Villanova runs into Seton Hall again in Big East tournament (Mar 10, 2017)
Second-ranked Villanova has won games in a variety of ways this season.
In the Wildcats' 108-67 victory over St. John's in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament, they found a new formula with a surge of scoring from their bench. Starting guard Mikal Bridges left after one minute with a stomach virus and the bench responded with 52 points in the 41-point win.
Top-seeded Villanova (29-3) will now face fifth-seeded Seton Hall in the semifinals on Friday night at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Pirates (21-10) defeated fourth-seeded Marquette 82-76 to set up a rematch with the Wildcats.
Seton Hall ousted Villanova 69-67 in the championship game last season to win its third career Big East tournament title.
The 52 bench points came from three players -- Donte DiVincenzo with a career-high 25, Eric Paschall with 17 and deep reserve Dylan Painter also with a career-high 10.
Villanova will attempt to reach the championship game once again after falling to Seton Hall in the final last year.
"It's great," said senior Kris Jenkins, who scored 24 points against the Red Storm. "We have a next man-up mentality. We don't want Mikal to go down or anybody. But our guys are ready.
"They've been put in this situation before, more minutes for (Paschall), more minutes for Donte, more minutes for Dylan, who played great today, gave us great minutes. Hopefully, we'll get Mikal back for tomorrow and get better."
Villanova set a team record for field goal shooting percentage at 63.2 percent (36 of 57). The Wildcats' previous best was 61.5 percent -- 24 of 39 -- against Boston College on March 5, 1982.
DiVincenzo was 7 of 8 from the field and hit five of his six 3-pointers.
"Going into the game, I was confident, as in every other game," DiVincenzo said. "But the only thing I can say about the 25 is it's all because of the seniors and Jalen (Brunson), Eric (Paschall), everybody was making the right play and I found myself open today. I was knocking down shots."
Seton Hall has won nine of its last 11 games, though it was swept by Villanova this season.
Angel Delgado led the way once again with of the finest performances of his career with 12 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists against the Golden Eagles. It was Delgado's 13th consecutive double-double.
Delgado came within one assist of just the second triple-double in Big East tournament history. Pittsburgh's Ricardo Greer accomplished the feat against Villanova in 1998.
"I've got to give my big fella credit," Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard told Fox Sports 1 after the victory over Marquette. "He's been my warrior."
Delgado registered most of those nine assists with crisp passing out of the low post to open shooters.
"I told the guys, 'Just trust me, I'm going to get you open shots,'" Delgado told FS1.
Seton Hall placed five players in double figures against Marquette -- Khadeen Carrington (19), Myles Powell (17), Madison Jones (13), Delgado (12) and Desi Rodriguez (11).
The Pirates also shot an amazing 22 of 23 from the free throw line against the Golden Eagles.
