VILLANOVA, Pa. – No. 23/22 Villanova outscored No. 18/17 Xavier 41-20 over the final 20 minutes to spark a 71-58 victory in a BIG EAST game played Tuesday night at Finneran Pavilion.
 
The Wildcats trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half and found themselves down 38-30 at halftime. But thanks to a spirited defensive effort and some offensive fireworks from Justin Moore (17 points), Caleb Daniels (16 points), Collin Gillespie and Eric Dixon (15 points each). Villanova outlasted the Musketeers (11-2 overall, 1-1 BIG EAST).
 
The Wildcats (8-4 overall, 1-1 BIG EAST) held Xavier to 8-of-27 shooting after halftime, including 0-of-14 from beyond the 3-point arc. The Musketeers were 6-of-9 from deep in the first period.
 
Villanova rebounded from consecutive lopsided defeats at No. 1 Baylor (57-36) and Creighton (79-59).
 
"We hear all the noise around us," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright, who tallied his 498^th Wildcats win in this one. "We try to make it our next game – it's not an easy thing to do. Everyone is coming at you with ideas, changes you should make or criticism. They're not wrong.
 
"We just try to keep getting better every day."
 
The Musketeers offense found an early rhythm and built a 27-18 lead with 6:53 to play in the first half. Xavier connected on 11-of-17 field goal attempts (.647) in the game's first 13:07, including all five of its attempts from beyond the arc.
 
The work of Dixon and Gillespie helped the Wildcats claw their way back to within 30-26 after a nifty Gillespie reverse layup with just more than four minutes to play in the period. However, Xavier scored the next six points to restore its ten-point advantage at 36-26 with 2:22 remaining in the first half.
 
There were two Villanova highlights before the period closed. Jermaine Samuels scored his 1,000^th career point, becoming the 69^th Wildcat to reach that plateau. And Daniels slammed home a dunk on Villanova's final possession of the half to shave the halftime deficit to 38-30.
 
Dixon (nine points) and Gillespie (eight points) paced the home team in first half scoring. Nate Johnson's 11 points, on 4-of-5 shooting from the field, led all scorers. Xavier was 6-of-9 from beyond the 3-point arc in the first 20 minutes while the Wildcats struggled to get untracked, sinking 1-of-10.
 
Villanova dropped in only two of its first eight attempts from the field in the first 4:06 of the second, triples by Moore and Daniels. But the Wildcats forced five turnovers in that same stretch and were back to within 39-37 at the 15:54 mark of the second half.
 
The Wildcats took the lead on a Dixon bucket at 42-41. The Wildcats pushed the advantage to 48-45 but Xavier went back in front 49-48 at the 8:15 mark on a pair of Jerome Hunter free throws. A Brandon Slater free throw tied the game at 49 as the clock dipped below eight minutes to play.
 
A surge by Nova gave it a 57-51 edge before four straight points from Xavier closed the gap to two. From there, Villanova used a 10-0 burst to gain control of the contest and never looked back.
 
It finished the game on a 14-3 run.
 
The final was 71-58.
 
"I think it was a good job of us responding, continuing to do what we do," stated Moore. "Whether we won those games or lost them, we were going to come back and try to play our hardest. I think tonight we did a great job of playing as hard as we can, defending and playing tough.
 
"We were playing against a great team in Xavier. We know how capable they are of coming in here and winning. It was a great job of playing for each other."
 
Villanova is idle until next Wednesday evening when it is slated to return to game action next Wednesday night, Dec. 29, at Finneran Pavilion when Philadelphia Big Five rival Temple will provide the opposition in the final City Series clash for Villanova in 2021-22. Tipoff is set for 9 p.m.