PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Villanova rode stifling defense that forced 18 turnovers to a 58-54 victory over Seton Hall in a BIG EAST Conference game played before 15,015 Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center. The Wildcats held the Pirates to .396 shooting from the field and notched 23 points off of those forced turnovers.
Redshirt junior Eric Dixon paced Villanova with 19 points while Caleb Daniels scored 18 points, including his 1000th point as a Wildcat early in the second half.
"Another ugly Big East game," stated Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune. "I thought both teams played extremely hard. Obviously, Seton Hall is one of the best defensive teams in the country. I was really proud of our guys defensive effort. I thought we played hard all night.
"They make it hard for you offensively. They do that to everybody. But I was proud of our guys defensive effort."
Neptune took note of Daniels 1,000th point in the Blue and White.
"Caleb was great," said Neptune. "We all know that he is a scorer. He can get hot and make shots. He's made a lot of shots the last couple of games. But I think defensively is where he really gives us a boost. His body, his mobility and he had five rebounds. He was big time."
The tone was set early as each team struggled to find an offensive foothold over the first 4:01 of action. Each team connected on 1-of-6 field goal attempts with the one made attempt being a 3-pointer. The game was tied at three at the first official timeout of the evening.
The Wildcats (12-13 overall, 6-8 BIG EAST) missed a total of 10 consecutive field goal attempts before Dixon got a short jumper to fall. But the Hall's lead was just 7-5 at the 11:39 mark thanks to Nova's own quality defense. Some interior scoring from Dixon helped VU forge an 11-11 tie with the Pirates after 12:39 of the period.
Daniels was the other Wildcat helping to fuel offense. When the graduate student drained a corner triple, Villanova had used a 17-3 surge to claim a 24-14 edge with 3:28 left in the first half. At that stage Dixon (13 points) and Daniels (11) accounted for all of VU's scoring.
The Wildcats took a 27-20 lead into the locker room at intermission. Aside from the scoring of its two points leaders, VU did its best work at the defensive end, limiting the Pirates to 9-of-28 shooting from the field in the period (.321).
Villanova converted its first four field goal attempts of the second half – including a banked-in triple from Daniels for his 1,000th point as a Wildcat – to take a 37-24 lead. But an 8-0 response from the Pirates, keyed by a 3-pointer by Khadary Richmond, closed the gap to 37-32 ahead of Wildcats' timeout at the 12:54 mark.
A slam by Tyreese Samuels made it 37-34. A traditional Al Amir-Dawes 3-point play closed the deficit to 38-37 before a Brandon Slater put-back snapped a lengthy scoring drought. Dixon then found a cutting Cam Whitmore for a slam dunk to push the advantage to 42-37.
A score and free throw by Whitmore pushed the lead to 47-37 as the clock dipped below the seven-minute mark. The margin stretched to 51-37 before the Pirates made another charge, closing to within 58-54 with 6.2 seconds left. But Nova held on for its second straight home court win.
Sophomore Jordan Longino returned to the lineup for the first time since suffering a left hamstring injury at Georgetown on Jan. 4. The product of Germantown Academy logged 14:27 and collected two rebounds.
"I think is the first time we have had all our guys the whole year," stated Neptune. "I wouldn't say those guys are 100 percent healthy but it is good to have them back. While they've been out, it was good that other guys got some time to grow in their roles and I think it's paying off for us now."
Villanova will wrap up this stretch of three straight at home when it welcomes Butler to Finneran Pavilion Tuesday night at 8 p.m. (CBS Sports Network and the Villanova Sports Network). With this game serving as the Wildcats' final regular season on-campus appearance, a pregame "Senior Night" ceremony will be held. Chris Arcidiacono, Eric Dixon and Moore will be recognized along with three members of the student office and managerial staff.
