No. 14 Villanova will look to continue its dominance of DePaul when the Big East teams meet Tuesday near Philadelphia.
The Wildcats (14-5, 7-2) have won the past 21 meetings with the Blue Demons. DePaul hasn’t been victorious in this series since Jan. 3, 2008.
Villanova coach Jay Wright holds an impressive 23-2 mark against DePaul.
Following a rare home loss, 57-54 to Marquette on Wednesday, Villanova rebounded with an 85-74 road win over Georgetown on Saturday. The veteran-laden Wildcats received 28 points from Collin Gillespie, 19 from Justin Moore and 18 from Jermaine Samuels.
“I thought we played a little bit more intelligently this game,” Wright said. “In the second half of this game we were better taking care of the basketball than we were against Marquette and did a better job of decision-making.”
Gillespie, a National Player of the Year candidate, carried Villanova with six 3-pointers. More than that, he continued to provide leadership, especially defensively.
“I was just playing off my jump shot, taking what I saw,” Gillespie said. “We don’t care if it looks good or it’s ugly — we are going to make those plays.”
Villanova rarely panics when its shots aren’t falling because of its defensive principles.
“One of the big parts of defense is finishing the defensive possession with the rebound,” Wright said. “You can do a lot of great things defensively, but if you don’t finish the possession with a rebound, it’s not a good possession. So I think we’ve been doing a good job of it. I think it’s been really crucial in our team’s improvement.”
DePaul hopes to avoid a third straight loss when it visits Villanova.
The Blue Demons (10-8, 1-7), playing without leading scorer Javon Freeman-Liberty because of a groin injury, fell 60-47 to Creighton on Saturday.
Without Freeman-Liberty, DePaul’s offense looked ragged and Jalen Terry led the team with just 12 points.
“His health is the most important thing, so we want him to be healthy when he does come back,” DePaul coach Tony Stubblefield said of Freeman-Liberty.
Even without Freeman-Liberty, the Blue Demons have been very competitive in recent games with a 96-92 victory over Seton Hall on Jan. 13 and a one-point loss to Xavier on Wednesday.
Earlier this season, DePaul led Villanova at halftime before falling 79-64.
The Blue Demons have been anchored by their defense all season. When they’re playing fundamental basketball defensively, they’ve been successful.
When they’ve had issues, losses have followed, such as the 13-point defeat against Creighton.
“We’ve still got to be more connected defensively,” Stubblefield said.
DePaul committed 16 turnovers against the Bluejays, six by David Jones. Coupled with 3-of-13 shooting from the beyond the 3-point arc, it was too much for DePaul to overcome.
–Field Level Media
