Nov. 18, 2005

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VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) - Randy Foye scored 21 points and Allan Ray added 16 leading No. 5 Villanova to a 78-35 season-opening victory over Stony Brook on Friday night.

Mike Nardi added 13 points for Villanova, which outrebounded Seawolves 46-22 and forced 18 turnovers.

Marcus Cox, Bobby Santiago and Tre Cunningham each had seven points for Stony Brook, which shot 16-for-50 and 1-for-11 from the foul line. The loss spoiled the head coaching debut of former George Washington assistant Steve Pikiell.

"That was a good start for us," head coach Jay Wright said. "We have work to do but I liked our effort. We needed to play against somebody. We are an experienced team that can learn a lot more from games than from practice at this point."

Using a tight man-to-man defense, the Wildcats jumped out to a 27-10 lead with 8:42 left in the first half, and increased the margin to 37-16 by halftime.

A 19-4 run at the start of the second half gave Villanova a 56-20 advantage, and the lead ballooned to 67-26 with 5:46 to play.

Will Sheridan had 11 rebounds and Foye had six assists for the Wildcats. Jason Fraser, whose career has been hampered by a series of injuries, added six points and seven rebounds.

Additional Quotes from Head Coach Jay Wright:

"I give Stony Brook a lot of credit," Wright said. "I told our players that we were part of a team like that at Hofstra. Stony Brook played hard for 40 minutes and their effort will really get them going. A team like that can make you look bad because they play so hard."

"Our defense was good tonight. They could have taken some possessions off but they didn't and I was pleased with that. It is a matter of leadership. We have seniors that will not accept anything less than playing every possession. That is fun to coach."

"We want to be consistent and we did a pretty good job of playing consistent defense on every possession. This group has been together so we are pretty comfortable with different lineups and playing different defenses. That is what an experienced team can do."

"If we are going to reach our potential we have to play consistently. All great teams do that and you have to start consistent and finish that way. Our crowd set the tone tonight. I have never heard the chanting start so early before a game and I could hear it back in the locker room. That was pretty neat. We live off of that energy and we very much appreciate it."