Villanova destroys Seton Hall 80-52 to improve to 7-0 in Big East

After a slow start, the Villanova Wildcats dispatched the Seton Hall Pirates on Sunday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center with ease, 80-52. The Wildcats have now won eight straight dating back to December and are 7-0 and in first place in the Big East.

The first half was one of the sloppiest affairs in recent memory, with the teams combining for 24 turnovers and struggling to score the ball for long stretches. Unsurprisingly, it was the dynamic duo of Phil Booth and Eric Paschall carrying the ‘Cats while the rest of the team struggled to generate any type of offense. Booth finished with 25 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds. Paschall finished the game with 1,000 points in his Villanova career after posting 17 points and 8 rebounds.

The Wildcats gameplan to harass Myles Powell worked to perfection, with constant trapping, double-teams and help defense frustrating the Pirates’ star all afternoon. He never got going, and none of his teammates were really capable to filling the void.

The ‘Cats took a 30-20 lead into the break.

Villanova was finally able to pull away in the second half with a flurry of offense, coupled with more Seton Hall turnovers. The ‘Cats stretched their lead to 19 off a Collin Gillespie steal and 3-pointer by the under-16 timeout.

Phil Booth continued to pour it on to the point where Kevin Willard ripped all 5 players off the floor and put in his reserves. While the game intensity went down with the result all but finalized, Villanova continued to execute at a high-level on both ends.

Jay Wright was even able to get Jahvon Quinerly and Brandon Slater plenty of run, and both flashed their upside with extended minutes. Tim Delaney got on the scoreboard as well when he made a free throw late in the game.

Villanova returns to action on Wednesday night when they travel to Chicago to face the DePaul Blue Demons.