Villanova and Providence played a strange game Saturday at the Pavilion, complete with some significant offensive struggles, a sunlight delay, and eventually a comfortable Villanova win.

We’ll resist the temptation to make an analogy between the weather outside and the shooting inside, but the first half was UGLY. Villanova started 1-5 while Providence hit just two of its first seven. It got worse from there. Halfway through the period, Villanova had three made field goals and five turnovers while Providence had four made field goals and five turnovers.

At one point, Villanova suffered through a drought of 4:02, missing eight straight shots and hitting just one of 11. Not to be outdone, the Friars answered by going 4:13 without a field goal, missing five straight shots and hitting one of seven.

With both teams struggling mightily on the offensive end, Providence took a 27-24 lead into the halftime break after Collin Gillespie hit a 3 at the buzzer. “I thought the two plays at the end of the first half were huge,” Jay Wright said. “We got it to three, we made a mistake and fouled a 3-point shooter which is kind of demoralizing, and then Justin Moore finding Collin and Collin hitting that shot and then going back in down three we actually were feeling fortunate. So I think we came out in the second half feeling pretty good.”

The second half brought some positive changes for Villanova. The teams traded blows early in the second half with a series of runs. Villanova used a 6-0 push to break a 33-all tie only to see Providence answer with five-straight points to get back within one. But ‘Nova responded immediately with a 7-0 spurt to push the lead back to eight, and from there the Wildcats would get to work pulling away.

After shooting just 27% in the first half, the Wildcats hit 48.5% in the second half. In addition, after committing seven first-half turnovers, ‘Nova turned it over just twice in the second half. As a result, the ‘Cats were able to almost double their first-half point total, scoring 47 points in the second half and ultimately cruising to a 71-56 win.

Wright was impressed with his team’s ability to avoid frustration regarding the offensive struggles and staying committed on the defensive end. “I was pleased with our patience and not getting frustrated with their great defense and just continuing to play through it and playing good defense on our own,” Wright said. “I think that’s what the game came down to.”

Villanova ended up with a big advantage in the turnover department, committing nine but forcing 19. This helped ‘Nova to a 17-7 advantage in points off turnovers. As we noted in our game preview, Providence had been taking care of the ball reasonably well and if one team was able to open a significant advantage in this area it would go a long way toward deciding the outcome of the game.

Another area we were watching closely was the rebounding battle. We wondered if Villanova’s elite defensive rebounding could hold off Providence’s strong offensive rebounding and whether Villanova’s average offensive rebounding could take advantage of Providence’s poor defensive rebounding. Well, Villanova won the overall rebounding battle 41-37 and had a 14-8 advantage on the offensive glass. As a result, Villanova built a 20-7 advantage in second-chance points.

The 3-point line was somewhat of a wash. Providence’s strong perimeter defense continued and limited the ‘Cats to just 28% from beyond the arc. The Friars shot 31.3% from deep, but ‘Nova was still able to take a six-point advantage from 3 despite the low shooting percentage.

We were also watching Villanova’s 2-point defense as Providence has been extremely effective around the rim this season and above average from the mid-range. Well, the Friars shot just 41.6% from 2-point range on Saturday, including 6-16 on layup attempts.

Finally, Villanova did an excellent job on Providence’s duo of David Duke and Nate Watson. Duke finished with 10 points on 4-17 shooting. He also committed six turnovers and finished the game as a -17. Watson managed 12 points but grabbed just two rebounds and committed four turnovers while finishing as a -13. Remember, both of those players entered the game averaging over 19 points per game. “We had to do it as a team. I thought it was really good team defense,” Wright said. However, the coach also singled out a pair of players for praise. “I think Jeremiah Robinson-Earl is one of the best defensive players in the country,” Wright said. “He can guard any position and then helps everybody else. Justin Moore is the same kind of guy. Justin Moore can actually guard in the post. We have a chance to be one of our best defensive teams.”

Gillespie was equally impressed with his teammates’ defensive efforts. “Jeremiah did an amazing job on Watson,” Gillespie said. “Justin did an amazing job on David (Duke).”

Alyn Breed made a valiant effort to pick up the slack, finishing with a team-high 18 points, but without either of their stars getting things going it was too much for the Providence offense to overcome.

It was a weird game. The first half was about the worst offense you’ll ever see from two teams at the same time. When the teams did manage to get good looks, they simply wouldn’t go down. Then the start of the second half was delayed due to a sunlight issue, adding to the strangeness. Ultimately, Villanova was able to find its stride offensively and ended up with a relatively comfortable win.

Wright liked what he saw from his team and thought there was improvement from the Seton Hall game. “It was a good step for us,” Wright said.

Collin Gillespie: 15p, 6a, 5r (5-14 FG, 3-6 3PT, 2-2 FT)
Justin Moore: 15p, 5a, 5r, 2s, 1b (6-14 FG, 1-6 3PT, 2-2 FT)
Caleb Daniels: 12p, 2r, 1a (3-9 FG, 2-5 3PT, 4-4 FT)
Jermaine Samuels: 10p, 10r, 4a, 1s (3-9 FG, 0-2 3PT, 4-5 FT)
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl: 9p, 5r, 1a, 3s, 2b (4-11 FG, 0-4 3PT, 1-2 FT)
Cole Swider: 5p, 7r, 2a (2-3 FG, 1-2 3PT)
Eric Dixon: 3p, 1r (1-2 FG, 0-0 3PT, 1-3 FT)
Brandon Slater: 2p, 1r (0-1 FG, 0-0 3PT, 2-4 FT)