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OMAHA, Neb. -- Facing a skilled and disciplined Creighton squad playing in front of a sellout crowd in its BIG EAST home opener Saturday night, Villanova knew just where to turn.

"This is a really tough place to play," stated Wildcats head coach Jay Wright. "You really have to come in here and play well in the first half so that the crowd doesn't get into it. When you go on the road like this, you have to have great leadership. We have that in Ryan Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu."

"Our two captains, Ryan and Daniel, talk to us and they just set the tone for us at the beginning of the game," added junior Josh Hart.

Villanova grabbed the lead early and used a coolly efficient offensive attack that connected on .680 of its field goal attempts on the night to down Creighton 85-71. The win boosted the Wildcats to a 12-2 overall record, 2-0 in the BIG EAST, while the Bluejays dipped to 10-5 overall, 1-1 BIG EAST.

Hart led all scorers with 25 points -- two shy of a career high -- to go with five rebounds. Ochefu, connected on 9-of-10 from the floor to finish with 19 points to go with seven rebounds.

"Josh was just a beast for us tonight," Wright stated. "It was a good matchup for us and he was really effective."

Philadelphia native Maurice Watson Jr., scored 15 points to lead the Bluejays.

The fuel for the Wildcats in the first 20 minutes was provided by Ochefu and Hart. Ochefu scored four quick baskets -- in four attempts -- and helped the Wildcats craft a 16-13 lead midway through the first period.

"We always want to go to Daniel early," explained Wright. "You just never know how they're going to play him. Early on, they played him 1-on-1 and we wanted to stick with that."

Then it was Hart's turn, When the native of Maryland drained a 3-pointer from the left corner with 5:48 to play in the first half, Villanova had a 31-21 advantage.

But Creighton began to gets its points, dropping in its first two 3-pointers of the night and adding points at the free throw line over the final five minutes of the period to shave the Villanova lead in half. It was 40-35 at intermission.

Ochefu and Hart were a combined 13-of-14 from the field in the period. Ochefu tallied 15 points while converting all seven of his attempts from the floor. Hart was nearly as good, dropping in 6-of-7 to end the half with 13 points.

However, Villanova was hurt in the period by nine turnovers that resulted in an 8-2 advantage for the Bluejays on points scored off of those. Creighton was also 9-of-11 at the line in the period while VU was just 2-of-4.

A 5-1 spurt at the start of the second half gave Villanova a 45-36 lead and the margin stayed north of five points the rest of the way. Freshman Jalen Brunson gave the Wildcats a spark too after being held scoreless in the first half. The USA Basketball 2015 Male Athlete of the Year tallied all 15 of his points after the break, including a pair of 3-pointers.

There were some fascinating numbers on the final statistics sheet.

Villanova connected on 28-of-32 attempts from the field and just 6-of-18 from beyond the 3-point arc. The Wildcats won the battle of the boards 29-24 despite not collecting a single offensive rebound.

In the end, though, what mattered most as the Wildcats' climbed aboard their chartered flight back to Philadelphia was a satisfying win earned before a vocal crowd of 17,375.

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