No. 22 Butler knocks off No. 2 Villanova for second time this season

VILLANOVA, Pa. — Breaking down No. 22 Butler’s win against No. 2 Villanova’s 74-66 win Wednesday night at The Pavilion:

THE BIG PICTURE: Villanova is a very good basketball team — still. One loss (well, a second consecutive one to the same team) doesn’t change that. The Wildcats already have secured at least a share of the Big East title, and they’re still well-positioned to land a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. But even head coach Jay Wright admitted after Wednesday’s loss that his team had been “teetering” a bit lately, playing with fire a little too frequently in recent games, even if they’ve won them.

This time, a slow, sluggish start and some very uncharacteristic characteristics — missed free throws by 80% free throw shooters, inexcusable turnovers and even a few airballs — cost the Wildcats a game.

THE TURNING POINT: Villanova had Butler on the ropes, with a seven-point lead almost exactly midway through the second half. And then the Bulldogs went on a tear — an 18-0 run, to be exact, with Kelan Martin and his nine points during the stretch leading the charge. Though Villanova clawed back and pulled within four points in the game’s final seconds, Butler never lost control of the game.

“They were the better team than us tonight,” Wright said. “When they got down, they didn’t crack at all."

WHAT WE’LL BE TALKING ABOUT: Butler being Villanova’s kryptonite all of a sudden. The Bulldogs had been 0-6 against the Wildcats since entering the Big East until this season — in which they’ve beaten Villanova twice, first when ‘Nova was No. 1 in the nation, and Wednesday when it was No. 2. Butler is playing its best basketball of the year, head coach Chris Holtmann said, adding that beating a team like Villanova, so talented and so well-coached, is a big deal to him and his program.

WHAT WE WOULD HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT, HAD THIS GONE A BIT DIFFERENTLY: How good Jalen Brunson has been lately for Villanova — and what a great time of year it is to be playing this way. The sophomore — coming off the best game of his career to date which included 22 points on perfect 7-for-7 shooting and 10 assists against Seton Hall — picked up right where he left off. He scored nearly half of Villanova’s points in the first half, and finished with 24 points on 9-for-13 shooting, with four rebounds, two assists and one steal. Without Brunson’s effort, it’s hard to imagine the game as close as it was.

KEY STAT: Prior to Wednesday, Villanova’s seniors — Josh Hart, Kris Jenkins and Darryl Reynolds — had not lost a game here at their on-campus arena during the course of their storied careers. Butler junior Kelan Martin said after the game that the coaches had told the players this stat at their morning shoot around.

“We wanted to be the team to beat them,” Martin said. “Those last few minutes felt like an hour."

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