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BROOKLYN, N.Y. ââ'¬" On a day when its shots weren't falling, Villanova had to look elsewhere to overcome the Stanford Cardinal in the NIT Season Tipoff semifinal at Barclays Center here today.

It was grit and defensive tenacity that filled the bill for the No. 8 Wildcats on this Thanksgiving Day.

The Wildcats (5-0 overall, 0-0 BIG EAST) led for the better part of 34 minutes on Thursday but outlasted Stanford (2-3 overall, 0-0 Pac 12) in a 59-45 victory.

"It was a hard-fought game," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright. "They were outstanding on the offensive glass. We just couldn't handle them on the glass. We played pretty good defense, but we just couldn't rebound with them. It was one of those nights where we couldn't make shots, but hung in there defensively."

Stanford outrebounded Villanova 55-35 but the Wildcats were able to offset that in several key areas. One of those was turnovers: VU's pressure produced 23 Cardinal turnovers and a 13-2 edge in points scored off of those Stanford miscues. It was also imperative that Villanova took care of the basketball itself, as it suffered only six turnovers.

The Wildcats persevered by limiting Stanford to 13-of-50 shooting from the field on the day (.260). Villanova, meanwhile, had trouble finding the range itself: it was just 19-of-62 for the day (.306), and 7-of-34 (.206) from beyond the 3-point arc.

Freshman Jalen Brunson (Lincolnshire, Ill.) provided much-needed scoring for the Wildcats, finishing with 18 points to lead all scorers. Junior Josh Hart added 10 points as the only other VU player to reach double figures.

"Jalen has a great talent for creating shots," Wright said. "Sometimes, on a night like that, you need somebody to go out and create shots for himself, and he did a great job at that."

Added Brunson: "I try to play aggressive all the time. I just thought that they were backing off me a little bit. So, there was a lot of time for me to shoot."

Points were tough to come by for both teams in the early going as the two squads combined to go a combined 0-of-12 from the field in the first 5:23. The game's only two points in that stretch were a pair of free throws by the Cardinal's Marcus Allen.

A nice drive and dish to the left corner by Brunson gave sophomore Phil Booth a clean look at a 3-point goal from the left corner. Booth calmly sank the attempt with 14:37 left in the period and the Wildcats had a 3-2 lead courtesy of their tenacious defense.

Villanova actually reeled off six more points to grab an 8-2 lead with 11:39 to play in the first period. In fact, the Wildcats would hold Stanford without a field goal for the first 10:03 of this contest.

Much of the Wildcats' first half fuel was provided by Brunson, who would tally 11 points in the period to lead Villanova. Junior Josh Hart added eight points to help VU grab a 30-23 lead at intermission.

That advantage was owed primarily to gritty work at the defensive end. Despite connecting on just 10-of-31 of its own field goal attempts (.323), Villanova held a lead because they kept the heat on the Cardinal at the opposite end of the court.

The Wildcats extended the lead to 42-26 with 13:41 to play but Stanford would not allow Villanova to pull away. An 11-2 Cardinal run narrowed the gap to 44-37 but that would be as close as Stanford would get.

Ryan Arcidiacono drained a huge triple with 5:23 remaining that extended the margin to 50-39 and gave VU a bit of breathing room as it came down the stretch.

"They are a very good defensive team, first of all," noted Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins. "They are active and they made a lot of plays on us. But the thing they did most is that we turned the ball over 23 times and so that was disappointing.

"We knew that they would pressure us and we knew some of the things that they would try and do defensively but we just didn't value it as well and I give Villanova credit for that. They have a lot of guards on the floor that anticipate very well and they make a lot of plays."

Villanova advances to the final of the NIT Season Tipoff where it meets Georgia Tech, a winner over Arkansas in today's first game, at 3 p.m. Friday (ESPN2/610 Sports Radio).

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