For a team desperate for a win, it’s difficult to be picky with just how that win comes. Still, after Wednesday’s game against Marquette went from looking like a runaway statement win to a narrow escape from disaster, it’s fair to have some mixed feelings. Regardless, Villanova ended its three-game losing streak Wednesday night while getting a key Big East win over the Golden Eagles.

There would be no slow start on Wednesday, a welcome change from the past few weeks. This time, it was Villanova that built an early lead, taking a 10-point advantage six and a half minutes into the game. The lead would get as high as 15 before Marquette trimmed it to nine heading into the break. Still, there would be no complaints from ‘Nova. After giving up 46 first-half points and facing a 17-point deficit in the first meeting between teams, the Wildcats allowed just 29 on Wednesday and had that nine-point lead.

There was a lot to like about the first-half performance. ‘Nova did a good job challenging Marquette on the perimeter and forcing it to get more of its offense inside the arc. Marquette shot 33.3 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from three. Villanova’s offense looked good as the ‘Cats connected on 46.9 percent overall and 36.8 percent from three. The ball movement was good, and ‘Nova assisted on 10 of 15 made shots.

One other huge positive from the first half was the balanced scoring. Jeremiah Robinson-Earl led the way with nine, Justin Moore added eight, Jermaine Samuels had six, and Saddiq Bey, Cole Swider, and Collin Gillespie had five apiece. After a few nights where the ‘Cats became far too reliant on Gillespie and Bey, it was great to see everyone chipping in.

The solid play continued to start the second half and it looked like the ‘Cats might cruise to a win. They opened with a 9-0 run and pushed the lead to 18. Unfortunately, the three’s stopped falling and Marquette starting chipping away at the lead. It was down to 10 with 7:25 to go and to five with four minutes left. ‘Nova pushed it back to 10 with 2:04 to go, but Marquette continued to come and got within three with 42 seconds remaining. Robinson-Earl was able to hit one of two from the line to give the ‘Cats a four-point lead with five seconds to go before a Markus Howard three at the buzzer cut the final margin to one, 72-71.

Watching an 18-point lead disappear wasn’t particularly encouraging, but for a team as desperate for a win as Villanova was it’s no time to nitpick.

The balanced scoring remained a huge positive. Robinson-Earl posted another double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds, adding four assists and two steals. Gillespie and Samuels had 14 points each, with Gillespie adding five rebounds and four assists while Samuels added seven rebounds and four assists. Justin Moore chipped in eight points, while Cole Swider had seven and Brandon Slater two.

Inconsistency was once again the name of the game, but this time Villanova had played well enough during the good times that it was able to hold on. There’s no better example of the inconsistency than a look at Howard’s night. The Wildcats kept him in check for much of the night, but you wouldn’t know that by his final stat line of 24 points on 8-of-20 and 5-of-11. Similarly, ‘Nova allowed just 29 first-half points but 46 in the second. It wasn’t just on defense either. The ball movement suffered a bit in the second half and the offense became much more labored.

Still, Villanova got an incredibly important win. The ‘Cats snapped a three-game losing streak and kept pace with Creighton for second in the Big East after the Bluejays knocked off Seton Hall, keeping a bit of drama alive in the conference race. The ‘Cats will return to action on Sunday when they wrap up Big 5 play with a visit to Temple.