Wildcat Wrap
 
Final Score: Villanova 84, DePaul 48
 
Hakim was Hot: The Wildcats got an early offensive boost from graduate transfer Hakim Hart. The 6-8 guard keyed an 8-0 run with a pair of 3-pointers and two free throws, helping Villanova grab a 16-11 lead through the first 7:47 of game action.
 
Eric Dixon's dunk ignited another 8-0 run for Nova that was capped by a Jordan Longino corner 3-pointer to extend the lead to 31-18 at the 7:41 mark of the first period. Meanwhile, the 'Cats defense limited DePaul to 6-of-19 shooting from the field in that same stretch (.316).
 
A Mark Armstrong triple pushed the advantage to 34-18 before DePaul answered with a 7-0 burst to cut the gap to 34-25 with 4:30 left until halftime.
 
Villanova closed the period on a 12-3 run to take a 46-28 lead into its locker room at intermission.
 
In the Zone: The Wildcats used a significant amount of 2-3 zone defense in the first 20 minutes and it was productive.
 
DePaul converted 10-of-28 from the field in the first period (.357) and committed seven turnovers.
 
Meanwhile, VU had its most efficient offensive period of December, connecting on 17-of-31 from the floor (.548), including 7-of-10 from beyond the 3-point arc (.700). The Wildcats generated 10 assists on those 17 field goals with TJ Bamba setting the pace in that department with three.
 
Another Surge: Hart was in the middle of another impressive Villanova burst, this one a 9-0 run in the early part of the second half that allowed the 'Cats to stretch their advantage to 60-34 after 8:02 of the period. He added his third triple of the day and a drive to the goal in that span.
 
The run eventually became 21-4, pushing the Nova margin to 72-38 with 6:54 on the second half clock. It reached 84-42 in the waning moments of the contest.
 
Helping Hands: An old axiom suggests that "many hands make light work." Villanova reflected that at Wintrust Arena. Nine different Wildcats scored points and six players sank at least one 3-pointer.
 
Hart was one of three Wildcats in double figures (20 points, four rebounds) and was joined there by Dixon (12 points) and TJ Bamba (11 points). Villanova owned a 43-25 edge on the glass with Tyler Burton (nine caroms) and Bamba (eight) setting the pace.
 
The 12 3-pointers on the afternoon were the most since the 'Cats dropped in 13 in the final of the Battle 4 Atlantis on Thanksgiving weekend. Its 18 assists were one shy of a season high (American) and the most since a Nov. 10 win over LeMoyne.
 
Njoku's Minutes Mattered: For the second time on this trip, junior forward Nnanna Njoku made a meaningful impact, contributing four points and six rebounds in 10:59 of activity.
 
"I thought Nnanna gave us great minutes," stated Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune. "His size, rebounding and activity on defense really helped us today."
 
What They Said: Hart on his fast start: "I think just being active on defense was what got us going. That's what got me started. My teammates were finding me open.
 
"The defense got us going. We've just got to keep building from there."
 
Neptune echoed those thoughts: "The guys were really locked in on DePaul's personnel. They can spread you out with their 3-point shooting and then drive to score or get fouled. But I thought we were able to execute our game plan defensively. We were able to keep them in front of us and we did a good job on the glass."
 
More from the head coach: "We are obviously most focused on defense and rebounding. But it never hurts when some shots go in. Our ball movement and decisions were good and that got us some open looks."
 
On outscoring DePaul 38-20 in the second half: "We want to play a full 40 minutes and the guys did a good job of not playing to the score even though we had a good-sized lead at halftime. We kept executing at both ends."
 
On a 2-0 road trip this week: "We try to treat each game as its own entity, but I thought we showed growth this week. It's never easy getting wins on the road in the Big East. We're happy to get two but it's a long season. We'll take a few days for Christmas, the guys will go home for a few days and then we'll be back trying to get better when we get back to practice."
 
Villanova is idle until it opens the home portion of its conference schedule against Xavier on Jan. 3 at Finneran Pavilion.