National Basketball Association
Villanova 87, DePaul 71
When: 12:00 PM ET, Sunday, January 8, 2012
Where: The Pavilion, Villanova, Pennsylvania
Officials:
# Doug Shows, # Chris Beaver, # Les Jones
Attendance:
6500
By SportsDirect Inc.
Maalik Wayns scored 21 points and Dominic Cheek added 20 as Villanova shook off its offensive struggles to breeze past visiting DePaul 87-71 Sunday.
Mouphtaou Yarou chipped in 14 points and reserve JayVaughn Pinkston had 13 for Villanova (8-8, 1-3 Big East), which was last in the Big East in field-goal percentage but shot 56 percent Sunday.
The Wildcats were coming off a 74-57 home loss to South Florida on Thursday that made them 0-3 in conference play for the first time since joining in 1980-81.
Wayns and Cheek, who were benched for the tip-off Thursday, started against DePaul (10-5, 1-2 Big East) and combined to net half of the Wildcats' first-half points.
Villanova took advantage of the league's worst field-goal percentage defense and led 48-36 at halftime. The Wildcats shot 62.5 (15-for-24) percent from the floor to produce their biggest scoring half since the season opener against Monmouth.
They also curtailed their woeful outside shooting – Villanova entered at 29.7 percent while hoisting 21.3 3-pointers per game, but attempted only six in the first half. The Wildcats buried four, and by not settling for perimeter shots got to the line frequently and went 14-for-20 on free throws.
Brandon Young had 22 points and Cleveland Melvin 19 for DePaul, which had beaten Pittsburgh 84-81 Thursday for just its third league win since 2008-09. The Blue Demons didn't get closer than eight points in the second half.
Top Game Performances
| DePaul |
|
Villanova |
|
Brandon Young 22 |
Scoring |
Maalik Wayns 21 |
|
Brandon Young 6 |
Assists |
Ty Johnson 5 |
|
Cleveland Melvin 4 |
Rebounds |
Maalik Wayns 8 |
|
Brandon Young 6 |
Free Throws Made |
Mouphtaou Yarou 6 |
|
Worrel Clahar 3 |
Steals |
Ty Johnson 2 |
|
Derrell Robertson Jr. 1 |
Blocks |
Markus Kennedy 1 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| DePaul
|
71 |
38.2 |
8-27 |
11-17 |
17 |
20 |
1 |
11 |
14 |
| Villanova
|
87 |
56.0 |
4-10 |
27-34 |
14 |
38 |
1 |
6 |
28 |
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