VILLANOVA, Pa. – On a night when Villanova retired the jersey of Ryan Aricidiacono, the Wildcats leaned on the grit that the leader of the 2016 NCAA national champions displayed so often in this building. In the end, it helped lift No. 15 Villanova past No. 18 Marquette 72-71 Wednesday night at Finneran Pavilion.
 
Freshman Jeremiah Robinson registered a double-double and sank a critical free throw with 4.8 seconds remaining to help seal the win.
 
The Wildcats built a 49-31 lead early in the second half and then held off a furious Golden Eagles' charge led by senior All-American Markus Howard (24 points).
 
Juniors Jermaine Samuels and Collin Gillespie each added 14 points for Nova, which moved its record to 18-6 overall, 8-4 BIG EAST. The Wildcats are now in a tie for second place in the BIG EAST with Creighton, which upended first place Seton Hall earlier in the evening.
 
"Everyone in the BIG EAST has a lot of fight in them," noted Gillespie, who also contributed five assists and four rebounds in the win. "It was a game of runs. I don't think we did a great job of executing down the stretch. It's a learning experience. The whole season is going to be that. We've got to just get back and continue to grow.
 
"Myself, Jermaine and DaDa (Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree) have been in big games before. We try to lead by example. I've got to be more solid at the end of the games."
 
Marquette grabbed a 5-2 lead on a Howard old school 3-point play but Villanova answered with a 12-2 run over the next 3:18 to take a 14-7 lead over the Golden Eagles at the first official timeout of the evening. The lead grew to 19-9 as Nova's defense held Marquette to 1-of-13 shooting for a stretch in the first half.
 
When freshman Justin Moore sank a 3-pointer with 8:02 on the clock Villanova had itself a 28-13 lead. But the high-octane Golden Eagles came to life midway through the period, riding an 8-2 burst that helped them narrow the deficit to 30-21.
 
Some mid-range scoring from Robinson-Earl helped the Wildcats take a 38-29 lead into halftime. Nova limited the Golden Eagles to 11-of-33 shooting in the first period, including 4-of-14 from beyond the 3-point arc. Villanova drained seven 3-pointers in the period.
 
"I think our defense ignited our offense in the first half," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright. "It got us out in transition where they didn't have their defense set. It wasn't exactly fast break layups, but we got them in transition, and we got some easy shots. We did a good job sharing the ball.
 
"Jeremiah, kicking the ball out, getting to the rim, setting screens was really important. Collin runs the show. He finds people and he hit a huge shot too."

At haltime, Villanova honored Ryan Arcidiacono, retiring his No. 15 jersey. 
 
That rugged defense carried over into the second half. Villanova crafted a 9-0 run to extend its advantage to 47-29 at the 16:29 mark of the second half. But Marquette's potent offense found its footing and gradually chipped away at the Wildcats' margin. A Koby McEwen 3-pointer at the 3:58 mark brought Marquette to within 65-60.
 
Villanova pushed the advantage back to 70-60 after Gillespie sank a clutch 3-pointer from the top of the key at the 2:03 mark. But Marquette kept pushing and a Howard 3-ball with 40 seconds to play got the Golden Eagles to within 71-68. Robinson-Earl made one of two free throws with 4.8 seconds left to make it 72-68 before Howard drained a 3-pointer as the horn sounded.
 
The final was 72-71.
 
"This league is incredible," Wright stated. "From 1-10 any team can beat the No. 1 team in the country. That's what is unique about this league this year."
 
On Sunday Villanova wraps up the Philadelphia Big Five portion of its schedule when it visits Temple (1 p.m. on ESPN and ESPN610 Radio) The Wildcats bring a 3-0 City Series mark into the matchup with the Owls.
 
"We were legitimately putting the ball in J-Rob's hands at the end of the game," said Wright. "He's our best free throw shooter. He missed a couple tonight, but he hit the big one. We wouldn't have done that with a freshman earlier in the year. We're doing that now. We've got Justin Moore in there guarding Markus Howard, the all-time scorer in Big East history.
 
"We're growing. But what's tough at this time of year is these juniors and seniors in the league have been in the Big East. They know it's getting to be crunch time. They know what to do. Our guys are still learning. We just have to find a way to gut it out – to improve as quickly as we can. We have a lot of room for improvement."
 
The 2019-20 season – Villanova's 100^th college basketball campaign – is presented by Hartford Funds and Coca-Cola.