Caleb Daniels reaches a career milestone as Villanova holds on to beat Seton Hall

Even without Jay Wright or Kevin Willard on the sidelines, Villanova-Seton Hall still is Villanova-Seton Hall.

The matchup isn’t known for its offense, and with Kyle Neptune and Shaheen Holloway coaching, it was no different. The Pirates and Wildcats combined for 31 turnovers and shot just over 40%.

When the final buzzer sounded, both teams left battered and bruised. However, it was Villanova that left with its biggest win of the season, withstanding a second-half Seton Hall push to win, 58-54. It was the ninth consecutive game between the teams decided by single digits.

“They have a new coach, but they have the same identity,” Neptune said. “... You’re playing a program like that, you know you’re always in for a dogfight.”

Eric Dixon and Caleb Daniels combined for Villanova’s first 24 points and didn’t let up in the second. Dixon finished with 19 points and six rebounds, while Daniels added 18.

Daniels reached a milestone in the contest. With a three in the second half, the graduate guard scored his 1,000th point as a Wildcat.

“It’s a blessing,” Daniels said. “That’s something I never really expected, but it just so happened that it’s a part of my journey.”

For Seton Hall (15-11, 8-7 Big East), Tyrese Samuel led with 14 points.

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Daniels drilled a three on the opening possession of the game, but the Wildcats (12-13, 6-8) then went cold. Villanova scored just seven points in the first 10 minutes and missed 10 consecutive shots, falling behind, 11-7.

Then, Dixon took over. The redshirt junior went on an 8-0 run by himself, and when he was subbed out, Daniels hit another three to put Villanova up by seven.

“I’ve seen Eric go through a lot during his time [at Villanova],” Daniels said. “We’ve been through a lot of the same things. And just seeing how well he’s grown throughout his journey here is very remarkable… [Today,] we just wanted to just attack and be aggressive and make plays.”

The Wildcats held the Pirates to 20 points in the first half, their best defensive half of the season. Villanova forced 18 turnovers, its highest total this year.

Seton Hall made a push in the second half, putting together a 13-1 run to cut the Villanova lead to just one. The Wildcats responded with a 15-2 run to retake control, and, even when the Pirates ended the game on a 7-1 run, the outcome was never in doubt.

Seton Hall entered the game ranked 59th in the NET. Villanova improved to 3-3 in Quad 2 games.

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Villanova has played three games at Wells Fargo Center, and in all three, one of its key players has returned from injury. Saturday marked the return of Jordan Longino, who missed the last nine games with a left hamstring injury.

Longino played a scoreless 14 minutes, grabbed two rebounds, and added an assist, but his impact was best felt in Neptune’s rotation. With his sixth man back, Neptune largely utilized a seven-man rotation, only briefly playing Brendan Hausen and Chris Arcidiacono.

“It just means that we’ve got to tinker with it again, like we’ve been all year,” Neptune said. “... We’ve had different guys in and out of the lineup, so we’ve just got to figure it out over time.”

Longino, Justin Moore, and Cam Whitmore have missed time with injuries, so Saturday was the first game with a complete rotation. Daniels was excited his team has its full arsenal.

“Oh man, it’s a scary look,” Daniels said.

Villanova stays home to face Butler (13-13, 5-10) on Tuesday at the Finneran Pavilion (8 p.m., CBSSN). When the teams played in Indianapolis in mid-January, the Bulldogs won, 79-71.

After the Butler matchup, Villanova finishes the season with five consecutive Quad 1 matchups.