PHILADELPHIA _ Top-ranked Villanova found a way to defeat Butler after three straight losses to the Bulldogs, varying its defenses and getting a career game from Donte DiVincenzo.
DiVincenzo established a career high with 30 points, Jalen Brunson added 27 and the top-ranked Wildcats, playing without two starters, defeated the Bulldogs, 86-75, in a Big East game played before a sellout crowd of 20,603 at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Wildcats (23-2, 10-2) defeated the Bulldogs (17-9, 7-6) for the first time since Feb. 20, 2016, and extended their streak to 171 games _ best in the nation _ during which they haven't lost back-to-back games, a run that dates back to the end of the 2012-13 season.
The Wildcats, who played without injured starters Eric Paschall and Phil Booth, trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half and by 38-35 at halftime. But DiVincenzo and Brunson sparked the start of a second-half rally that saw them combine to score the first 16 points of the period.
The Wildcats shifted to a zone defense early in the second half and slowed down the Bulldogs, who shot 55.6 percent in the first half but made only 1 of their first 10 attempts in the second. Butler, which was led by Kelen Martin with 30 points, including eight 3-point baskets, shot just 34.3 percent in the final 20 minutes.
DiVincenzo's two free throws with 17 minutes, 56 seconds to play gave Villanova its first lead of the game, and one it would not relinquish. The Wildcats led by nine on five occasions and took their largest lead, 66-55, on a followup basket by Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree with 7:36 to play.
Butler managed to narrow the gap to four with the help of a driving layup and two free throws by Kamar Baldwin, making it 68-64 with 5:20 remaining. However, the Wildcats build the advantage back to nine, with Mikal Bridges' steal and dunk and DiVincenzo's tip-in giving them a 75-66 lead with 3:41 left.
The Bulldogs still hung around at 79-73 with 1:20 to play but Brunson drained four free throws from that point to ice the win.
Villanova shot 55.6 percent in the second half and 50.8 percent for the game.
The Bulldogs were red-hot from the start, knocking down their first four shots and 8 of their first 10 in racing out to a 21-8 lead before the game was seven minutes old. Martin hit three straight 3-point baskets and had 11 points in the early going. The Wildcats were just 4 of 10 over the same stretch.
Villanova also had problems in its half-court offense against the physical Butler defense and was unable to get clean looks from the arc. The Wildcats went more than nine minutes before connecting on their first 3-point field goal.
The Bulldogs did not score in one 4-minute span of the first half, going empty on seven straight possessions, but 'Nova scored just four points during that time.
Butler regained a double-digit advantage later in the half after Martin drained back-to-back 3s for a 36-26 lead with 4:26 to play. The Wildcats, however, held the visitors to just one basket the rest of the way in a 9-1 run that ended with Collin Gillespie's 3-point basket, pulling them to within three at the break.
