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PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- A night of potent offense helped lift No. 1 ranked Villanova past Creighton 98-78 on Thursday night before 10,225 here. The Wildcats matched a program record set earlier this season at Saint Joseph's by draining 19 3-pointers -- including to or more by six different players.

All five Wildcats starters finished the night in double figures, led by redshirt junior Mikal Bridges with 21 points. National player of the year candidate Jalen Brunson added 19 points while Donte DiVincenzo added 17 points.

Yet it was the two primary Wildcats' bench players, freshmen reserves Collin Gillespie and Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree who impacted the game in an important way. Gillespie came off the bench to add eight points and five assists in 23 minutes. Cosby-Roundtree added six points and six rebounds in 14 minutes. Toss in a 14 point effort from redshirt freshman Omari Spellman and it was a good night for Villanova's newest Wildcats.

"I thought our three freshmen really helped us tonight," stated VU head coach Jay Wright. ?Every game we can play without Phil Booth and those three freshmen play, is going to help us down the road. I was really pleased with all three of our freshmen."

"When Collin came into the game in the first half, he really sparked us. He got people shots, he took a charge. They are really intelligent offensively. They get mismatches and go at him. I thought he defended his man well and that really inspired our guys."

Marcus Foster led Creighton with 20 points.

"That's an incredibly explosive offensive team," stated VU head coach Jay Wright. "Our league is so good offensively. You look at a (Creighton) team that shot 49 percent and 33 percent from three and you feel like you did a pretty good job. We need to keep getting better defensively." Two of the BIG EAST's most polished offensive teams flashed their skill in the game's first nine minutes. The Wildcats drained four 3-pointers -- including the 7,000th in program history by Bridges -- while Creighton dropped in a pair to forge an 18-18 tie after 9:13 of action in South Philadelphia.

A 10-4 spurt helped build a 28-22 lead for Villanova and one of its architects was Gillespie. The native of Huntingdon, Pa., found a cutting Brunson for a bucket and then fed a sharp pass to Cosby-Roundtree for a pair of assists. Then he sank a 3-pointer as the shot clock was winding down and promptly drew a charge at the defensive end to give VU its six point edge with just under seven minutes to play in the first half.

Gillespie's ball movement helped to push that run to 22-4 before the Bluejays struck back with 10-0 run to shave the deficit to 40-30. But VU ended the period on a surge and took a 49-34 lead into the locker room at the half.

The offensive firepower of both units was evident in the early stages of the second half. Creighton connected on 6-of-10 of its field goal attempts over the first 8:22 of the period and added five free throws to that mix. But Villanova kept its margin through its own skill in front of the basket and held a 73-54 advantage.

DiVincenzo led the second half wave along with Spellman. VU dropped in eight 3-pointers in the second stanza after dropping in 10 over the first 20 minutes. It all added up to a 98-78 triumph with the final Villanova points of the night scored by walk-on Matt Kennedy.

Villanova will be back on the court at Wells Fargo Center on Sunday when it hosts Seton Hall in a BIG EAST clash set for noon (Fox TV/610 Sports Radio).

NO WILDCAT WALK SUNDAY

The "Wildcat Walk" will return on Saturday, Feb. 10 prior to the Wildcats' game against Butler at noon.

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