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PHILADELPHIA, Pa. ââ'¬" After absorbing its first loss of 2016-17, Villanova bounced back with an impressive 93-81 victory Saturday night over Marquette (10-5 overall, 1-2 BIG EAST). The Wildcats trailed only once all night in the opening minute and led by as many as 30 points in the second half before a closing 12-0 Golden Eagles run narrowed the final margin.

The top ranked Wildcats rebounded from a 66-58 loss to No. 18 Butler on Wednesday night in Indianapolis.

"After you lose a game at any time, you're always a little curious." Stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright. "I said it last year ââ'¬" what made us so good was the character of our (seniors). They can look at a loss and say, 'hey, we've got to get a lot better.' I kind of expected that but I was a little bit curious."

It was a potent display of firepower by the 'Cats, who connected on a season high .653 of their field goal attempts. Senior Kris Jenkins set the scoring pace with 23 points while classmate Josh Hart added 19 points to go with seven assists. VU was credited with a season-best 24 assists on 32 made field goals.

"When you have a night like this," Wright stated, "you're going to win games. What we've got to work on is when we're not making shots. You play at home and you make shots like that, you're going to win most games."

Markus Howard led the Golden Eagles with 21 points.

"That was a good win ââ'¬" we're getting better," stated Wright. "Marquette is good. They can really shoot 3's. It's never over. That's why I didn't want to take (the seniors) out."

Villanova began the night generating points with crisp offensive execution that resulted in the Wildcats draining their first six field goal attempts of the evening. That allowed VU to grab a 14-5 lead 5:05 into the contest and largely became the overarching theme of the night.

The Wildcats were able to expand their lead during the first half but the long distance accuracy of the Golden Eagles kept Marquette within striking distance. Villanova led 44-33 at halftime while connecting on .652 of its field goal attempts.

A pivotal sequence came in the first 1:30 of the second half. Villanova got back-to-back defensive stops and parlayed that into a 6-0 run to push their advantage to 50-33, forcing Marquette to call for a timeout. A Jenkins 3-pointer from the left side was one of the key blows.

The lead would continue to grow and was 85-55 with 7:07 left to play.

Wright still saw areas where his team can be better.

"Our 3-point defense has been good this year but it wasn't great tonight," stated Wright after watching Marquette drop in 14-of-31 from beyond the arc.

"We're a work in progress," Wright explained. "We know that. We've just got to keep getting better every day. We look back at each game as ââ'¬" how can we improve? We're much happier when we win, but we still know we've got to get better."

One big plus was the ball movement.

"It was very good," Wright noted. "Part of it was the way Butler played. They played a style defensively that kind of forced us into that. It just reminded us that we can't be forced into that 1-on-1 play."

The Wildcats will now get set for a Tuesday night clash with another nationally ranked foe, Xavier at the Pavilion (7 p.m./FS1 and 610 Sports Radio).