PROVIDENCE, R.I. _ The sellout crowd at Dunkin' Donuts Center wasn't nearly as friendly to Villanova as the four home crowds in South Philadelphia and on the Main Line the past couple of weeks, and the ninth-ranked Wildcats faced their share of adversity throughout Saturday against Providence.
However, despite blowing a 10-point lead, tepid second-half shooting, foul trouble, two missed front ends of 1-and-1 situations and an injury to starting forward Jermaine Samuels, the Cats managed to gut it out on defense and get out of town with a 64-60 Big East victory over the Friars, their sixth straight win and the 12th in their last 13 games.
Villanova (16-3, 6-1) scored just nine points in the final 6 minutes, 45 seconds of the game, going 1 of 6 from the floor and 7 of 10 from the free-throw line. But after an 11-0 run by the Friars (11-10, 4-4) enabled them to turn a 10-point deficit into a 49-48 lead with 9:29 to play, Collin Gillespie answered with a 3-point basket and gave his team the lead for good.
Freshman Jeremiah Robinson-Earl sank back-to-back baskets to give the Cats a 55-50 advantage. Providence, which shot 23.3% in the second half and missed all 10 of its 3-point attempts, never got closer than three points the rest of the way.
The Wildcats shot 52% in taking a 37-30 halftime lead behind 10 points each from Saddiq Bey and Justin Moore. They finished at 43.8% with six 3-point baskets, their fewest since their Jan. 7 win at Creighton, their last road game before Saturday.
"I just love being in that situation with guys like this," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "You don't fear losing, you just fear if they're not going to respond, if it's going to crack them. And it just doesn't crack these guys. Jeremiah is a freshman, man. Justin Moore's a freshman. He missed free throws but on the other end, he was outstanding defensively. It didn't affect him on the next play."
Gillespie, who picked up his fourth foul with 6:07 to play, led the Cats with 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Robinson-Earl added 17 points and Bey 13 plus a team-high nine boards. Nate Watson led the Friars with 18 points.
Samuels, the Wildcats' No. 3 scorer with an 11.4-point average, suffered an injury to his arch late in the first half, Wright said. He played the first 3:51 of the second half before coming out of the game for good. "You could tell he couldn't jump," Wright said.
The Friars overwhelmed the Wildcats on the offensive boards, pulling down 16, a total that led to 19 second-chance points. Watson grabbed six of his nine rebounds at that end of the floor. The Cats had two offensive rebounds _ one in each half _ and four second-chance points.
Providence guard David Duke, who scored 36 points the previous Saturday at Creighton, made two 3s in the first five minutes but hit only 2 of 13 shots _ and no 3s _ the rest of the game while being defended mostly by Bey. He finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Gillespie picked up his fourth foul with 6:07 to play. He was subbed in and out of the game five times after that as Wright tried to keep him in for offense and get him out for defense. "Definitely still be aggressive, just be smart with what we're doing on defense and offense," Wright said. "We've just got to be smart knowing you have four fouls." Gillespie set a career high with eight rebounds.
Robinson-Earl, who came into the game second in the Big East in rebounding at 9.8 per game, had just three on Saturday, but Wright credited him with keeping the energetic Providence rebounders from doing even more damage.
Visitors to the Dunk were stunned by the wild cheers after Villanova's Brandon Slater missed two free throws with 2.6 seconds left before the Friars ran out the clock. The errant free throws meant a free Chick-fil-A sandwich for everyone in attendance.
