PHILADELPHIA, Pa ââ'¬" The Villanova Wildcats scored their most points in nearly a decade as they rolled past Nicholls 113-77 on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center. The Wildcats (2-0 overall) were paced by a career-best 23 points from redshirt junior Mikal Bridges along with 20 points from redshirt sophomore Donte DiVincenzo.

The Wildcats also established a new school record for blocked shots in a game with 12. Omari Spellman and Bridges each had four rejections. Villanova also scored 113 points in a win over Hartford in December 2007.

The Colonels (1-1 overall) got 25 points from Zaquavian Smith.

"That was a good next step for us," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright. "Those were contrasting styles between Columbia and Nicholls. Columbia plays a Princeton style and was tough to guard. Nicholls scored 111 in their first game. Watching them on tape they were scary. They have a bunch of guys that can score.

"I thought we did a good job and got good leadership from our upperclassmen."

After the two squads traded baskets over the first two minutes, the Wildcats were able to use their defense to ignite their offense. Consecutive 3-point baskets by Bridges helped push VU's advantage to 16-8 at the first official timeout. The surge continued as Donte DiVincenzo and Omari Spellman chimed in to help extend the margin to 35-11 midway through the first half.

The Colonels were able to disrupt the Wildcats more effectively in the second portion of the period, which in turn helped enhance their offense. A pair of 3-pointers by Zaquavian Smith trimmed the VU advantage to 45-28 with 3:08 remaining before intermission. Spellman headed the bench with his second foul.

But Villanova closed out well, posting a 9-2 surge in the period to take a 54-30 lead over the Colonels into the halftime break. Bridges led all scorers with 17 points in the period along with four blocked shots.

Smith's hot shooting from deep continued early in the period ââ'¬" he connected on three more deep balls ââ'¬" but the Wildcats maintained the edge thanks to their own fireworks. Phil Booth and Collin Gillespie drained 3-pointers along with another from Bridges as Villanova pushed its lead to 76-45 with 12:50 left in the contest.

"We almost did it for 40 minutes and it's hard to do that at this point in the season," stated Wright of his unit's effort.

Villanova limited Nicholls to .386 shooting on the night but the Colonels did drain nine 3-pointers. Wright views his team's defense as a work in progress.

"We're a team that needs a lot of work," Wright said. "This is a young group for us. We have no seniors. We have a lot of work to do defensively but I think we have the potential to be a really good defensive team."

The Wildcats will now begin preparations for a doubleheader with the Villanova women's squad on Friday evening at PPL Center in Allentown, Pa. The Wildcats women meets Lehigh at 5 p.m. while the men square off against Lafayette at 8 p.m. (FS2).

The 2017-18 Villanova Basketball season is presented by KeyBank.