Villanova cruises past Butler

Those late-season issues are a distant memory now — as if the three losses in eight games to close the regular season didn’t happen.

Villanova looks like the best team in the country again. Through two games at Madison Sqaure Garden, winning by a combined 43 points against NCAA Tournament-caliber opposition, Jay Wright’s dynamo is back on track.

After manhandling seventh-seeded Marquette by 24 points in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday night, the No. 2 Wildcats mauled sixthseeded Butler, 87-68, Friday night in the semifinals, and it wasn’t even as close as the lopsided score might indicate.

The Wildcats scored the game’s first 19 points, led by as many as 27, and cruised the entire night, moving on to their fourth straight league title game. Villanova will face fifth-seeded Providence, an upset winner over top-seeded Xavier, in the final Saturday night at 6:30 p.m.

“Now that we’ve got everybody back, we’re back kind of playing how we did before the injuries,” Wright said. “So it’s just a weird year that way. But it’s kind of interesting now. I think we feel we’re a new team rather than a team that’s kind of stale at the end of the year.”

Wright was referring to starters Phil Booth and Eric Paschall looking like themselves after missing time with injuries. Booth, who was out for a month with a broken right hand, scored 15 points against Marquette and added 14 Friday night. Paschall, who missed two games due to a concussion but hadn’t been playing up to his usual standard until recently, is averaging 12.5 points and seven rebounds in the tournament.

All five starters scored in double figures for Villanova (29-4) , led by 18 points from Mikal Bridges. The Wildcats made 14of-34 3-point attempts a night after making 15-of-29 from deep. The defense, not up to the Wildcats’ high standards, was strong on Friday, limiting potent 3point shooting Butler to 7-of-20 from deep, and turning 12 turnovers into 16 points. Bulldogs star Kelan Butler was held to 13 points, his lowest output since Jan. 15.

“It might have been one of our best defensive efforts,” Wright said. “So we’ve got to play that way [Saturday] night.”