Villanova Pours It On In Regular Season Finale

VILLANOVA, Pa.— Villanova Men’s Basketball put on a shooting clinic on Saturday, March 7, closing out their regular season with a 91-78 win over the Xavier Musketeers.

The Wildcats (24-7, 15-5 Big East) made 56.5 percent of their shots (13 of 31 from three), outpacing a Musketeers squad without lead scorer Tre Carroll.

Doubling Up On Double-Doubles

Senior forward Duke Brennan (20 points, 13 rebounds) tied a program record (Michael Bradley, 2000-01) with his fourteenth double-double of the season, notching 12 points and eight rebounds in the first half alone. True freshman point guard Acaden Lewis (14 points, 12 assists) added the first double-double of his career.

Villanova blew the game open with a 14-0 run early, pouring it on from beyond the arc for four consecutive made threes. Xavier head coach Richard Pitino called a timeout after sixth man Devin Askew (18 points, eight rebounds, seven assists) sank two threes in 64 seconds, but the run continued out of the break.

The Wildcats also dominated inside the arc, making 22 of 31 two-point shots on the day. That helped them stay out of reach even when the Musketeers started to press. Xavier cut the deficit to six points on two occasions in the second half, forcing Villanova head coach Kevin Willard to call a timeout after they made back-to-back threes. Tyler Perkins (18 points) drained two threes of his own in response, sparking an 11-0 run that killed the Musketeers’ rally.

Senior and former walk-on Wade Chiddick checked in with 48.4 seconds to play and made a pair of free throws.

Villanova Men’s Basketball will begin their Big East Tournament run at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 12, facing the winner of the previous day’s No. 6/No. 11 matchup: the final seed order for those teams remains undetermined as of 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 7.