NEW YORK _ Villanova could not find its shooting touch for significant stretches of its Big East quarterfinal game Thursday against Providence, but compensated well enough with defense and rebounding to advance.
Eric Paschall had 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Collin Gillespie knocked down five 3-point baskets en route to 19 points to lift the Wildcats to a 73-62 victory over the Friars at Madison Square Garden.
The Wildcats (23-9), the top seed, will meet the winner of Thursday's second game between Xavier and Creighton.
Villanova shot just 36.7 percent from the field but hit some big shots when it needed them. The Friars (18-15), seeded No. 8, had played the night before and trailed for most of the game.
The contest was tied at 44 with 9 minutes, 18 seconds to play before the Wildcats slowly took control. A 3-point basket by Gillespie touched off a 17-5 run over the next 4{ minutes to help them take their largest lead, 61-49, on two free throws by freshman Cole Swider with 4:36 to play. Gillespie scored six points and Paschall five during the spurt.
Providence chipped away at the deficit as Villanova went more than four minutes without a field goal. A 3-point basket by Alpha Diallo and two free throws by Isaiah Jackson closed the gap to 63-58 with 3:17 to play. But Jermaine Samuels hit two free throws and a 3-pointer, his only basket of the afternoon, to help get the Wildcats out of danger.
The Wildcats outrebounded the Friars, 36-29.
Nate Watson led Providence with 15 points, and Diallo and Jackson added 14 each.
The Wildcats shot just 32.4 percent in the first half but scored 16 points off 10 Providence turnovers and tallied 10 second-chance points to take a 31-24 lead at the break. Phil Booth scored 11 of his 13 points in the first half, including a pretty tip-in off Gillespie's missed 3 that resulted in a three-point play.
The Villanova defense played well, holding Providence without a point for 5:51 while the Wildcats scored 13 consecutive points, and limiting the Friars to zero field goals in the final 3:51 of the half.
The Wildcats hit just 2 of their first 10 shots in the second half but got their advantage up to eight before the Friars went on a 12-4 run, sparked by five points from Jackson, and tied the game at 44 on Diallo's conventional three-point play with 9:18 to play.
Gillespie knocked down a 3-pointer 14 seconds later to give the Cats the lead for good.
Villanova missed six of its first seven shots as the Friars took a 9-2 lead with the game a little more than five minutes old. But Paschall found Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree for back-to-back dunks that sparked a 13-0 run that ended on Booth's 3-point basket in transition, giving 'Nova a 15-9 lead with about 11 minutes left in the half.
The Friars came back and actually regained the lead at 23-22 on Diallo's jumper in the lane with 3:51 left in the period. But they missed their final six shots and the Wildcats got 3-point baskets from Gillespie and Swider and Booth's three-point play to break out to their largest margin before the half ended.
