Box Score

ROSEMONT, Ill. - In a Jan. 10 victory over DePaul at the Pavilion, Villanova used a 45 point first half to build a commanding lead. In the rematch played three weeks later at Allstate Arena, a dominant second half did the trick for the No. 7 Wildcats, who defeated the Blue Demons 68-55.

Ryan Arcidiacono scored all 18 of his points in the second stanza to help spark a 37-18 outburst that erased a six point halftime deficit and allowed the Wildcats to improve to 19-2 overall, 6-2 BIG EAST. DePaul falls to 11-12 overall, 5-5 in the BIG EAST.

Senior JayVaughn Pinkston added 14 points for Villanova, which included a perfect 10-of-10 effort at the free throw line.

"That's a good road win for us," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright. "That's a very good team, a team that is capable of beating anyone. (DePaul) is really tough to guard. They share the ball, they have got an inside/outside game.

"In the first half they took advantage of everything we tried to do defensively. In the second half, we didn't change anything, we just did a better job. We got a good feel for what they were doing to us. They were driving the ball and finding open people in transition."

DePaul found its offensive footing early in this one, connecting on 10-of-15 field goal attempts to open the contest. That included three 3-point field goals and helped the Blue Demons craft a 26-17 lead with 7:16 left in the first period.

An 8-0 spurt from the Wildcats, spurred by a couple of big rebounds from Daniel Ochefu and a pair of forced turnovers, brought VU back to within 28-25. But DePaul outscored the `Cats 9-6 over the final four plus minutes of the session to grab a 37-31 lead at intermission.

DePaul connected on 13-of-25 field goal attempts (.520) in the first 20 minutes, including 5-of-11 from beyond the arc (.455). The Wildcats, meanwhile, sank just 10-of-24 (.417) in the period and 2-of-9 from distance (.222).

Darrun Hilliard's 11 points paced the Wildcats in the first half while Billy Garrett Jr.'s 10 points set the pace for the Blue Demons'.

"Two things happened in the second half: we made shots and they didn't get out in transition," noted Wright.

Arcidiacono scored eight points in the first 4:23 of the second half, the capper coming when he was fouled after making a 3-pointer. His free throw deadlocked the game at 41 less than five minutes into the second half. From the point forward, Villanova outscored DePaul 27-14 to pull away to the victory.

The Blue Demons were forced to play a game postponed by snow on Thursday afternoon at Providence and Wright believes that may have impacted matters.

"They caught a tough break by having to travel and play on Thursday," stated Wright. "We were at home watching that game while they were playing. We were off and may have been fresher in the second half because of it."

Villanova limited DePaul to only six second half field goals while connecting on 10-of-20 from the field in the period. The Wildcats also out-rebounded DePaul 35-18 on the day, led by 12 from junior Daniel Ochefu.

Garrett ended the afternoon as the only Blue Demon to score in double figures with 14 points.

The Wildcats now embark upon a busy month of February that begins with a pair of BIG EAST home games at the Wells Fargo Center this week. Marquette visits on Wednesday night (7 p.m./Fox Sports 1) followed by a rematch with Georgetown on Saturday (2 p.m./Fox).

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