Tyler Perkins tallied 18 points, Malachi Palmer had a career night with 15 points and six rebounds and host Villanova never trailed in a 72-60 victory over Seton Hall on Wednesday.

Duke Brennan chipped in 12 points and 10 rebounds as the Wildcats (17-5, 8-3 Big East) picked up their third win in four games and a season sweep of their conference rivals. Villanova head coach Kevin Willard went 2-0 against Seton Hall, one of his former stops, in his first season back in the Big East.

Villanova’s Acaden Lewis went for 11 points and a game-high six assists. The Wildcats outrebounded the Pirates 37-27 and overcame 15 turnovers thanks to Seton Hall’s inability to capitalize.

Adam “Budd” Clark led Seton Hall (16-7, 6-6) with 18 points and AJ Staton-McCray added eight points and eight boards, but the Pirates shot a miserable 2 for 17 from 3-point range. Seton Hall has dropped five of seven.

Perkins’ four straight points gave the Wildcats a 19-11 cushion at the midway point of the first half, but they went without another field goal for the next 3:37. Seton Hall cobbled the next six points to draw within a bucket before Bryce Lindsay’s triple ended the drought.

Seton Hall was within six before Villanova surged into the locker room on an 11-2 run. Palmer knocked down a pair of treys during the stretch and Perkins added five points, including a lightning-quick fastbreak layup off a Pirates miss.

That put Villanova ahead 40-25 at the half, and it was 47-27 in short order before Seton Hall made its run. Tajuan Simpkins had five points in a 9-0 run, capped with a fastbreak layup when Staton-McCray and Clark forced a steal.

After Brennan’s one free throw ended Villanova’s brief scoring rut, Palmer buried his third 3-pointer. He was left open on the next Wildcats possession and drained another with his foot on the line, making it 53-36 with 12:37 left.

The Pirates were only able to claw within 10 points late as the Villanova shooting cooled off, but Lewis and Brennan combined for five free throws in the closing minutes to put it away.

–Field Level Media

The evening didn’t start well for Louisville, but a late first-half run and solid bench play led the No. 24 Cardinals to a 76-65 home win over the Fighting Irish on Wednesday.

Louisville (16-6, 6-4) fell behind 10-2 to open the game and saw starting guard J’vonne Hadley exit due to an apparent aggravation of a back injury after playing just three minutes.

Louisville led 30-28 with two minutes to go in the first half but an 8-0 run over the next minute opened up a margin the Cardinals wouldn’t relinquish. A dunk from Sananda Fru, a lay-up from Adrian Wooley and then a 3-pointer and a free throw from Isaac McKneely gave Louisville a 38-28 edge with 1:01 before halftime.

Notre Dame pulled within three points on a couple occasions early in the second half, the last coming at 45-42 on a Carson Towt lay-up with 15:33 to play.

The Irish were still within five points at the eight-minute mark, but a late Louisville run finished the matter.

McKneely led the Cardinal attack with 13 points, including 4-for-8 3-point shooting. Fru added 12 points, five rebounds, and three blocked shots. Ryan

Conwell also scored 12 points but shot just 4-for-14. Khani Rooths added a second consecutive double-double off the bench with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Louisville’s bench tallied 33 points in all. Kasean Pryor notched 10 points on 5-for-6 shooting and grabbed five rebounds in the most playing time he’d seen since before Christmas (15 minutes).

Notre Dame (11-12, 2-8) lost for the eighth time in nine games. The Irish season has been a struggle since the loss of Markus Burton to injury in early December.

Guard Cole Certa paced the Irish with 18 points, including 5-for-14 3-point shooting. Brady Koehler tallied 11 points and four steals. Jalen Haralson added eight points, seven rebounds, and five assists.

The Irish shot just 38.7% for the game (24-for-62) and connected on just 6 of 14 free throw attempts (42.9%).

–Field Level Media

Kingston Flemings scored 18 points as No. 8 Houston cruised to a 79-55 home win over UCF in a Big 12 Conference tilt Wednesday.

Chris Cenac Jr. tallied a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Milos Uzan added 12 points for Houston (20-2, 8-1 Big 12), which won its third straight game.

Riley Kugel led UCF (14-5, 6-4) with nine points. Themus Fulks, John Bol, Jamicheal Stillwell and Jordan Burks all added eight points for UCF, which had its three-game winning streak snapped.

A Flemings layup initiated a 12-0, first-half Houston run that broke open a closely contested game. The Cougars’ lead swelled to 27-13 on a jumper from Cenac. Houston’s stifling defense held the Knights to just six points over the last 8:16 of the first half. Fulks snapped the rally with a jumper at the 2:37 mark.

UCF shot 28% in the first half (7 of 25) and only hit 1-of-6 3-point attempts. The Cougars shot 44% in the first half and didn’t make a three in the opening 20 minutes but held a 20-6 edge on points in the paint, had six steals and forced seven UCF turnovers while maintaining a 23-15 rebounding advantage.

The Cougars only had three turnovers and took a 33-19 halftime lead.

In the early going, Houston reeled off a 6-0 run and took a 15-8 lead on Uzan’s alley-oop pass to Kalifa Sakho for a dunk. The Knights answered with a three by Kugel and a Bol dunk as UCF closed within 15-13 at the 8:16 mark.

In the second half, Burks hit a three to cut the Cougars’ lead to 37-27, the closest the Knights would get the rest of the way. Houston was red-hot in the second half as the team shot 66% from the field (20 of 30) and took control of the game with a 12-4 scoring spree as Uzan’s jumper led to a 51-31 lead with 13:27 to play.

For the game, UCF inched up to 30% shooting from the field and 28% (6 of 21) from distance. The Cougars shot 54% for the game, which made up for them only connecting on 3 of their 19 3-point attempts.

–Field Level Media