Villanova controls its rematch against St. John’s from the outset, rolls to an 81-58 victory

The Wildcats, who lost by 70-59 in the first meeting of the two teams on Feb. 3 in New York, had control of this game from the start.

Cole Swider, center, of Villanova and Julian Champagnie, left, of St. John’s go after a loose ball Swider had knocked away during the first half as Jeremiah Robinson-Earl looks on behind them.Read moreCHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

by Joe Juliano

Published Feb. 23, 2021, 10:23 p.m. ET

The questions for Villanova going into Tuesday night’s rematch with St. John’s were whether the Wildcats would be more aggressive against the Red Storm’s press, and whether they would match the physicality that the visitors delivered against them nearly three weeks ago.

The eighth-ranked Cats passed the test on both accounts, operating their offense more smoothly and hounding the Red Storm into a horrible shooting night in an 81-58 victory at Finneran Pavilion.

The Wildcats (15-3, 10-2 Big East) never trailed in the game. They led by 20 points late in the first half and boosted their margin to as many as 26 points in the second half in avenging a 70-59 loss to the Red Storm (14-10, 8-9) on Feb. 3 in New York.

Caleb Daniels led Villanova with 17 points. Collin Gillespie, who scored just four points in a nightmarish outing in the first St. John’s game, finished Tuesday night with 14 points and five assists, while Jermaine Samuels also had 14 points to go with nine rebounds. The Cats shot 48.3% from the field with 11 three-pointers.

St. John’s shot just 36.2% from the floor and hit only three three-point baskets in 23 attempts. Julian Champagnie, the Big East’s top scorer averaging 20.2 points entering the game, finished with 16 points but shot just 5 of 18 from the field.

Freshman guard Posh Alexander, who controlled the first game and scored 14 points, managed just four points Tuesday night and left the game with 6:05 to play with an apparent injury to his right hand or wrist.

The Wildcats never trailed in the game and took control relatively early. Justin Moore’s driving layup with 13 minutes, 13 seconds to play kicked off an 18-5 run over the next 4:28 that featured five points by Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and two thunderous dunks off turnovers by Brandon Slater.

A three-point basket by Samuels ended the run with Nova in front 31-14 with 8:45 to play. The Wildcats did not score a basket for the next five minutes but the Red Storm were not able to get any closer than 13, 34-21, on two free throws by Champagnie.

Daniels’ three-point basket ended the Villanova drought and sparked a run of seven straight points that boosted the advantage to 20, 41-21, on Robinson-Earl’s layup with 1:10 remaining.

The Wildcats, who were limited to 32.3% shooting in their first meeting against the Johnnies, hit at a 50% clip in the first half of the rematch and held a 42-25 lead at the intermission. St. John’s shot only 29%, making 9 of 31 shots including a 1-of-9 half for Champagnie.

The Red Storm was unable to get any closer than 17 points in the second half, the last time at 51-34 on Isiah Moore’s followup shot with 14:07 to play. The Wildcats went on an 11-2 run that ended on two baskets from Justin Moore – a three-pointer and an old-fashioned three-point play, and took their largest lead at 62-36 with 9:59 remaining.

Gillespie, who scored only four points on 2-of-12 shooting in the first meeting and missed all eight of his three-point tries, had 10 points in the first half before going to the bench at the 7:28 mark with his second personal foul. He went 4 of 5 from the floor and knocked down both of his three-point tries.

The Wildcats, who had a season-high 17 turnovers against St. John’s in New York, committed seven in the opening 20 minutes but the Red Storm scored just five points off the miscues.