Villanova basketball provided fans with a little Thanksgiving appetizer and helped kick off the holiday on a happy note by cruising to a 72-48 win over Rider Wednesday night.

The first seven or so minutes of the game may have left you feeling like you got your Thanksgiving turkey and its tryptophan a day early, as a slow offensive start produced a rather sleepy feel to the game. ‘Nova missed its first four attempts of the game, all threes, finally scoring nearly three minutes in on an Eric Dixon layup. Rider wasn’t much better, with the teams combining to hit just three of their first 12 attempts. At the 13:00-minute mark, Villanova led 11-10.

Villanova’s offense would eventually start to warm up at least a little bit, particularly from three. The ‘Cats hit 9-19 (47.4%) after that 0-4 start, and an 11-4 spurt from ‘Nova (powered by three three’s) pushed the lead to eight with just over seven minutes to play in the half. The Broncs would climb back within three, only to see the ‘Cats end the half on a 13-0 run to open a comfortable 16-point lead at half.

Turnovers and three-point shooting were the story of the first half. Rider had more turnovers (12) than made field goals (nine). Villanova committed only four first-half turnovers and turned that disparity into a 17-5 advantage in points off turnovers. Meanwhile, ‘Nova finished the half with nine made threes, building a 21-point advantage from beyond the arc.

The second half was largely more of the same. Rider never threatened, as it was unable to cut even a single point off the halftime deficit, while the ‘Nova lead grew as large as 29 before settling on the final 24-point margin. By the end of the game, Villanova had built its points off turnovers advantage to 26-9 and its edge from beyond the arc to 33. Rider committed 17 turnovers to Villanova’s eight. The Broncs shot just 23.5% from three, while ‘Nova connected on 39.5% of its long-range attempts.

“I thought our guys came out, really played well defensively, got some stops,” Kyle Neptune said. “We started a little slow shooting the ball, but if we defend like that we’re gonna be in a good spot.”

The Villanova offense was much more balanced than it was against Maryland, when Dixon scored more than half the team’s points. On Wednesday night, nine Wildcats scored, including four in double figures. None scored more than 16 points (Dixon), and Jhamir Brickus was right behind him with 15. All 15 of Brickus’ points came from beyond the arc, where he was 5-7, and he added three assists, two rebounds and no turnovers.

“Jhamir’s a high-level operator, just handling the ball, using ball screens, making decisions,” Neptune said of his point guard’s efficient performance. “He makes great reads.”

On Wednesday, those reads consisted of punishing Rider for going under Villanova screens.

Jordan Longino and Tyler Perkins rounded out the double figure scorers with 10 each. Also of note in the scoring department, freshman Aleksandar Gavalyugov scored his first collegiate points.

Villanova’s offense wasn’t the most efficient Wednesday night, but any time you get that kind of balance, make 15 threes and commit just eight turnovers it will put you in a good spot. It will put you in an even better spot if you are able to defend the way Villanova did Wednesday, limiting the opponent to 43.8% overall and 23.5% from three while forcing those 17 turnovers (and making it pay for them with baskets at the other end).

Overall, it was a solid response after a heartbreaking loss on Sunday, and now the ‘Cats will have nearly a week to prepare before they host Cincinnati on Tuesday.