PITTSBURGH _ Three hours after Penn fell short in its bid to become the first No. 16 seed to defeat a top seed in the NCAA Tournament, Villanova went out and made certain that the deed didn't happen to them.
The No. 1 seed Wildcats got off to hot starts in both halves to prevent Radford from even considering the possibility of an upset, and defeated the Highlanders, 87-61, in the first round of the NCAA East Region at PPG Paints Arena.
Villanova (31-4) advanced to a second-round matchup on Saturday against the winner of Thursday night's second game between No. 8 Virginia Tech and No. 9 Alabama.
The Cats made 13 of their first 17 shots in the game, including a 22-1 run over a period of 7 minutes, 45 seconds that enabled them to take control. They shot 68.2 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, including 8 of 14 on 3-pointers, and held a 44-23 lead.
They came out after halftime and went 6 for 6, and were 10 of 12 in the opening 8:15, extending their lead to 70-37 on a four-point play by Eric Paschall, their biggest margin of the game.
Villanova placed five players in double figures led by Jalen Brunson with 16. Mikal Bridges added 13, Paschall 11 and Phil Booth, Omari Spellman and Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree 10 apiece. The Cats finished the game shooting 59.6 percent and knocking down 14 3s.
For Radford (23-13), the champion of the Big South Conference, Donald Hicks led the way with 13 points. The Highlanders were held to 27.3 percent shooting in the first half and 33.9 percent for the game.
The Villanova freshmen showed well in their NCAA debut. In addition to Spellman and Cosby-Roundtree, Collin Gillespie had nine points.
The Highlanders relentlessly crashed the offensive boards in the early going. Eleven of their 18 first-half rebounds came at that end of the court. Villanova finished the game with the rebounding advantage, 34-31.
The small but vocal crowd of Radford supporters cheered loudly when Christian Bradford scored the game's first points on a 3-point basket for a 3-0 lead that lasted for 1:32. The Wildcats' first three baskets were from beyond the arc, and when Donte DiVincenzo hit a fourth 3, it kicked off a 22-1 run in which the Highlanders went 7:45 without a field goal.
Brunson scored nine points during the spurt, including a drive along the baseline that gave Villanova a 31-8 lead with 8:52 left in the first half. Ed Polite Jr. scored on a follow-up dunk for Radford's first basket in a while but the Cats kept the pressure on and took their largest lead of the half at 25, 37-12, on Bridges' layup with 6:05 remaining.
The Wildcats got a little sloppy after that, going 1 of 3 from the field and committing four of their six turnovers, three of them coming in a span of four possessions, for the rest of the period. The Highlanders had their best spurt of the half, scoring seven straight points to get to within 18, but Bridges' 3 made it a 21-point game at the half.
