, just talking to each other all the time. We definitely feel it. Just getting stops fuels us. It fuels us to get more stops. It just feels good. We take pride in it."
Villanova is the best offensive team in the country and one of the best offensive teams in the past 20 years of college basketball. Brunson is making a run at the Wooden Award; Booth and DiVincenzo can make shots and handle the ball; Bridges has developed into a lottery pick; Paschall at one point led the Big East in both 2-point shooting and 3-point shooting; and Spellman carried the team at times on Friday.
When defense is thrown into the equation, like it was on Friday, there's no one left in the field who can compete with Villanova.
The Wildcats' knockout punch is unparalleled.