NEW YORK _ Villanova began last year's Big East tournament by making 15 3-point baskets and scoring 108 points in a 41-point win over St. John's, then struggled to score 55 in a tough semifinal victory over Seton Hall.
But the Wildcats had no such letdown Friday night in the 2018 semifinals. They scored the game's first 19 points and never looked back, knocking off Butler, 87-68, before a sellout crowd of 19,812 at Madison Square Garden to advance to their fourth consecutive conference championship game.
Villanova, the second seed, will take on fifth-seeded Providence, a 75-72 overtime winner over No. 1 seed and third-ranked Xavier, on Saturday night. The Wildcats are seeking their second straight tournament title and third in the last four years.
The Wildcats (29-4), whose wins in their two tournament games have been by a combined margin of 43 points, knocked down 10 of their first 12 shots and held the Bulldogs (20-13) scoreless for the opening 5 minutes, 28 seconds.
They led 44-25 at the half and led by as many as 27 points in the second half.
Mikal Bridges led Villanova with 18 points and Jalen Brunson added 17. Phil Booth chipped in with 14, Eric Paschall 12 and Omari Spellman 12 to go along with 12 rebounds.
For Butler, Kelan Martin, who came in averaging 21.1 points per game, was limited to 13.
Even with their hot start, the Wildcats were outshot by the Bulldogs, 48.1 percent to 47.4 percent. But they had 14 3s, outscoring Butler by 21 points from beyond the arc.
The Cats exploded out of the gate, scoring on their first seven possessions of the game and Bridges leading the way with seven points. Brunson's shot in the lane made it 16-0, and Spellman knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 19-0 with the game just over five minutes old.
Butler finally broke into the scoring column on a runner in the lane by Aaron Thompson with 14:32 to play followed by Sean McDermott's 3-point basket. Booth, however, scored the next seven points as the margin was extended to 21, 26-5, with 11:38 left.
When Brunson hit a short jumper at the 11:11 mark, Villanova was 10 of 12 from the floor and leading 28-8. The Wildcats would cool off after that, making 5 of their last 16 attempts in the half, and Butler cut the deficit to 14 on three occasions.
But 'Nova closed strong and led 44-25 on Booth's 3 just before the halftime buzzer. He led the Cats in the first half with 12 points.
Brunson, who scored six points, was limited to 10 minutes in the first half after picking up his second personal foul with 8:01 left in the period.
The Wildcats missed their first three shots of the second half as Butler got to within 15, but then knocked down their next eight attempts, including a 3-point basket by Brunson that gave them a 68-42 lead with 11:20 to play. Another Brunson trey a little over a minute later made it 71-44.
