Providence gave Villanova all they could handle Wednesday night at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, but the Wildcats managed to avoid their second upset in a week, prevailing by the score of 66-57.
The first half included some uncharacteristically sloppy play from the defending national champions. Coming off of a nonconference win versus Virginia where the Wildcats relied heavily on their free throw shooting, ‘Nova went just 0-1 from the charity stripe to go along with 10 turnovers.
Credit the Providence defense though: Their intensity was through the roof as they fed off of the raucous home crowd.