PHILADELPHIA _ After its poorest shooting night of the season contributed to the end of its 20-game winning streak, Villanova started work on another run with its best shooting performance on Saturday night.
The top-ranked Wildcats recovered from their loss at Butler with a vengeance, shooting 65.3 from the floor and knocking down 14 3-point baskets in a 93-81 victory over Marquette before a crowd of 16,891 at the Wells Fargo Center.
Three days after shooting a season-low 37.3 percent from the field in a 66-58 loss to Butler, Villanova (15-1, 3-1 Big East) made almost everything it looked at against the Golden Eagles (10-5, 1-2). The Wildcats started the game 6-for-6, and sank 12 of their first 14 attempts in the second half on their way to a lead that grew to 30 points.
"I just liked the way we made good decisions," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "Everybody shared the ball _ 24 assists _ and that's just really how we want to play. That's how we normally play but we were just getting a little sloppy and we've got to keep that up because people try to take that away from us. We have to be disciplined and continue to do that."
Kris Jenkins scored a season-high 23 points, including six 3-point baskets in nine attempts, to lead the Cats. Josh Hart added 19 points, five rebounds, and seven assists and Jalen Brunson chipped in with 16 points. Mikal Bridges, who went scoreless against Butler, was a big part of the offense against Marquette with 15 points.
Villanova finished with 24 assists on 32 field goals.
"Our start was big," Hart said. "Obviously, every game for us is our biggest game, but we had a good couple of days of practice, Coach has been on us the last couple of days. I'm proud of how we started the game off playing Villanova basketball and setting the tone."
In the second half, the Wildcats made 65.4 percent of their shots, and 61 percent from beyond the arc.
Marquette stayed in the game in the first half thanks to its 3-point shooting, sinking seven attempts from deep and trailing by only 44-33. But the Wildcats, with the help of treys from Brunson, Jenkins, and Bridges, scored the first 11 points of the second half.
The margin reached 30 on Hart's follow-up basket that made it 82-52 with 8:21 to play. A Bridges 3 made it 88-58, but Marquette outscored the Wildcats, 23-5, in the final six minutes to score the most points by an opponent against Villanova this season.
The Golden Eagles, who were led by 21 points from freshman Markus Howard, shot just 40 percent in the second half and 41.3 percent for the game.
Villanova finished the first half with a 65.2 mark from the floor in taking a 44-33 lead. The Wildcats also drained six 3-point baskets, three by Jenkins, who finished the half with a team-high 11 points. Hart added nine and four assists.
Howard, a 5-foot-11 freshman guard, scored Marquette's final seven points of the half and led all scorers with 15. Jajuan Johnson, the Golden Eagles' leading scorer with a 13.4-point average, got into early foul trouble and played just eight first-half minutes, scoring two points.
The visitors shot 53.8 percent (7 of 13) from 3-point range but just 5 of 15 (33.3 percent) from inside the arc.
The Wildcats raced out to a 20-10 lead with the game a little over eight minutes old. Brunson led the early onslaught with six points and Jenkins added five.
The Golden Eagles, however, began finding the range from behind the arc and stayed in the game. Howard knocked down three 3s in the opening half, including one with 7:54 to play in the period that brought Marquette to within 25-19.
Villanova knocked down a pair of 3s, by Hart and Bridges, and a driving layup by Hart gave the Wildcats their largest lead at 12, 36-24, with 2:51 left. Howard scored the last seven points of the period for the Golden Eagles, but a spinning move in the lane by Hart and Jenkins' 3-pointer put the Cats in front by 11 at the break.
