Jay Wright Earns 600th win as the Wildcats Beat Butler

Within the blink of an eye, the Wildcats had a commanding 10-point lead with 10 minutes left to play, and never looked back. (Image Courtesy of Villanova Athletics).

"It just means that I have a really good job," said Wright. "Every coach who has been here has won a lot of games. We've been blessed."

Article by Dave Nguyen, AKSM Sports

VILLANOVA, PA - Villanova Head Coach Jay Wright earns his 600th career win as the Villanova Wildcats (6-1, 2-0) defeat the Butler Bulldogs (1-1,0-1) 85-66 in its season home opener. Beginning his head coaching career in 1994 at Hofstra, where he accumulated 122 wins, Wright was able to celebrate his 478th win on the Main Line. Unaware about this accomplishment until minutes after the game, Wright was honored to achieve this milestone.

"It just means that I have a really good job," said Wright. "Every coach who has been here has won a lot of games. We've been blessed."

Butler came in with a 1-0 record and played its first game since November 25th, as its previous games were postponed due to COVID-19 reasons. Despite having only one game under its belt, the Bulldogs did not come out flat, going toe-to-toe with Villanova in the opening four minutes of the first half and taking an 11-8 lead. A three from Jair Bolden with 14:55 left extended Butler's lead to 17-10. The Wildcats responded with a run of their own over the next few minutes, as Jeremiah Robinson-Earl scored seven points during Villanova's 12-4 run to retake the lead at 22-21 with 10:37 left to play. At one point in the closing 10 minutes of the opening stanza, Villanova locked down defensively, holding Butler to 2-of-10 shooting. Butler would make a late push to end the half, including a buzzer-beating lay-up by guard Aaron Thompson, cutting Villanova's lead to 41-34. Despite not playing a game since late November, Wright was impressed with Butler's performance.

"This was their first game after a pause," noted Wright. "That's a tough spot to be in. There's no way to prepare for that."

The Bulldogs gave the Wildcats trouble in the opening minutes of the second half by playing good defense, holding Villanova to 2-of-9 shooting over the first four and a half minutes, cutting the Wildcat lead to four at 45-41. Bolden and Thompson scored all their points in that early stretch of the second half, showing their leadership as seniors on the team. Both players finished with 18 and 14 points respectively.

Unfortunately for Butler, the four point deficit was the closest it would get to cutting into Villanova's lead after four and a half minutes of play in the second half. Within the blink of an eye, the Wildcats had a commanding 10-point lead with 10 minutes left to play, and never looked back. Jermaine Samuels converted on a traditional three-point play to make the score 58-48, giving Villanova the momentum it needed to finish the game with a victory. Samuels, who finished with 12 points, was one of four Wildcats to end with double figures in points. It was another stellar performance for Robinson-Earl and Collin Gillespie as each player finished with 18 points and combined for 4-of-7 from beyond the arc. Sophomore guard Justin Moore had a great game as well, finishing with 13 points while shooting 5-of-11 from the floor (45%), the fifth time in seven games he has finished with a double-digit point total.

"That's a good BIG EAST win for us," said Wright after the game. "It was a really good team effort."

This Saturday Villanova was scheduled to play Virginia at Madison Square Garden in a Top-25 showdown. Due to COVID-19 issues, the game will not be played or rescheduled. Instead, the "Holy War" will be played on Saturday night, as the Wildcats will host Big 5 rival St. Joe's at Finneran Pavilion at 9pm on FS1.