Villanova uses a 34-6 first-half run to defeat North Texas, 84-61, and advance to Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament

It was a night for Villanova when the passing was crisp, the shots were falling and the defense was handcuffing the shooters of North Texas.

And the best thing for the Wildcats was, the performance got them to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

The Wildcats shot 55.4% on the night, placed four players in double figures, tied a season high with 15 three-point baskets and used a 34-6 run in the first half to establish control, rolling to an 84-61 victory over the No. 13 seed Mean Green in an NCAA second-round game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

The Cats (18-6) reached the Sweet 16 for the seventh time under Jay Wright. They move on to the South Region semifinals and a date on Saturday against No. 1 seed Baylor. The game will be played at Hinkle Fieldhouse (5:15 p.m.) in Indianapolis and televised by CBS (CBS3 locally).

Jeremiah Robinson-Earl led the Wildcats with 18 points, six rebounds, and six assists. Jermaine Samuels added 15 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. Justin Moore contributed 15 points and Caleb Daniels had 11.

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Javion Hamlet led North Texas (18-10) with 25 points. The Mean Green shot 40.4% from the field.

The Wildcats, who led 47-27 at the half, shot over 50% for the first time in nine games. They dished out 19 assists on 31 field goals. Eight different players made at least one three-point basket.

“Everything looks great when the shots are going in,” Wright said. “I think our guys have learned to play through some games when our shots weren’t going in, and I think that’s important for us.

“I think we played well enough defensively, that if we weren’t shooting like that, we still had a shot at this game because I thought we were pretty good defensively. But it sure is nice when they’re going in.”

The major breakout midway through the first half came with little warning. The Wildcats were outrebounded, 7-1, in the opening 6 ½ minutes as the Mean Green scored five of their first seven points on putbacks.

When Hamlet hit a basket in the lane, North Texas was shooting 8-of-12 from the field and leading 21-13 with 11:32 left in the opening half. Wright said he had a plan to adjust defensively if Hamlet got off to a good start “but we didn’t think we’d have to adjust that early.”

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Cole Swider, known more for his offense, came in and helped with the defensive adjustment.

“We changed our ball-screen coverage when we put Cole in there and he did a great job doubling [Hamlet] and getting back to his man,” Wright said. “Then we got a couple of stops and hit some threes in transition, and I thought that made a big difference.”

The script flipped quickly. The Wildcats knocked down 14 of their last 20 shots in the half including 6 of 10 three-pointers from five different players.

The surge began with a 13-0 run over a 4 ½-minute span closed out by a three from Daniels with 8 minutes to play. After a Hamlet basket for North Texas, the Wildcats got a conventional three-point play from Moore and back-to-back threes by Swider in a run of nine straight points.

Hamlet broke that streak again with a bank shot in the lane, but the Cats ripped off the next seven points, capped by Samuels’ follow-up basket with 2:23 to play that made it 42-25. In the last two minutes, Eric Dixon swished his second three-pointer of the season, Robinson-Earl converted a spinning shot in the lane, and the half ended with ‘Nova up by 20.

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Six different players hit three-point baskets in the first half. Two of them came from Chris Arcidiacono, who had not made a trey in any of the 11 games he had played prior to Sunday.

The closest the Mean Green were able to get in the second half was 15, 55-40, at the 14-minute mark but the Wildcats answered with a 12-2 run that grew the margin to 25, 67-42, on Robinson-Earl’s wing jumper with 8:52 remaining.

The margin grew as high as 26 later in the half.

North Texas, which won four straight games in the Conference USA tournament to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, was coming off a 78-69 overtime upset of No. 4 Purdue in the first round. The Mean Green sported a veteran lineup with four seniors and one junior, all making up the same starting lineup for 28 consecutive games.