CHICAGO, Ill. - A strong effort from long range helped lift No. 14/14 Villanova past DePaul 86-74 on Wednesday night at Wintrust Arena. The win is Villanova's ninth in a row and completed a perfect January (8-0).
 
The Wildcats (17-4 overall, 8-0 BIG EAST) sank 15-of-35 from beyond the 3-point arc and have made 32 in their last two outings. Eric Paschall led the Wildcats with 20 points while fellow senior Phil Booth contributed 18 points, eight assists and zero turnovers. Freshman Saddiq Bey made a trio of 3-pointers as part of his first collegiate double-double (16 points, 11 rebounds).
 
"DePaul is a really good offensive team," stated VU head coach Jay Wright. "You have to be able to score against them."
 
Indeed, the Blue Demons converted .529 of their field goal attempts. But the Wildcats committed just three turnovers on this night and out-rebounded DePaul 35-31. It also contained DePaul from beyond the arc.
 
"They were 7-of-16 which doesn't sound very good but I thought we actually did a pretty good job with that," Wright noted.
 
When these two teams met for the first time at Wintrust Arena on Dec. 27, 2017, they combined to score 188 points. The early pace in this one suggested another high tempo affair. Phil Booth drained a pair of 3-pointers and Collin Gillespie another in the first 4:05 but DePaul inflicted its damage from inside the arc in forging an 11-9 lead at the first official break of the evening.
 
The game as level at 16 before Booth and Paschall helped kick start a 15-6 surge that helped Villanova build a 31-22 lead with 8:03 to play in the first half. But DePaul got 3-pointers from Devin Gage and Max Strus in a 9-2 surge of its own to shave the advantage to 33-31 with just more than five minutes on the clock.
 
Villanova scored seven consecutive points before an Eli Cain 3-pointer just before the halftime horn allowed the Blue Demons to draw within 40-36 at intermission. A dozen points from Booth and 10 more from Paschall were essential but so too was the efforts on the glass from Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree (six boards), Bey (six rebounds) and Jermaine Samuels (three caroms). That helped VU hold a 16-14 edge on the glass.
 
An 11-2 burst over the first 2:47 allowed Villanova to extend its advantage. A trio of 'Cats – Gillespie, Bey and Booth – dropped in 3-pointers as part of the run. That put Villanova on top by a count of 51-38.
 
The Wildcats' offense helped push the lead to 17 but the Blue Demons' own firepower proved difficult to contain. DePaul converted 10-of-16 attempts from the field over the first 15 minutes of the period and closed to within 72-62 with 5:11 remaining in the second half. A Bey 3-pointer pushed the margin to 75-62 but DePaul used a 9-3 burst capped by a Strus 3-pointer at the 2:49 mark to make it a 78-71 VU edge.
 
However, clutch points from Booth, Paschall and Gillespie held keep the Blue Demons at bay. The final count was 86-74, Villanova's 18^th consecutive win over DePaul (11-9 overall, 3-6 BIG EAST).
 
The February portion of Villanova's schedule begins Sunday when the Wildcats host Georgetown in another BIG EAST test. That contest is scheduled to get underway at 12 p.m. at Wells Fargo Center (FS1 and ESPN 610 Radio). At halftime, Villanova will honor the 2019 inductees into the school's Athletics Hall of Fame.