Villanova capped a special night at the Finn by getting back in the win column with an 81-65 win over DePaul.

The evening started with Nova Nation finally getting an opportunity to express thanks to Jay Wright, who was honored for his Hall of Fame career prior to the game.

The good vibes didn’t immediately translate for the Wildcats, who were confronted with a hot-shooting DePaul team that appeared hungry to complete a rare season sweep of the ‘Cats.

The Blue Demons hit their first five two-point attempts. Meanwhile, Villanova didn’t get it’s first bucket until the 16:26 mark as the ‘Cats missed their first four attempts and committed two turnovers over the first three-and-a-half minutes of the game. DePaul took advantage of its strong start and built a nine-point lead just over nine minutes into the game.

“They had us on our heels a little bit,” Kyle Neptune admitted about the start of the game.

The ‘Cats would respond, however, and a Cam Whitmore three capped an 8-0 ‘Nova run to pull the Wildcats back within a point. A Da’Sean Nelson free throw would stop the bleeding for DePaul, but Brendan Hausen helped ‘Nova get right back to work with a three that gave the ‘Cats their first lead of the game at 23-22 with 6:48 to play in the half. ‘Nova would continue to take it to DePaul, extending the run to 13-1 and ultimately to 21-4 to take a 33-25 lead with 3:25 to play in the half.

A 9-4 push from DePaul, including another end-of-half three-pointer, would cut the ‘Nova lead to three at the half.

It was Jalen Brunson’s time in the spotlight during halftime, with his jersey being retired alongside other program greats. Brunson was effusive in his praise of Villanova and his time in the program and thanked virtually everyone connected to the program in any way. The atmosphere in the building was electric, and Brunson took it to another level when, after finishing his speech and taking some time to take photos with family and coach Wright, retook the mic to say “I gotta say one last thing…GO BIRDS” to a raucous reaction from the crowd.

A Brandon Slater three opened the scoring in the second half, but much like in the first half after Wright’s appearance and speech, Villanova was unable to capitalize on the energy in the building following Brunson’s honor and DePaul ripped off a 9-0 run to take a 43-40 lead at the 16:08 mark.

Villanova responded with four straight points from Whitmore to retake a one-point lead, and after a jumper by Nelson, Whitmore scored his fifth and sixth straight points with a dunk.

From there, the teams would trade blows for about five minutes, leading to a tie game at the 9:39 mark. It was then that we saw something different, and particularly encouraging, from Villanova.

An 8-2 run by ‘Nova over the next minute-and-a-half opened up a six-point Wildcat lead, one the ‘Cats would not relinquish. DePaul got within four a couple times, but Villanova maintained control before clamping down over the final three minutes to earn the convincing 16-point win.

Villanova outscored DePaul 27-11 after the game was tied at the 9:39 mark. More impressively, the Blue Demons didn’t score over the game’s final 3:43, with ‘Nova ending the game on an 11-0 run. After the trouble Villanova has had down the stretch of close games this season, it was encouraging to see the Wildcats take control of the final 10 minutes and really clamp down over the final four minutes.

“I thought we really played well defensively the last 10 minutes of the game, got some stops, got some key rebounds,” Neptune said. “Proud of our guys.”

The second half was one of Villanova’s stronger showings of the season, as the ‘Cats shot 55% overall and 47% from three while holding DePaul to 39% overall and 18% from three. ‘Nova committed just two second-half turnovers.

For the game, ‘Nova hit 51.7% overall and 34.4% from three while committing six turnovers. The ‘Cats held DePaul to 43.9% overall and 28% from three. ‘Nova only forced seven DePaul turnovers, but turned them into 11 points. The ‘Cats won the rebounding battle 35-27 and second chance points 12-7. They also piled up 36 points in the paint, hitting an impressive 71.4% of their two-point attempts.

“I think we played harder for longer,” Neptune said of the different fortunes down the stretch. “I can’t say a full 40, but maybe 34-35 and that’s been our goal all year, putting together a full 40 minutes and we’re gonna keep working towards that.”

All five Wildcat starters reached double figures, with Caleb Daniels leading the way with 18. Daniels hit 7-10 shots, including 4-5 from three, and it was a pair of threes from Daniels that helped turn the game late in the second half.

Whitmore and Justin Moore had 17 points each despite shooting a combined 3-16 from three. Each was incredibly efficient on two-point attempts, with Whitmore hitting 6-8 and Moore connecting on 5-6.

Eric Dixon added 13 while Slater had 10.

Again, it was really good to see the shift in execution and performance down the stretch. Villanova did an nice job pretty much across the board Wednesday night from shooting, to rebounding, to defense to taking care of the ball. In front of luminaries such as Wright and Brunson and George Raveling and Ryan Arcidiacono, the team put forth a strong effort and a good representation of Villanova basketball.

The ‘Cats will look to build on the win on Saturday when they host Seton Hall at the Wells Fargo Center.