Game recap: Eric Paschall leads #13 Villanova to victory over Providence

Villanova PA: The grind of conference play goes on and that is what we had on Wednesday night as the number 13th ranked Villanova Wildcats took on Providence Friars from Finneran Pavilion on the campus of Villanova University. Villanova comes into the game with 19-5 and off a loss to Marquette on February 9 while Providence enters battle with the Wildcats at 14-10, 4-7 in Big East and off a loss to St John’s also on February 9.

before the game, former Villanova star Josh Hart was honored:

Former @NovaMBB star Josh Hart was honored before the game #Villanova #Providence #NOVAvsProvidence pic.twitter.com/sXKaPAJNE2

— David Malandra Jr (@David_Malandra) February 13, 2019

Providence would open the scoring on the basket from David Duke for a 2-0 lead, Villanova got on the board on Colin Gillespie foul shots. The Wildcats would again have their issues from 3 pt range in the first half by going 3-11 for 27%. Providence would make things difficult for the Wildcats as they would have three separate times of cutting the Wildcats lead down to 2 with the last one being 30-28 with 3:22 left. Villanova would have a lead of 8 as they would take a 39-34 lead into halftime.

In the second half is something that you would never see is that Villanova would get called on 4 straight fouls in 1 possession and the crowd at Finneran pavilion was very disgusted with the officials. Friars would retake the lead at 55-53 with 10:31 left and there would be a sequence where they would go back and forth.

Phil Booth and Eric Paschall would make some big shots down the stretch and Providence just did not have an answer. one of the plays that basically would make things hard for Providence to get back in the game was dunk by Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree and get fouled

Former @NovaMBB star Josh Hart was honored before the game #Villanova #Providence #NOVAvsProvidence pic.twitter.com/sXKaPAJNE2

— David Malandra Jr (@David_Malandra) February 13, 2019

The Wildcats would come out of this game with an 85-67 and this would give them their 20th win on the season. With the win, Villanova now is 11-1 in Big East and head into battle with St John’s at Madison Square Garden on February 17. The Friars put up a good fight and would fall to 14-11 (4-8 in Big East) and will try to get back on track as they take on Xavier on February 16.

Some Interesting notes on Villanova

With tonight's win, @NovaMBB is 20-5 overall (11-1 in @BIGEASTMBB action.)
It has won 20 or more games in each of the past seven seasons and 14 of the last 15.#NOVAvsProvidence

— Villanova MBB (@NovaMBB) February 14, 2019