The Villanova Wildcats came out of an 11-day break slowly, and the DePaul Blue Demons nearly capitalized on it.
Despite spotting DePaul a 14-point lead midway through the first half, the Wildcats were able to buckle down and take care of business coming down the stretch.
The Blue Demons didn’t go down without a fight, but the ‘Cats were able to fend them off for a 73-68 victory at home, starting off 2019 and conference play with a win.
With 7:58 to go in the game, Phil Booth drained a three-pointer to give Villanova a 58-56 lead, the team’s first of the showdown.