Villanova routs Temple to remain unbeaten

Villanova put on a three-point shooting barrage on Sunday, routing the Temple 85-62.

The seventh-ranked Wildcats (10-0) shot 9-of-15 from the outside (60%), and the Owls (6-4) couldn’t find an answer all afternoon.

Josh Hart and Durran Hilliard II led the charge for Villanova, combining for 40 points on 12-of-14 (85%) shooting. Hart credited his teammates on the big day.

“Our guys, they did a good job of finding me, and I just took open shots,” Hart said. “The shots happened to fall…it was a good day.”

The win puts Villanova at 3-0 in Big 5 games this year and sole possession of the Big 5 title. Temple dropped to 1-2.

The Wildcats led by as many as 24 in the second half, but Temple was able to cut it to as few as 13 at the 4:39 to play.

Villanova clawed that lead back to 23 thanks to clamping down defensively. They held the Owls to just 34.6 percent shooting (18-of-52) from the floor.

“Good win for us against a tough team,” Villanova head coach Jay Wright said. “They’re just getting better and better and better each game, we knew we were going to see a better team tonight and that’s why I’m proud of how we played.”

But Wright won’t be letting his team get too high on themselves after their dominating performance.

“I think things are cyclical,” the coach said. “We have older guys, I think we’ve just got two years here where we have older guys and the other teams are younger, I think that makes a big difference in college basketball.”

Villanova next faces former Big East rival Syracuse at the Wells Fargo Center Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.