CHICAGO, Ill. – A 15-3 surge early in the second half helped DePaul rally past Villanova 75-65 in a BIG EAST basketball game played Tuesday night at Wintrust Arena. The win snapped a 22-game Wildcats' win streak in this series. The Blue Demons last win over Villanova took place on Jan., 3, 2008 (84-76).
 
Redshirt junior Eric Dixon notched a double-double for Villanova (8-9 overall, 2-4 BIG EAST) with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Cam Whitmore added 16 points for Nova, including a pair of spectacular slam dunks.
 
"Hats off to DePaul," stated Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune. "They came out and executed their game plan. I thought their kids played extremely hard. They made some timely, tough shots."
 
After an opening bucket by Dixon on the night's first offensive possession, the Wildcats converted on just 1-of-8 over the course of the next four minutes. DePaul, meanwhile, got its offense rolling, snapping off a 6-0 run to build an 11-6 lead after 6:55 of action. A Mark Armstrong 3-pointer halted the surge and pulled VU to within 11-9.
 
For DePaul, Da'sean Nelson was a major factor in the paint, scoring eight points in the first 10 minutes of the period. But when Nelson fouled Dixon while the Wildcats' forward scored at the 9:21 mark the game was tied (after a Dixon free throw). A little less than two minutes later, Dixon tapped in a rebound off a Caleb Daniels miss and Villanova moved on top, 19-17.
 
The Dixon-Nelson duel continued, with the DePaul big man sparking a 6-0 burst late in the period that put the Blue Demons in front 28-23. A Chris Arcidiacono drive for a basket cut the gap to 28-25 with 3:10 to play in the period. That helped ignite an 8-0 run that allowed Villanova to take a 31-30 lead with it into the locker room at intermission.
 
"I thought we were resilient in the first half," Neptune stated. "We got some stops down the stretch in the first half. Unfortunately, in the second half they got it going. We just didn't get enough stops in the second half."
 
The early minutes of the second half were highlighted by a thunderous slam from Whitmore that put Nova up 36-32. But Javan Johnson fueled a 9-2 Blue Demons run that put DePaul in front 41-38 after four minutes of the period had been played. A Nelson 3-pointer made it 44-38 and when Villanova signaled for time with 12:19 to play, DePaul had its largest lead to that point, 50-41.
 
A Dixon dunk narrowed the gap to 50-43 and that was followed by a corner 3-pointer by Cam Whitmore that made it 50-46. But Umoja Gibson sank long 3-pointers on consecutive possession to push DePaul's edge to 56-48.
 
A pair of Dixon free throws with 4:34 left, got Villanova to within 58-56. But another timely DePaul 3-pointer, this one from Philmon Gebrewhit, gave the Blue Demons a 61-56 lead with four minutes on the clock.
 
Villanova pressed the issue late but DePaul pushed its advantage to 65-58 with 1:58 left. The Blue Demons made their free throws in the homestretch, making the final 75-65.
 
Villanova is scheduled to travel to Indianapolis on Wednesday to begin preparations for its next game, Friday evening at Butler (7 p.m./FS1 and the Villanova Sports Network).