Villanova beat Butler by showing off its recent identity — winning nasty with defense and rebounding

Brendan Hausen walked into the media room after Villanova’s 72-62 win over Butler on Tuesday night wearing bell bottoms. It was ‘70s night at Finneran Pavilion, but Hausen, the Wildcats’ sharpshooting sophomore, wasn’t celebrating. The outfit, Villanova coach Kyle Neptune said, was just “Tuesday” for Hausen.

It was fitting, though, planned or not. Villanova has flipped its season because of the throwback style it has committed to playing. There is nothing sexy about defense and rebounding. Spend enough time around Neptune, and the words themselves become roll-your-eyes clichés. When Villanova has offensive struggles, it’s always the defense and rebounding that Neptune points to.

The Wildcats won for the fourth time in their last five games Tuesday night. They had entered having held four consecutive Big East opponents under 57 points for the first time in nine years. Butler got over that number, but not by much. The Bulldogs scored 35 points in the first half and just 27 in the second. Villanova won because it successfully turned what was a back-and-forth offensive first half — one with 14 lead changes in the first 13 minutes — into the grind-it-out Big East battle it has taken on as its personality lately.

The winning plays came mostly in the little areas. TJ Bamba skied to keep an offensive possession alive after Eric Dixon missed a three-pointer. Tyler Burton corralled a loose ball, one of nine Villanova offensive rebounds on the night, and found Justin Moore for an easy layup — two of Villanova’s nine second-chance points — that extended the Wildcats’ lead to seven with 8 minutes, 2 seconds to go. Then Dixon, with 4:05 left, recognized Butler big man Andre Screen was guarding him away from the basket with four fouls and drove at him. Screen fouled Dixon, then sat on the bench while Villanova’s leading scorer knocked in two of his game-high 22 points to again stretch the Wildcats’ lead to eight.

Villanova owned a 37-20 rebound advantage, including 9-3 in offensive boards. The Wildcats held Butler’s DJ Davis to just four points after he scored 28 during Butler’s double-overtime win over them on Jan. 27.

It’s only been a little more than three weeks since that disastrous finish in Indianapolis, but Villanova is showing its improvements. Tuesday marked what could be considered Villanova’s fourth must-win game of the season after a five-game Big East losing streak knocked the Wildcats out of the projected tournament field. Villanova is 4-0 in those games and is holding its opponents to an average of just 55 points in those contests.

The level of competition explains some of the defensive turnaround in recent weeks, but not all of it.

“I feel like we were all bought in in the beginning, but now we’re all starting to actually enjoy it and have fun on that end,” Bamba said Monday after Villanova’s practice. “When you’re bought in, you’re having fun, and you’re enjoying it, you can be a different beast. We’re still only getting better there. We’re not perfect. There are still a couple of mistakes we’re making here and there. But we like the progress that we’re making.”

» READ MORE: Analyzing Villanova’s NCAA Tournament chances with six games to go

There were mistakes Tuesday. Villanova gave up too many clean looks to Butler in the first half and paid for it early.

What changed in the second half?

“We didn’t change anything,” Neptune said. “We just kept coming.”

Right now, backs against the wall, they have no choice.

What’s on Villanova’s side during this push for the NCAA Tournament is experience. The Wildcats are one of the oldest teams in college basketball.

“It’s a maturity,” Bamba said. “It’s a mental thing, too. We understand that everything can change within a flip. We just feel like we have to keep our heads down, keep working, going hard, and we’ll just keep getting better.”

Few represent that motto more than Hausen right now. He struggled to get on the floor at times during his freshman season. Being a great shooter — Hausen made three more triples Tuesday — only goes so far if you can’t play defense.

“I’ve taken pride in becoming a better defender and becoming reliable out there,” he said.

» READ MORE: Despite injuries, Justin Moore is giving ‘as much as I can’ for Villanova as it makes an NCAA push

Up next is a road game at No. 1 Connecticut, which is daunting enough. But the Huskies are coming off a blowout loss at No. 15 Creighton on Tuesday and ESPN’s College GameDay will broadcast from Storrs on Saturday morning. It will be a big test to see how much of the corner Villanova has turned.

Beating Butler on Tuesday night, however, took a bit of pressure off. Not that Villanova will admit feeling any.

“We’re built for this experience,” Bamba said. “We’re not looking at it like no pressure or anything. We’re just trying to take it one game at a time.

“Our beliefs are high, and our hopes are high.”

Certainly a different feeling than when Villanova suffered through its five-game losing streak from Jan. 15-30.

“Seasons are about ups and downs,” Neptune said. “Things are going to happen, and you’ve got two choices. You either respond and come back and try to get better or you give up.”

There’s a pretty famous ‘70s movie featuring a boxer who knows a thing or two about the idea of going down swinging.