Villanova will take the win, but it wasn’t easy this time against DePaul

A check in the win column is what every team is hoping for, but that doesn’t mean the win is always a pretty one.

That was the case for Villanova (13-10, 6-6 Big East) in a 59-49 victory over DePaul that snapped its three-game losing streak.

Here are the takeaways from the Wildcats’ win:

The last time Villanova played DePaul, the Wildcats posted a decisive 100-56 victory, their largest winning margin of the season.

DePaul (11-13, 2-11) shot just 31% from the field and 3-for-18 from behind the arc in the first half Wednesday, yet Villanova headed into the locker room up only three points.

The second half saw more of the same, slow-paced action. Villanova finally went up double digits for the first time with 5 minutes, 3 seconds remaining.

Villanova committed four turnovers in the last 3:47 and went on a 3:08 scoring drought, while the Blue Demons ended the game with a 3:24 scoring drought of their own.

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DePaul shot just 30.8% from the field and went 7-for-36 from behind the arc, while the Wildcats ended the night shooting 45.8% from the field.

Senior guard Jordan Longino led all scorers with 17 points. Eric Dixon, the nation’s leading scorer, had an unusually quiet night with 14 points. Dixon went 4-for-14 from the field and 1-for-4 from deep, with his first and only three-pointer coming with just 5:04 remaining.

Senior guard Wooga Poplar was the only other Wildcat to put up double figures, scoring 12 points and grabbing six boards.

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David Thomas led DePaul with 16 points, six better than his previous high this season. He was 4-for-10 from behind the arc. CJ Gunn added 13 points and five rebounds.

Villanova averages 10 turnovers, the fourth-worst in the Big East. ‘Nova had finally started to clean things up despite losing to Creighton on Saturday, turning the ball over just six times.

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But on Wednesday, the Wildcats took a sloppy step backward with 15, which led to only 10 points for DePaul.

Villanova hosts Xavier (14-9, 6-6 Big East) on Sunday (noon, FS1) at the Wells Fargo Center. The Wildcats fell to the Musketeers, 69-63, in their previous meeting on Jan. 14.