Villanova Pushes Past Depleted DePaul 59-49

Villanova Men’s Basketball picked up their first win in close to three weeks, outlasting early struggles on the way to beating an injury-riddled DePaul team 59-49.

The Wildcats committed nine turnovers in the first half alone, including five in the first five minutes of play, preventing them from maintaining any sort of lead. DePaul pulled ahead 15-14 with a steal and transition dunk with 7:52 to go in the half, prompting a timeout from head coach Kyle Neptune. From there, the Wildcats managed to clean up their act, coughing up the basketball just twice more in the frame and eventually pulling ahead 25-22 courtesy of a Jordann Dumont three.

They never trailed again. Even with a host of unforced errors from the Wildcats, DePaul couldn’t make Villanova feel the heat, sinking just 31.43 percent of their shots in the first half and 30.8 percent overall. That gave Villanova plenty of time to find their feet. The Blue Demons played without three of their opening night starters: point guard Conor Enright, their team leader in assists, along with forwards David Skogman and Troy D’Amico. Even so, they managed to make a game of it against the Wildcats.

Jordan Longino‘s late-career emergence continued as he led the Wildcats with a game-high 17 points; Eric Dixon and Wooga Poplar both hit double digits with 14 and 12 respectively, while DePaul sophomore David Thomas came out of nowhere to drop 16 points in 26 minutes off the bench, his best game in a Blue Demons uniform by far.

The Wildcats managed to stay one step ahead in the second half, slowly inching out of reach on the way to the 59-49 final.

Up next, Villanova will host the Xavier Musketeers at the Wells Fargo Center beginning at 12 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 9.