When Mouphtaou Yarou went down just before halftime of Villanova's opening round game of the Big East tournament, it became obvious how important he is to the Wildcats. They started to get dominated on the boards and choked up the biggest lead in Big East tourney history en route to an embarrassing loss to South Florida. So when it was revealed that he'd suffered bruised ribs, wrist and shoulder it was somewhat of a relief for Wildcats fans who were fearing he could be lost for the tournament.
↵While he will play, Yarou admits that he's still bothered with a sore wrist. Nova coach Jay Wright talked about the challenge that the athletic big men of George Mason will present for Yarou.
↵"It's going to be a great challenge for Mouph," he said. "They're going to pull him away from the basket and he's going to have to guard on the perimeter. He has done that. We watched our Louisville game just to remind him of that. But they can make it a disadvantage for us if he can't guard them on the perimeter."
↵If George Mason's big man are similar to Louisville, that should bode well for the Wildcats. Yarou had one of his best games of the season the night they played the Cardinals with 18 points and 11 boards.
↵