Box Score

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. ââ'¬" After working out some early kinks Sunday, the Villanova Wildcats rolled past Pace 80-45 in exhibition game played at the Wells Fargo Center.

Freshman Jalen Brunson led five Wildcats in double figures with 13 points while Josh Hart and Ryan Acridiacono each scored 11 points. Daniel Ochefu and Mikal Bridges had 10 points apiece for the Wildcats, who connected on .509 of their field goal attempts on the day and limited the Setters to .321 accuracy from the field.

Pace recorded the first five points of the game and held a 14-6 lead through seven minutes of action. The Setters collected 10 of the contest's first 15 rebounds while VU battled to get its offense into gear, connecting on 4-of-11 from the field over the first 8:11 and failing to sink a single 3-pointer (0-of-4).

"I really didn't think it was so much a slow start on our part as it was us not really knowing what they were going to do," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright of the Setters, who have a new coaching staff in 2015-16. "They came out and ran a spread offense, a Princeton style, and they were taking advantage of our bigs by bringing them away from the basket.

"Once Daniel got used to how they were playing, we were good. If you remember we took Daniel out there and spoke to him. When he came back in I thought he really got us going defensively. He kind of set the tone defensively."

Wright praised the Setters.

"It wasn't just the offense they ran," he noted. "It was that they ran it well too. They ran an offense kind of like what we might see in the early season, like a Patriot League team might. Those kinds of teams can really spread you out and use their four and five men more as guards. That can be tough on Daniel, Kris Jenkins and Darryl (Reynolds).

"We struggled a little bit early but I like the way we adjusted to it."

Villanova began to take control with stingy defense and produced a 32-6 run over the final 11 minutes of the first half to build a 38-20 advantage at halftime. Hart led all first half scorers with 11 points while Arcidiacono added nine points.

The Wildcats owned a 15-6 advantage on the backboards over that stretch. Ochefu collected seven first half caroms to go with his six points.

VU was 14-of-28 (.500) from the field in the first period while limiting the Setters to 7-of-29 from the field (.242).

Pace knocked down its first 3-point attempt of the second half but was never able to shave the deficit below 14 points. Villanova's young players ââ'¬" Brunson, Bridges, Donte DiVincenzo (nine points, two assists) and Phil Booth (five points, four assists, zero turnovers) each made substantial contributions over the final 20 minutes.

Ochefu ended the day with a double-double ââ'¬" 10 points and 12 rebounds as Villanova outrebounded Pace 36-32.

"Every season is a new fresh season ââ'¬" no matter what happened the year before," stated Wright. "It's exciting. It's good to get it going again. For basketball people, this is when you feel comfortable ââ'¬" in season. You know what to do. So we're all back into our rhythm, which is great."

The Wildcats open the 2015-16 regular season on Friday night at the Pavilion when Fairleigh Dickinson comes to campus. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. (FS2/610 Sports Radio).

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