PHILADELPHIA _ The shooting came and went for No. 1 Villanova on Tuesday night, but its defense played well enough to mask any deficiencies against Providence.
The Wildcats limited the Friars to 37.1 percent shooting _ the third straight opponent to shoot less than 40 percent from the field against them _ and overcame slow starts to each half for an 89-69 victory in a Big East game at the Wells Fargo Center.
Eric Paschall had one of his best games of the season with 17 points, five assists and four steals, to spark the Cats (19-1, 6-1 Big East) to their sixth straight victory. Omari Spellman added 16 points and Jalen Brunson, despite shooting just 5 of 15, contributed 15.
Villanova was outrebounded, 44-33, and the Friars (14-7, 5-3) grabbed 21 offensive rebounds for 22 second-chance points. The Wildcats opened the game 2 of 12 from the field and made just 2 of their first nine shots in the second half but finished each half strong.
Villanova shot 52.8 percent in the second half and 50 percent for the game.
The Wildcats, who led by 11 late in the first half and 39-30 at the break, saw their lead trimmed to 44-41, on Jalen Lindsey's 3-pointer, but the Friars didn't score a basket for the next 5{ minutes, missing seven consecutive shots, and Villanova gradually increased the lead.
Spellman hit two baskets, Phil Booth drained a 3-pointer from the right wing and Mikal Bridges connected from the arc in the left corner as Nova's lead climbed to 15, 63-48, with 8 minutes, 45 seconds to play. A follow-up basket by Isaiah Jackson broke the Friars' drought from the field, their first field goal in 7:23.
The Friars never got closer than 13 after that, and the Cats grew their lead to 20 in the closing stages.
Bridges, Donte DiVincenzo and freshman Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree, who notched a career high, added 11 points for Villanova.
Providence capitalized on the Wildcats' slow start in the first half, going out to a 15-6 lead eight minutes into the game, and later at 24-15 on two free throws by Maliek White with 7:44 left in the half.
At that point in the game, Villanova had made just 5 of 18 shots from the field.
But DiVincenzo and Bridges knocked down 3-point shots on back-to-back possessions, and that sparked the Cats on a 24-6 run for the remainder of the half. They connected on 9 of 12 shots from the field while holding Providence to 2 of 11 shooting and forcing three turnovers.
A 3-point basket by Paschall, who was Villanova's top scorer in the first half with nine points, gave the Wildcats a 28-26 lead, their first since 3-2 early in the game. Paschall added six more points after that and coupled with a conventional three-point play by Spellman, led the Cats to their largest lead of the half, 37-26, with 1:44 remaining.
