On Saturday, Jan. 3, Villanova men’s basketball defeated Butler, 85-67, on the road in Indianapolis.
Villanova trailed early, but again used a second-half performance to come away with a win for the second consecutive game. This season, Villanova has outscored every opponent in the second half except Wisconsin. Butler (10-5, 1-3 Big East) was able to force seven early Villanova turnovers to take the lead, but could not keep up with Villanova late in the game.
The win extends the Wildcats (12-2, 3-0 Big East) to a five-game win streak this season and a four-game win streak against Butler. Villanova leads the all-time series, 18-7.
“I think sometimes when you have a young team, getting them to understand maybe just being a little bit more purposeful on the offensive end early in games,” Villanova head coach Kevin Willard said. “I just thought we came out a little bit too casual to start. The turnovers kind of let us get down, but I felt we came out with a much better purpose in the second half.”
The Wildcats went 32-for-58 (55%) on field goal attempts, 7-for-21 (33%) on three-pointers and 14-for-20 (77%) at the free throw line.
Five Wildcats scored double-digits. Redshirt sophomore guard Bryce Lindsay totaled a team-high 18 points after shooting 3-for-5 from beyond the arc in the second half. Redshirt freshman Matthew Hodge scored 17 points, shooting 4-for-5 from the field and 3-for-3 on three-pointers in the second half.
Senior forward Duke Brennan collected his fifth double-double, scoring 15 points along with 10 rebounds. Villanova is 5-0 when Brennan has a double-double.
Junior guard Finely Bizjack led the Bulldogs in scoring with 18 points, followed by graduate forward Michael Ajayai, who had a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double.
Brennan and Ajayai entered the game ranked top five in average rebounds in the nation.
“I mean, I think they’re one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country,” Willard said. “So you have to make sure you have size on the court, so you just can’t put Duke [Brennan] out there. I thought Matt Hodge did a great job of being big and battling Ajayi, because if you’re small on him, you’re going to be in for a long night.”
Butler took the lead from the tip-off and held it until early in the second half. The Wildcats made a steady attempt to overtake the Bulldogs. However, Butler pulled away on a 7-0 scoring run with 12:50 remaining in the first half.
With just under three minutes left in the first half, the Wildcats attempted to cut down a 31-23 deficit. Brennan rallied the effort, driving a layup and dunk.
The Wildcats were able to enter halftime trailing Butler, 33-30, despite shooting a poor 1-for-12 from beyond the arc.
Villanova quickly came alive in the second half’s opening minutes using the momentum off the 7-0 run to close the first half. The Wildcats went on a 7-0 run with the help of a spark from their three-point shooting to take a 37-33 lead just a minute and a half into the second half.
Lindsay and Hodge guided Villanova from the three-point line, shooting a combined 6-for-8 (75%) from deep. The duo accounted for all of Villanova’s second-half three-point makes. As a team, Villanova shot 6-for-9 (66.7%) from beyond the arc in the second half.
“We’re a good shooting team, so we’re going to take a lot of threes,” Willard said. “Bryce Lindsay is probably one of the best shooters in the country. He doesn’t get talked about a lot. Matty [Hodge] can knock it down. Tyler Perkins is shooting over 40%. Then we come off the bench with Devin Askew. So, everyone we have out there, most times we have four guys out there that can shoot. So we didn’t shoot great in the first half, but it was just a matter of time until we started making shots.”
Eventually, the Villanova scoring run grew to 17-3. It was enough for Villanova to maintain a lead for the remainder of the game, despite Butler’s attempts to close the lead.
Butler went 24-for-63 (38%) on field goal attempts, 6-for-27 on three-pointers (22%), and 13-for-14 at the free-throw line (93%).
The Wildcats will now face Creighton (9-5, 3-0 Big East) on Wednesday, Jan. 7, at the Finneran Pavilion (7:30 p.m., Peacock). While Villanova leads the all-time series 19-11, the Bluejays have won the last three meetings.
