No. 3 Villanova continues dominance of No. 4 Xavier with 95-79 win

The battle of top-five teams went the same way most Villanova-Xavier games have gone.

It’s been a historic season for head coach Chris Mack’s 2017-18 Xavier team. Unfortunately, the Musketeers solving the riddle of how to topple Big East king Villanova won’t be a part of that history.

The third-ranked Wildcats defeated No. 4 Xavier decisively, 95-79, Saturday afternoon in Cincinnati. The win was Villanova’s 10th in 11 tries against the Musketeers since the teams became conference brethren in 2013-14. Of those 10 wins, nine have been by double digits.

Mikal Bridges was the scoring star for Villanova on Saturday, dropping a team-high 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field, including 4-of-7 from behind the three-point line. As good as Bridges was, Donte DiVincenzo may have been even better. The sophomore was 5-of-7 from beyond the arc, scoring 21 points of his own, and also chipped in nine rebounds and a team-high nine assists.

As a team, Villanova shot a scorching 38-of-63 from the field.

The offensive explosion by the Wildcats proved to be too much for Xavier. The Musketeers got 26 points from All-American candidate Trevon Bluiett and were a sparkling 19-of-22 from the free-throw line. In the end, making 10 fewer three-pointers than their guests proved to be too much to overcome.

Saturday’s loss marked Xavier’s first defeat in more than a month. The Musketeers had won nine straight games since an 89-65 loss at then-No. 1 Villanova on Jan. 10. The defeat also marked the first home loss for Xavier, which had been 16-0 at home this season.

Villanova’s win kept its chances of winning its fifth Big East regular season title in as many seasons alive. Xavier currently sits atop the standings a half game ahead of the Wildcats, but that’s only because the Musketeers have played one more conference game.