No. 3 Villanova pulls away from Providence

VILLANOVA, PA. » A bright light coming from a sunny window delayed the start of the second half. When the game finally resumed, Villanova’s offense shone on the court — neither a dark curtain nor Providence could blot out the Wildcats.

Collin Gillespie and Justin Moore scored 15 points apiece, and No. 3 Villanova used a dominating final 20 minutes to defeat Providence 71-56 on Saturday.

Caleb Daniels added 12 points and Jermaine Samuels had 10 for Villanova (10-1, 5-0 Big East), which rebounded from an ugly first half to win its eighth consecutive game.

“We just couldn’t score,” coach Jay Wright said of the first half, when the Wildcats shot 27%. What changed?

“We got used to their length and speed,” Wright said.

But they had to wait for about 15 minutes while a curtain was placed over a window high in Finneran Pavilion from which a stream of sunlight fell on the Providence bench.

“It was blinding, literally blinding,” Wright said.

With the window covered, the sun stopped splashing on the Friars’ faces. But Villanova shots rained down on the basket.

The Wildcats surged out of the locker room, hitting 10 of their first 21 second-half shots, and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl’s dunk on a pass from Moore made it 5038 Villanova with 10:12 remaining. That capped a 26-11 run after halftime.

NO. 2 BAYLOR 81, OKLAHOMA STATE 66 STILLWATER, OKLA. »

Jared Butler scored 22 points and No. 2 Baylor rallied from a halftime deficit to beat undermanned Oklahoma State. Cowboys guard Cade Cunningham, the Big 12 Conference’s leading scorer, did not play because of COVID-19 protocols. NO. 8 HOUSTON 68, TEMPLE 51 PHILADELPHIA » Marcus Sasser and Quentin Grimes each scored 15 points and No. 8 Houston rolled to its sixth straight win over Temple.

OKLAHOMA 75, NO. 9 KANSAS 68 NORMAN, OKLA. »

De’Vion Harmon scored 22 points and Oklahoma beat No. 9 Kansas for its second victory this month over a top-10 opponent.

NO. 15 OHIO STATE 74, NO. 10 WISCONSIN 62 MADISON, WIS. »

E.J. Liddell scored 20 points and No. 15 Ohio State never trailed in a victory over No. 10 Wisconsin that continued the Buckeyes’ recent road mastery of ranked opponents.

NO. 11 CREIGHTON 74, NO. 23 UCONN 66 OMAHA, NEB. »

Denzel Mahoney scored 20 points and 11th-ranked Creighton broke open a close game in the last 10 minutes to beat No. 23 Connecticut.

NO. 14 WEST VIRGINIA 69, KANSAS STATE 47 MANHATTAN, KAN. » Miles McBride scored 18 points to help No. 14 West Virginia beat Kansas State in the Mountaineers’ first game in two weeks because of COVID-19 protocols.

SYRACUSE 78, NO. 16 VIRGINIA TECH 60 SYRACUSE, N .Y. »

Quincy Guerrier had 20 points, Marek Doelzaj added 18 and Alan Griffin had 15 points, 10 rebounds and a careerhigh seven blocks for his fourth double-double of the season, and Syracuse defeated No. 16 Virginia Tech.

MARYLAND 63, NO. 17 MINNESOTA 49 MINNEAPOLIS »

Eric Ayala had 21 points and three steals to help Maryland deliver another road upset of a ranked Big Ten opponent, a wire-to-wire victory over No. 17 Minnesota.

FLORIDA STATE 80, NO. 20 CLEMSON 61 TALLAHASSEE, FLA. »

Balsa Koprivica had 13 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double and Florida State pulled away early in an rout of No. 20 Clemson.