Wildcat Wrap
 
 
Final Score: Wildcats 71, Providence 60
 
Overview: An 18-2 spurt helped carry Villanova (17-12 overall, 10-8 BIG EAST) past Providence Saturday afternoon in a pivotal league matchup before a boisterous sellout crowd at Amica Mutual Pavilion. Justin Moore led a balanced VU attack with 15 points as the 'Cats rallied from a 37-34 halftime deficit.
 
"I was really proud of the way our guys came out," stated Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune. "We weathered a bunch of storms from them, particularly early. They made some shots, were playing well, had a great gameplan. It was an unbelievable atmosphere, the crowd put a lot of game pressure on us.
 
"But our guys were resilient."
 
Back at It: The Wildcats were back at full lineup strength for this one as Jordan Longino returned to action after a one-game absence owed to a non-COVID illness. TJ Bamba, who suffered a facial fracture last Saturday night at UConn, was also back in action today, wearing a protective mask after sitting out Tuesday night's win over Georgetown.
 
Bamba got the starting assignment.
 
Friars Fired Away:  Providence drained 4-of-7 from beyond the 3-point arc over the game's first 5:12 to grab a 12-6 lead. The Wildcats, meanwhile, got four early points from Eric Dixon. A Brendan Hausen triple on the first possession after an official timeout cut the lead in half at 12-9.
 
Hausen's triple ignited a Villanova burst boosted by a pair of 3-pointers from Justin Moore, helping the 'Cats grab a 26-21 lead before Rich Barron drained a triple for Providence that was followed by a Devin Carter drive for two points. With 7:11 on the first half clock, the contest was deadlocked at 26.
 
A deep Carter 3-pointer capped a 14-2 Friars' surge that pushed its lead to 35-28 with just over three minutes to play in the first period. With 2:53 on the first half clock, Providence was 6-of-7 from inside the arc and 7-of-16 beyond it. A traditional 3-point play from Bamba and a shot from beyond the arc brought VU back to within 35-34, before a Friars' basket completed the first half scoring.
 
"They made some tough shots," said Neptune. "They've got a lot of weapons over there."
 
Providence led 37-34 after 20 minutes. It connected on 14-of-26 first half field goal attempts (.538), including 7-of-17 from distance (.412). The Wildcats weren't far off that pace: 12-of-26 from the floor (.462), 6-of-13 from deep (.462).
 
After intermission: A pair of Nova defensive stops were augmented by consecutive Mark Armstrong elbow jumpers, putting VU back on top 38-37 at the 18:25 mark of the second half. A Dixon 3-pointer pushed the advantage to 41-37. In all, it was a 7-0 burst over the first 4:31 of the second half.
 
"We didn't really change anything schematically," noted Neptune. "We did what we do. Our guys were saying the locker room it's going to take 40 minutes. We knew they're a tough team that made some timely shots. We had to take a couple of punches and just kept going."
 
Another flurry spurred by defensive stops resulted in a pair of Hausen triples that were part of an 18-2 surge over the opening seven minutes of the half to make it a 54-41 lead for the Wildcats. When Moore dropped in a corner 3-pointer the Nova advantage was 59-44 at the midway point of the second half.
 
However, the Friars forced a trio of VU turnovers to spark a 7-0 surge that narrowed their deficit to 59-51 with just over six minutes on the second half clock. Nova got a big defensive rebound and five quick points from New England native Tyler Burton to push its edge to 64-53 with 4:20 left in the second half.
 
Providence scored four consecutive points at the free throw line in under a minute to shave the margin to 64-57 with 3:19 left. A short Dixon jumper got the lead to 66-57 but Garwey Dual sank a 3-pointer to close the gap to 66-60.
 
Moore then drained a huge 3-pointer to make it 69-60 in favor of VU with just under two minutes on the clock. Amstrong made two free throws to make the final 71-60.
 
VU held the Friars to 7-of-26 shooting from the field, including 3-of-13 from deep, over the final 20 minutes.
 
What They Said: Moore on the 13-of-23 shooting for the day from distance: "For us, it's taking in pride in defense, knowing we've going to get stops on defense so that we can share the ball and play freely on offense."