Villanova snapped its three game losing streak after defeating DePaul, 59-49, on Wednesday night in Chicago, IL.
Twelve days after dropping a career-high 27 points against No. 11 Marquette, senior guard Jordan Longino’s 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting helped Villanova (13-10, 6-6 Big East) complete a season sweep of DePaul (11-13, 2-11 Big East).
To start the game, the Wildcats committed five turnovers and went 1-8 from field goal range during a four-minute scoring drought.
Senior guard Wooga Poplar eventually opened the scoring with a three. Poplar went on to finish the game with 12 points and six rebounds.
Early on, shooting was slow for Villanova, which finished the first half on 42.3% shooting from the field, but the Wildcats consistently out-rebounded the Blue Demons, winning the rebound battle 38-33 across the game.
The Blue Demons had a strong start to the game despite missing a key contributor. Earlier on Tuesday, DePaul announced that junior Connor Enright was ruled out for the remainder of the season with an injury. Enright ranked third in the Big East in assists with 6.2 per game.
Even in Enright’s absence, DePaul maintained a narrow margin throughout the first half. The Blue Demons took a 15-14 lead with 7:51 in the first half, which forced Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune to call a timeout.
Graduate forward and NCAA leading scorer Eric Dixon had a slow first half, shooting 4-for-14 across the game and 1-for-4 from three. Dixon ultimately finished with 14 points, but did not score a three until late in the second half.
From the start, Wednesday night’s defeat of DePaul was far less lopsided than Villanova’s 100-56 win on Jan. 4. Villanova led at the half by just three.
Coming out of halftime, both teams began taking more shots. Poplar scored nine points to start the second half. Graduate guard Jhamir Bruckus had dealt some fouls in the first half, and quickly picked up his third early in the second.
With Brickus on the bench, and Dixon still impeded by DePaul’s defense, the ball was back in Longino’s hands. Longino’s work was on both ends of the court, and his chase-down block gave the Wildcats momentum as they led, 36-32, with 16 minutes and 36 seconds left to play.
Sophomore guard Tyler Perkins scored back-to-back threes for the first time since December. He finished the game with eight points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field.
Longino’s and Perkins’ shooting from deep allowed the Wildcats to take an eight-point lead approaching the final ten minutes.
It looked as if the Blue Demons could come back, as they closed the deficit to just five, but a Dixon three-pointer gave the Wildcats a 10-point lead with five minutes and three seconds left, ultimately helping Villanova secure the win.
Up next for the Wildcats is a Sunday afternoon game against Xavier (14-9, 6-6 Big East) at the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia (FS1, 12 p.m.).
