No. 1 Villanova routs No. 10 Xavier
Phil Booth hit five 3s and scored 21 points and Jalen Brunson had 17 to lead No. 1 Villanova to an 89-65 win over Xavier on Wednesday night.
The Wildcats (15-1, 3-1 Big East) returned to the top spot of the poll and dominated like a team that won’t lose its grip on that rank anytime soon.
Booth and Brunson opened the game with 3s and the Wildcats played every bit as worthy as their ranking as they raced to a 22-9 lead. Booth hit three 3s in the first half and Brunson was solid both from long range and in attacking the basket to make it 40-28 at the break.
The Wildcats took a 13-point lead in the half on the play of the game: Donte DiVincenzo stole the ball and fed to Eric Paschal just before halfcourt. Paschal passed to Booth who put some extra arc on a lob and the 6-foot-9 Paschal slammed it home to rock the rim and bring the crowd to its feet.
The Wildcats’ annual defeat at Butler had no impact on a program that has been humming along, collecting Big East titles and the 2016 national championship. Villanova hasn’t lost more than five games in a season since 2012-13 and it’s hard to find two or three more losses on the schedule, much less anything that would send the Wildcats into a tailspin.
Villanova needed just a week to reclaim its lost No. 1 ranking in the AP Top 25. The Wildcats returned to the top after an upset-filled week that rattled the poll.
With the shakeup at the top of the AP Top 25 in the wake of losses by No. 1 Michigan State and No. 2 Duke, Xavier (15-3, 3-2) might have been able to make this game a 1-2 matchup had it defeated Providence. The Musketeers instead had their 10-game winning streak snapped in an 81-72 loss to the Friars and slid to 10th. NO. 4 MICHIGAN STATE 76, RUTGERS 72, OT: Miles Bridges ended his scoreless start with 7:43 left in regulation and finished with just 11 points to barely help No. 4 Michigan State bounce back from a loss with an overtime victory over Rutgers. The Spartans (16-2, 4-1 Big Ten) were coming off a lopsided loss at Ohio State and the setback seemed to have lingering effects for the team and their sophomore star. Bridges missed his first five shots and one of two free throws with 8 seconds left with a chance to give Michigan State the lead. The preseason All-America player opened overtime with a 3-pointer and finished with as many turnovers (3) as made shots on 10 attempts. The Scarlet Knights (11-7, 1-4) took a one-point lead on Corey Sanders’ step-back jumper with 1 minute left and Bridges stepped out of bounds on the ensuing possession, giving them the ball back with 41.3 seconds left. Sanders missed a long jumper with 16 seconds left.
NO. 7 DUKE 87, PITTSBURGH
52: Marvin Bagley III scored 16 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and No. 7 Duke had little trouble bouncing back from a loss to North Carolina State by drilling overmatched Pittsburgh. Bagley also blocked a shot while recording his 13th double-double of the season, one shy of the Duke freshman record shared by Jabari Parker and Gene Banks. The Blue Devils (14-2, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) never trailed and needed less than 17 minutes to build a 30-point lead. Trevon Duval and Gary Trent Jr. scored 14 apiece and Grayson Allen added 11 points, four rebounds and four assists for Duke. Four days removed from a 96-85 loss to the Wolfpack that left head coach Mike Krzyzewski fuming about his team’s “frantic” play, the Blue Devils responded by shutting down the freshmen-laden Panthers. Duke limited Pitt (8-9, 0-4) to 13 points in the first 17 minutes and just 24 in the opening half.