VILLANOVA, Pa. – A suffocating defensive effort and a balanced offensive attack helped lift the No. 9/11 Villanova Wildcats to a 76-61 BIG EAST victory over No. 13 Butler (15-4 overall, 3-3 BIG EAST) Tuesday night at Finneran Pavilion.
 
"That was a good game for us," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright. "There are certain teams you play, and you find out where you are. Butler's discipline and toughness always give us trouble. But it's a team we learn from playing against.
 
"It was a really good defensive effort by us. We've got to get better offensively but our defense and rebounding were very good tonight. Someone asked me earlier tonight, 'what's wrong with Butler?' There's nothing wrong with Butler. They played Seton Hall, which might be one of the best teams in the country, and they went at DePaul, which has already beaten some of the best teams in the country."
 
Junior Jermaine Samuels led five Wildcats (15-3 overall, 5-1 BIG EAST) in double figures with a season-high 20 points to go with seven rebounds. Freshman Jeremiah Robinson-Earl registered his sixth double-double in 18 games, delivering 12 points and 14 rebounds. Sophomore Saddiq Bey shadowed Bulldogs star Kamar Baldwin for much of the night and finished with 14 points and six rebounds.
 
"Saddiq's really become our best defensive player," noted Wright. "We just try to pick the guy that we think is hurting us the most or is going to hurt us the most. And Baldwin started to get it going in the second half. Saddiq did a really good job tonight."
 
The tone was set early in this one with both sides clamping down at the defensive end. The teams combined to score only eight points over the first 4:09. Butler scored five of them – two at the line – to grab an early 5-2 lead. The Wildcats were 1-of-8 from the field in that span (.125). A Kamar Baldwin 3-point on Butler's next possession stretched the lead to 8-2.
 
An 8-0 Nova run, including 3-pointers from Bey and Robinson-Earl, gave the 'Cats their first lead of the night at 10-8. They would retain it the rest of the way.
 
More good work from BIG EAST Freshman of the Week Robinson-Earl and Samuels helped Nova build a 21-16 lead. The two combined to score 16 of those 21 Wildcats points over the first 12 plus minutes.
 
Villanova got a boost from freshman guard Justin Moore late in the period and Collin Gillespie hit his first 3-pointer of the night to help the Wildcats craft a 36-26 lead at intermission. Ten points each from Robinson-Earl and Samuels paced Villanova in the period. A 24-16 edge on the glass was a significant factor in the Wildcats' favor through the first 20 minutes.
 
A 7-0 spurt that came courtesy of Bey – he dropped in back-to-back 3-pointers and added a free throw on the second attempt – pushed the Wildcats lead to 43-26 two minutes into the second half. Butler, though, came right back with a 9-2 spurt of its own to shave the margin to 45-35 four minutes into the period.
 
Butler used an 8-0 burst to pull to within 49-45 at the 11:15 mark of the period. At that juncture the Bulldogs have converted 9-of-13 second half field goal attempts. In that same stretch, Nova was just 1-of-7 from the floor.
 
Villanova, though, came right back. It pushed the lead back to 56-45 and was in control the rest of the way. A 43-37 rebounding advantage and limiting Butler to .379 shooting on the night were two of the keys to the win.
 
"We've got good mental toughness," stated Wright. "Dhamir (Cosby-Roundtree), Jermaine and Collin have seen a lot. I think it's their leadership. And then our younger guys have come here with good mental toughness."
 
"I think the strength of our team is that we have multiple guys that can score. We can have that balance we had tonight. We've had some balance, but we haven't consistently had that balance. That's how we have to play."
 
Villanova heads back out on the road Friday afternoon when it is slated to travel north to Providence ahead of a Saturday matinee at the Dunkin Donuts Center against the Friars. Game time is set for 1 p.m. in a contest that will air nationally on CBS and also be heard on 610 ESPN Radio.
 
The 2019-20 season – Villanova's 100^th college basketball campaign – is presented by Hartford Funds and Coca-Cola.