The streak is over.

Villanova, losers of five straight and six of seven, finally righted the ship Sunday evening with a comfortable 68-50 win over Providence at Wells Fargo Center.

It was a familiar refrain to start the game for the Wildcats, who again struggled to get going offensively, hitting just one of their first nine shots. Fortunately, Providence wasn't faring much better, and the Friars were only able to open a 6-3 lead.

It was a sign of things to come for Providence, which stumbled to a 3-17 start as Villanova used an 11-3 run to take a 14-9 lead with 8:36 to play in the first half. By the time the halftime buzzer sounded, Providence had managed a paltry 16 points and Villanova had a 10-point lead.

Villanova's defensive game plan was excellent and executed to near perfection. The Wildcats wanted to make someone besides Devin Carter or Josh Oduro beat them and they wanted to make the Friars, who entered the game ranked 22nd in the country in two-point shooting and 249th in three-point shooting, per KenPom, beat them with outside shots. To say it was a success would be an understatement.

In the first half, Carter and Oduro combined for 11 points on 2-11 shooting, with scoring numbers bolstered by six trips to the line for Oduro. Davonte Gains (five points, 2-7), Jayden Pierre (zero points, 0-3) and Corey Floyd Jr. (zero points, 0-3) were unable to provide any support. Meanwhile, 66% of Providence's shots came from beyond the arc, with the Friars connecting on just 12.5% (2-16).

“I was really proud of the way our guys came out defensively and just in terms of our effort as well," Kyle Neptune said. "I thought we played extremely hard, we were really locked in. I thought it was a great defensive effort.”

The second half started the way the first ended for Providence, which missed its first five shots of the period. As a result, the Wildcats started the half on a 13-0 run to blow the game open while taking a 23-point lead. The lead would grow as large as 26 before a last gasp 11-2 run from Providence got the Friars within 12 with 3:01 to play. But that would be as close as it would get with the 'Cats cruising to the win.

“I thought our guys were in stances, there wasn’t a lot of space out there for them to operate, I thought we were extremely locked in to the scouting report," Neptune continued. "I thought they did an unbelievable job.”

Carter and Oduro got it going a bit in the second half, combining for 24 points, but the rest of the Providence roster managed only 10 points. 63% of Providence's shots came from beyond the arc, a more than welcome number for Villanova.

The Wildcats also opened a sizeable advantage in points off turnovers (21-4) and protected the paint, where they surrendered just 16 points while scoring 26.

The 'Cats will look to build on Sunday's performance when they travel to Xavier on Wednesday.