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JayVaughn Pinkston's spectacular block saves Villanova

The look of disbelief on John Beilein's face told the story.

The Michigan coach thought he'd drawn up an inbound play to win Tuesday night's Legends Classic title game right up until the exact moment Villanova's JayVaughn Pinkston foiled it in spectacular fashion.

With Michigan trailing by one and 7.8 seconds remaining, Caris LeVert set the inbound play in motion by setting a screen near the foul line, leveling Villanova's Dylan Ennis and freeing teammate Zak Irvin to break toward the basket. Irvin seemed to have a clean dunk, but Pinkston recognized the danger, left the man he was guarding and hurled himself between the ball and the rim in time to make an incredible game-saving blocked shot.

Video of Pinkston's block had begun to spread on social media even before Villanova sank four more free throws in the final seconds to wrap up a 60-55 victory. The degree of difficulty stood out most, from Pinkston's remarkable awareness, to his quick-twitch reaction time, to his ability to somehow stuff Irvin's dunk attempt without committing a foul.

Lost in the admiration of the blocked shot was the fact Pinkston also had the game's most important basket, a one-handed shot in the lane that gave the Wildcats the lead for good with 13.4 seconds remaining. He finished with eight points and nine rebounds, a quiet stat line that doesn't begin to hint at the 6-foot-8 senior's contributions.

By defeating 19th-ranked Michigan and 14th-ranked VCU on back-to-back days at the Legends Classic, Villanova validated its own top-15 ranking and made a statement that it may be worthy of more national acclaim. The balanced Wildcats don't generate much buzz because they don't have a single surefire NBA prospect on their roster, but they still returned all but one key player from a Big East title team that won 29 games a year ago.

Villanova's success also sustains a sizzling start for the Big East as a whole. The league is a combined 36-2 to start the season, far and away the best of any league in the nation. Only rebuilding Marquette has suffered any losses.

It appeared as though Villanova would join the Golden Eagles in the loss column when it squandered a 13-point second-half lead within minutes of building it. Poor shot selection and sloppy perimeter defense hurt the Wildcats during a 23-5 Michigan blitz that culminated with a Kameron Chatman jump shot with 9:02 left in the second half.

Threes by Ennis and Ryan Arcidiacono helped Villanova steady itself and fight back from an eight-point deficit in the final five minutes. The Wolverines and Wildcats traded the lead during a riveting last two minutes until Pinkston asserted himself in the final seconds.

One astonishing blocked shot later, a win that Villanova twice almost let slip away suddenly was the Wildcats' again for good.

(Thanks for the video, CBSSports.com)

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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