To have a run such as Villanova had over the past five days – knocking off a pair of top five teams – takes special performances, not from just one player but from several.

The Wildcats boasted a long list of standouts Saturday in their 75-71 overtime victory Saturday over third-ranked Syracuse at the Wells Fargo Center, with sophomore Darrun Hilliard, junior James Bell, senior Mouphtaou Yarou and freshman Ryan Arcidiacono all deserving.

Hilliard set the tone early in Villanova’s 10-0 run with seven points and finished with career highs of 25 points, seven rebounds, six assists and 38 minutes, with zero turnovers. Bell came alive in overtime with eight points, including back-to-back three-point baskets that gave his team the lead for good.

The phrase, “You never know what’s going to happen in college basketball on any given night” may sound like a cliché, but it certainly applies if you follow Villanova.

Last week on its home court at the Pavilion, the Wildcats played even with Pittsburgh for much of the game before the Panthers crushed them with a 15-0 run in the final five minutes. Three days later at Providence, the Wildcats played decently but fouled too much, turned the ball over too much and wound up losing a winnable game.

So taking those two games into account, one went into Tuesday night feeling Villanova didn’t have a chance against Louisville. The fifth-ranked Cardinals, a legitimate Final Four contender, own a pressing defense that suffocates a team that is skittish in handling the basketball, and possess one of the best backcourt tandems in the nation.

 It’s no secret that Villanova coach Jay Wright has asked much of freshman Ryan Arcidiacono, having him run the point game after game, now against tougher opponents in the Big East Conference.

The 6-foot-3 rookie from Langhorne and Neshaminy High School struggled for the second straight game Wednesday night as the Wildcats went ice cold in the final 5-plus minutes and lost 58-43 to Pittsburgh at the Pavilion.

Arcidiacono connected on only 2 of 10 attempts from the field overall, and made just 1 of his 7 tries from three-point range, scoring five points while turning the ball over six times. Counting the Wildcats’ loss last Saturday to Syracuse, he has 12 points and 12 turnovers in his last two games.

It’s no secret that Villanova coach Jay Wright has asked much of freshman Ryan Arcidiacono, having him run the point game after game, now against tougher opponents in the Big East Conference.

The 6-foot-3 rookie from Langhorne and Neshaminy High School struggled for the second straight game Wednesday night as the Wildcats went ice cold in the final 5-plus minutes and lost 58-43 to Pittsburgh at the Pavilion.

Arcidiacono connected on only 2 of 10 attempts from the field overall, and made just 1 of his 7 tries from three-point range, scoring five points while turning the ball over six times. Counting the Wildcats’ loss last Saturday to Syracuse, he has 12 points and 12 turnovers in his last two games.

Saturday may have marked Villanova’s final appearance at the Carrier Dome, as Syracuse is leaving the Big East after this season to join the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Wright paid tribute to Syracuse and its basketball program after the game for its role in Big East history.

“I said it to our alumni group I spoke to before the game,” he said. “I would have to say, Syracuse University, Jim Boeheim, Syracuse basketball has probably meant more to the Big East than all of us because we all get to come up and play here. We all get to go to the Garden with all the Syracuse fans. It’s probably meant more to the league than any single program.

It’s fair to say Mouphtaou Yarou did not play well toward the end of Villanova’s nonconference schedule. In fact, he was becoming a forgotten man, averaging less than 17 minutes over a four-game period while remaining in the starting lineup.

However, the 6-foot-10 senior has been rejuvenated with the start of the Big East season, posting double-doubles in his last two games, including 11 points and 14 rebounds in Saturday’s 72-61 loss to No. 7 Syracuse at the Carrier Dome.

“I thought he was a warrior, man. I’m so proud of him,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said after the game.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Villanova couldn’t find the same type of magic Saturday that it had carried into its recent trips to the Carrier Dome. Then again, the Syracuse zone defense wouldn’t allow it to happen.

The Wildcats shot poorly throughout the game and the seventh-ranked Orange blew the game open with a 17-4 second-half run to defeat Villanova, 72-61, in a Big East game before a crowd of 27,586 and ended the visitors’ seven-game winning streak.

The Wildcats (11-5, 2-1 Big East) had won on three of its last four visits to the Carrier Dome but managed to shoot just 31.5 percent Saturday and committed 16 turnovers.

Currently on a four-game winning streak, Villanova will meet NJIT on Friday night at the Pavilion, its final game before the start of its Big East schedule.

The Wildcats (8-4) are coming off an 83-56 victory over Monmouth on Saturday night, a game that saw them shoot better than 68 percent from three-point range where they made 15 of 22 shots. The team shot almost 55 percent overall.

Sophomore forward JayVaughn Pinkston, now Villanova’s sixth man, leads the team in scoring at 12.4 points per game. He is followed by junior forward James Bell at 11.5 and freshman point guard Ryan Arcidiacano at 11.1.

While it’s hard to believe that Villanova is through with its City Series schedule already, the Wildcats have used their matchups against Big Five opponents to make some progress.

One of those positive signs took place Tuesday night when the Cats scored the game’s final nine points to defeat St. Joseph’s, 65-61, at the Pavilion, and finish City play with a 2-2 record.

Sixteen days earlier, in its Big Five opener at La Salle, Villanova held a four-point lead with 36 seconds to play in regulation and again with 2 minutes remaining in overtime but was not crisp in its execution down the stretch, and suffered a 77-74 defeat.