In a battle of top 10 teams on Wednesday, No. 1 Villanova got out of the gate quickly against No. 10 Xavier and posted an 89-65 victory at Wells Fargo Center. The Wildcats improved to 15-1 overall and 3-1 in BIG EAST play. The Musketeers fell to 15-3 and 3-2.
The Wildcats opened the game with a 12-4 run by the first television timeout and led 40-28 at halftime. For the game, Villanova outshot Xavier 55.2 percent to 41.4 percent from the field and committed only eight turnovers while the Musketeers had 15. Phil Booth led the winners with a career-high 21 points to go with four assists and four steals.