After opening the new year by stealing a game at Butler with a furious late rally, Villanova left no doubt about the outcome of their second game of 2025, racing past DePaul to a dominant 100-56 win.

After closing Wednesday’s game against Butler on a 22-1 run, Villanova proceeded to score the first 13 points of the game Saturday against DePaul. The Wildcats played stifling, connected defense as DePaul didn’t score its first point until the 15:34 mark. The Blue Demons didn’t make their first field goal until 13:54 remained the first half. Villanova had built an 18-3 lead at that point.

Villanova’s dominance continued for much of the half, as the Wildcats were complimenting their strong defensive effort with effective offense. ‘Nova shot 58% overall and 58% from the three while committing just four turnovers. Seven Wildcats scored in the first half, with Eric Dixon (14) and Wooga Poplar (12) reaching double figures.

Fittingly, the standout play from the first half reflected Villanova’s play at both ends of the court, as Poplar grabbed a steal and took it the other way for an emphatic dunk that got the Pavilion crowd on its feet.

For what it’s worth, Poplar didn’t seem particularly impressed with the play.

“It was two points,” Poplar said, laughing.

Villanova, however, was unable to complete a flawless half. After taking its largest lead of the game at 23 with 2:58 remaining in the half, Villanova allowed DePaul to rip off a 10-0 run to pull back within 13 with under 30 seconds to go. A Dixon three ahead of the halftime buzzer stopped the DePaul run and sent the Wildcats to the break with a 48-32 lead.

Any concerns that the late-first-half letdown would carry over to the second half were quickly put to rest. Villanova scored six of the first eight points of the period and then used a 14-0 run to blow things wide open, taking a 32-point lead with 12:49 to play. The ‘Cats didn’t stop there. They kept building the lead almost to the final buzzer, with it reaching 45 before settling on the final 44-point margin.

Clearly, Villanova did a lot well on Saturday. The ‘Cats shot 59.7 percent overall to DePaul’s 33.3%. Even more impressive was the disparity at the three-point line. DePaul entered the game as one of the most efficient and prolific three-point shooting teams in the country, averaging nearly 12 per game and connecting at a 38.5 percent clip, 23rd best in the nation. On Saturday, Villanova limited them to just seven makes on 27 attempts (25.9 percent) while hitting 59.3 percent of their own threes and building a 27-point advantage from beyond the arc.

“They have high attempts and high make,” Kyle Neptune said of the perimeter defense. “Coming into the game that’s a point you want to try to take away, I thought our guys did a good job of that.”

Villanova also had a 19-6 advantage in points off turnovers, a 32-24 edge in points in the paint and a 14-10 lead in second chance points.

The offense might grab the headlines with the 100-point output and the efficient percentages, but it was the defense that really stood out.

“I thought our guys came out and really locked in defensively,” Neptune said. “We went a while where we were flying around. I thought we followed the game plan to a T. Really impressed and proud of the way we defended today.”

“We got a lot of different guys who have multifaceted games,” Neptune added. “Maybe 1-8, 9, we got guys who can really score the ball. So, our team is confident offensively, but when we defend like that we give ourselves a chance each time out.”

Dixon continued his stellar season with 25 points on 9-17 shooting to go with five rebounds and four assists, but it was Jordan Longino’s day. The senior had a career-high 19 points, hitting 7-9 shots overall and 5-5 from three. He also chipped in four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

“Obviously I got hot today,” Longino said of his performance. “But I think every game I try to come out with a confident mentality, my teammates and coaches try to instill that confident mentality in me. So obviously it feels good to see the ball go in a little bit, but I think every game coming out I have the same mentality when it comes to shooting the ball.”

Jhamir Brickus was once again a difference maker for the ‘Cats, posting a double-double with 11 points and a career-high 11 rebounds plus three rebounds. He committed just a single turnover.

Kris Parker continued to make an impact for ‘Nova with 11 points and four rebounds.

Poplar rounded out the double figure scorers for ‘Nova with 17, adding three rebounds, two assists and three steals to go along with his highlight dunk.

Enoch Boakye added six points to go with 14 rebounds and three blocks, while Josiah Moseley (four points, four rebounds) and Tyler Perkins (four points, four assists, two steals) made contributions as well. Jordann Dumont added three points and a rebound.

It was Villanova’s best defensive performance of the season. It was evident from the start that the ‘Cats were locked in at that end, and they kept it up for essentially the entire 40 minutes. It will be interesting to see if they can replicate the performance going forward, and if so, what that proves to mean for their season.

“There’s still a long, long season to go,” Neptune said. “Teams are gonna get better. Right now, we really haven’t done much. We’ve got to the point where I think our guys are confident in what we’re looking to do, I think they’re connected and now we just gotta keep going.”