After getting soundly beaten a few weeks ago in Queens, Villanova returned the favor to St. John’s on Tuesday with an 81-58 win. The Wildcats never trailed and dominated the game the way the final score indicates they did.

“I was proud of our guys,” Jay Wright said. “We have great respect for St. John’s, they taught us a lot last game. When you get beat like that you gotta give them respect, you gotta learn from it and then you gotta grow and I think we did a good job of that.”

Villanova jumped out to a 10-2 lead, and after St. John’s pulled within four at 10-6, ‘Nova used a 10-3 run to take a double-digit lead. After struggling mightily against St. John’s in the first meeting between the teams, Collin Gillespie came out and set the tone Tuesday night. Gillespie scored 10 points over the first seven and a half minutes of the game, not only sending a message to St. John’s that this wouldn’t be like last time but also establishing a rhythm for his teammates.

“He is our heart and soul, he’s our engine,” Wright said. “You see him come out like that and just be so tough and so aggressive, and that’s what college athletics are all about. He had a tough game against them last time, they did a great job on him and he comes back with great confidence and not trying to do it all on his own, he’s getting other people shots, making the right plays, that’s what amazing about him. It’s the sign of a great leader.”

“I was trying to do it on the defensive end and other guys were doing a great job of making plays,” Gillespie said. “We were getting the ball in the lane and guys were kicking out and I was just being aggressive to catch and shoot. We know that they get into us in pressure, so I was just running offense to score and taking what they gave me.”

From there the momentum was all Villanova’s and the lead got as big as 20 before the ‘Cats took a 17-point advantage into the break.

Jermaine Samuels opened the second half scoring with a 3 to push the lead to 20. St. John’s would get within 17 with 14:07 to play, but that would be as close as it would get the rest of the night. ‘Nova pushed the lead as high as 26 before walking away with the 23-point win.

Villanova did commit 15 turnovers, but that was really the only blemish on an outstanding performance. The Wildcats had a 24-point advantage from beyond the arc, won points off turnovers 17-7, won points in the paint 32-20, and won second-chance points 9-7. Villanova held St. John’s to 36% shooting and just 13% from 3. Posh Alexander, who tormented the ‘Cats in the last meeting, had just four points, two assists, two rebounds, and two steals. Only two Johnnies, Julian Champagnie and Isaih Moore, reached double figures.

While ‘Nova did commit those 15 turnovers, the Wildcats did a much better job handling the St. John’s press. The ‘Cats didn’t get sped up, controlled the pace of the game, and were able to execute the offense. “It was good for us just because they can really get into you, speed you up and kind of change the game with their speed and the way they come out with you physically and with the press,” Gillespie said. “I think our guys did a really good job of handling it and just looking up the floor and making the right play.”

Bryan Antoine got first-half minutes for the first time this season and finished with three points, three rebounds, two assists, and a steal. “We got him healthy so he could practice and he’s starting to put some practices together and now we’re just gonna try to keep bringing him along,” Wright said.

Another surprise was Trey Patterson making his collegiate debut with 2:01 to play in the game. Just over a month removed from graduating high school, Patterson notched an assist and a steal in his two minutes of action. “I never thought we were going to but he’s learning a lot in practice and he’s helping us, it’s valuable,” Wright said. “But Mike (Anderson) put in some of his walk-ons and I didn’t want to have any starters out there so I kinda had to put him in there. I’m sure it was fun for him to get out on the court.”

In addition to Antoine and Patterson, Villanova got some other contributions from the bench. Brandon Slater was again excellent, finishing with six points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals. He again played strong defense and brought great energy. Cole Swider added seven points and five rebounds while Eric Dixon, who didn’t play against UConn, added two rebounds, two steals, and an assist.

“They were huge,” Gillespie said of his teammates off the bench. “Our bench brought great energy. Guys like Cole, Slate, and then Bryan came in made a huge play getting a deflection and diving out of bounds to keep it alive. Those are the guys that we’re playing against every day in practice, they’re really getting into us and making it tough for us to practice so we have a ton of confidence in those guys when they come in the game because we know that they’re making plays in practice like that.”

Caleb Daniels found his shooting form and led Villanova with 17 points. He was 6-8 from the field and 4-6 from 3. Daniels credited his strong performance to the team’s approach. “Just approaching every day the same, trusting the work that we put in as a team,” Daniels said. “We put in a lot of detail on shooting and trusting each other to make the right play so just trusting in the work we all put in.”

Overall, it was a strong effort from the Wildcats, who improved to 15-3 overall and 10-2 in Big East play.

“Good effort,” Wright said. “Our guys knew they had to play 40 minutes and I thought they did a good job of that.”