Villanova hits threes, breezes past Xavier
CINCINNATI — With the Big East’s bragging rights at stake, Villanova showed it’s not ready to relinquish its reign.
Mikal Bridges led an early three-point shooting spurt that put Villanova in control, and the thirdranked Wildcats beat No. 4 Xavier 95-79 on Saturday in a showdown for control of the league.
As it has nearly every time, this one went to `Nova.
The Wildcats (24-3, 11-3) have won all four regular-season titles since the league was reconfigured. Xavier (24-4, 12-3) had a chance to take control of the race, but simply wasn’t up to the Wildcats’ level in the biggest game of the season.
Now, Xavier’s lead is down to a half-game and Villanova has swept the head-to-head series.
“I think we wanted to send ourselves a message, not necessarily about the title race but about playing Villanova basketball,” said Dante DiVincenzo, who finished with 21 points. “We knew we weren’t playing Villanova basketball.”
Bridges scored 25 points in a balanced attack that got the best of a matchup between the league’s top offenses. Trevon Bluiett had 26 points for Xavier, which had its nine-game winning streak snapped. Villanova made a season-high 16 threepointers, the most ever by a Xavier opponent.
“They hit a lot of tough threes, but we’ve just got to play tougher,” said Xavier’s Naji Marshall, who had 11 points. “When you play elite teams, there’s little margin for error.”
The Wildcats ended their three-game shooting slump by making 11 threes in the first half, when they pulled out to a 19-point lead and silenced a raucous crowd at the Cintas Center, where Xavier had been undefeated this season.
“We came out together and played harder than we usually do,” Bridges said. “We’ve got to keep that up. We can’t settle. We can’t relax.”
Bluiett led a secondhalf surge that cut it to 64-61 with 11 minutes left before Bridges’ basket blunted the comeback. Xavier had a pair of turnovers, and DiVincenzo hit back-to-back 3s as the Wildcats rebuilt their lead to double digits and pulled away.
“When they shoot the ball the way they did today, it will take a monumental effort to beat them,” Xavier coach Chris Mack said.
In the end, it was like the last four games between the league’s heavyweights. Villanova has won 10 of 11 against Xavier in the Big East, the last four by margins of 25, 22, 24 and 16 points. Xavier hadn’t lost since an 89-65 defeat at Villanova on Jan. 10.