ROSEMONT, Ill. _ Villanova finished up its two-game road trip Monday night with a strong first half against DePaul and a second half that revealed a team worn out from playing two games in three days with mainly a six-man rotation.
The second-ranked Wildcats shot 52 percent in the first half in taking a 21-point lead, extended their margin to 27 seven minutes into the second half, and then dragged their collective bodies over the finish line in a 75-62 Big East victory over the Blue Demons.
Villanova (25-2, 12-2 Big East), which won its sixth in a row, played for the second straight game without forward Darryl Reynolds, who is nursing a rib injury. The Cats extended their conference lead to three games (two games up in the loss column) over Creighton and Xavier with four to play.
The Wildcats shot just 36 percent in the second half and connected on just one 3-point basket.
The Blue Demons (8-18, 1-12) lost their ninth consecutive game and looked nothing like the team that fought the Wildcats right down to the final possession in a 68-65 'Nova victory on Dec. 28 at the Pavilion. DePaul shot just 28 percent in the first half and missed its first seven attempts of the second half.
The Cats led by 39-18 at the break. They got off to a slow start in the second half, with just two field goals and nine points in the first 10 { minutes, but built their lead to 48-21 on a dunk by Mikal Bridges with 13 minutes remaining.
The Blue Demons answered with their best stretch of the game, a 10-0 run that got them to within 17 but they didn't get any closer until the final 1:30.
Jalen Brunson led the Wildcats with 18 points. Josh Hart added 16, Mikal Bridges 15 and Kris Jenkins 13. Chris Harrison-Docks led DePaul with 18.
Brunson, who received a nice ovation when the starting lineups were introduced, scored 12 points in the first half, going 3 of 5 from the field with a pair of 3-point baskets, three assists, and three steals. He also was involved in a couple of high-velocity collisions but bounced up each time.
The Wildcats shot 52.2 percent in the first half, but their defense was strong. The Blue Demons connected on just 28 percent of their field-goal tries and hit just one 3-pointer in 11 attempts. They were on a run of two field goals in 17 shots before Brandon Cyrus connected for the last field goal of the opening 20 minutes.
Again, Villanova struggled on the boards without Reynolds, getting outrebounded by 17-13 in the first half with DePaul pulling down six offensive rebounds. However, the Blue Demons' second-chance points advantage was just 4-3.
The Wildcats capitalized on nine DePaul turnovers in the half, scoring 12 points off them.
Jenkins and Bridges each had nine points in the first half. Hart was limited to 11 minutes after picking up his second personal foul with 10:29 left in the period and saw just spot duty after that.
Villanova also received a contribution from freshman Dylan Painter, who pulled down a team-high three rebounds in the first half in eight minutes on the court.
The Wildcats started quickly, hitting six of their first nine shots in taking an 18-9 lead, and just kept adding on to their margin in the first half. The Blue Demons scored just one field goal in a span of nearly 10 minutes and the visitors boosted their margin at this time to 16 (28-12) on Brunson's 3-pointer with 5:06 remaining.
Brunson accounted for Villanova's final field goal with 3:17 left in the half. The Wildcats scored their last six points from the line _ four from Jenkins, two from Brunson _ and got the lead up to 21 by the halftime buzzer.
The Wildcats will not play again until Saturday afternoon, when they visit Seton Hall at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. Reynolds is listed as day-to-day, but it would be important for him to play against the Pirates' Angel Delgado, who is the nation's leading rebounder.
