INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Throughout the course of the 2020-21 regular season, Villanova's defensive work endured its share of ups and downs. But on the big stage of the NCAA Tournament Friday night, the Wildcats came through with the kind of rugged effort that has so often characterized this program in the past two decades.
 
            No. 5 seed Villanova (17-6 overall, 11-4 BIG EAST) knocked off No. 12 seed Winthrop (23-2 overall) 73-63 to advance to the Round of 32 to face North Texas State, an upset victor earlier Friday over No. 4 seed Purdue.That game will be played Sunday evening at Bankers Life Field House at 8:45 p.m., airing on TNT and 95.7 Ben FM Radio. 
 
            The win was the Wildcats' seventh straight in First Round NCAA Tournament action.
 
            BIG EAST Co-Player of the Year Jeremiah Robinson-Earl led Villanova with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore Justin Moore added 15 points and senior Jermaine Samuels 11. The Wildcats limited the Eagles to .362 shooting on the night and held leading scorer Chandler Vaudin to 2-of-10 shooting on the night.
 
            "That's a very good team," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright of Winthrop early Saturday morning. "I thought it was a really good defensive effort on our guys' part. That's an outstanding offensive team. They play with great pace, shoot it well and I thought that was the key to the game.
 
            "Offensively, Jeremiah was great, not just scoring. He had six assists and we ran a lot through him."
 
            Sturdy defense and top-shelf rebounding fueled a fast start for the Wildcats in this one. Villanova limited Winthrop to 2-of-7 shooting from the field and behind four points and five rebounds from Robinson-Earl, crafted an 11-4 lead after 4:09 of action at Farmers Coliseum at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
 
            The Wildcats moved out to a 21-12 lead on a Caleb Daniels 3-pointer but Winthrop came right back, reeling off the next eight points to narrow the advantage to 21-20 with just more than six minutes to play in the period. A DJ Burns Jr. spinning hook gave the Eagles the 22-21 lead before Moore snapped the run with a 3-pointer.
 
            At the under four minute official timeout, the game was tied at 26.
 
            The game remained tight for the remainder of the half. A Cole Swider 3-pointer, his second of the half, gave the Wildcats a 34-33 lead they took with them into the locker room after 20 minutes. Moore led Nova with 10 points in the period while Robinson-Earl finished with eight points in the period. Burns Jr. led Winthrop with nine points in 12 minutes before sitting down with two fouls.
 
            Sophomore Bryan Antoine gave Villanova a big lift early in the second half as he dropped in 3-pointers on consecutive possessions as part of a 10-1 Wildcats run to open the period. But Winthrop answered with five consecutive points of its own and Villanova's 10-point edge was quickly shaved to four, 43-39.
 
            A series of defensive stops helped fuel a 7-0 surge that carried Villanova to a 58-47 with 7:48 to play. Jermaine Samuels dropped in a nifty low post bucket to give the Wildcats their largest lead of the evening. Another Samuels' score pushed the lead to 60-47.
 
            Winthrop closed to within 60-52 but never could string together the kind of points flurry needed to pressure Villanova. The final count was 73-63.
 
            "We did a good job in transition defense," Wright said. "They like to get up the court really quickly and we got matched up well. We were able to keep Vaudrin, who is an outstanding player, in front of us.
 
            "Burns hurt us. We didn't do a great job defensively on him but Jeremiah went at him and was able to get him in foul trouble. Getting him in foul trouble was probably the best way to stop him."
 
            Burns was limited to 19 minutes before fouling out with a team-high 12 points.