Marquette trounced 85-68 by No. 5 Villanova

MILWAUKEE — Collin Gillespie scored 22 points and sank six 3-pointers as No. 5 Villanova routed Marquette 85-68 for its sixth consecutive victory Wednesday night.

Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Justin Moore had 13 points each and Caleb Daniels added 10 to help the Wildcats overpower Marquette, which lost its third straight. Gillespie shot 6 of 11 from 3-point range.

Marquette (5-5, 1-3 Big East) was seeking to beat a top-10 team for the third time this season. The Golden Eagles had beaten then-No. 4 Wisconsin 67-65 on Dec. 4 and topped then-No.9 Creighton 89-84 on Dec. 14. Wisconsin is now ninth and Creighton is 13th.

They didn’t have nearly as much success against Villanova (8-1, 3-0), though they did keep things interesting until halftime.

The game went back and forth early on. Villanova’s Justin Moore scored five points during an 8-0 run late in the first half that gave Villanova a 36-30 lead at the break.

Marquette’s Jamal Cain opened the second half with a 3-pointer that cut Villanova’s lead to 36-33, but the Wildcats answered with a 10-1 spurt that included 3-pointers from Gillespie and Cole Swider.

Villanova was never threatened again and led by as much as 23.

Jamal Cain scored 15 to lead Marquette. D.J. Carton and Theo John added 10 points each.

BIG PICTURE

Villanova: The Wildcats have looked overpowering ever since their 83-71 overtime loss to No. 24 Virginia Tech on Nov. 28. They’ve won their last six games by an average margin of 17.8 points. The lone close call during their winning streak has been a 68-64 triumph at No. 10 Texas.

Marquette: The Golden Eagles made far too many mistakes to have a chance at taking down one more top-five team. Marquette shot 7 of 16 from the free-throw line and committed 17 turnovers. Now a team that looked on the verge of cracking the Top 25 after its victory at Creighton last week instead finds itself at .500.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Villanova certainly looked worthy of its ranking Wednesday. Whether the Wildcats can move up likely will depend on whether any teams above them start losing.

UP NEXT

Villanova is at No. 22 Xavier on Jan. 2.

Marquette visits Georgetown on Jan. 2.