Villanova cruises past East Tennessee State

LAST SEASON, Kris Jenkins had to wait his turn.

The 6-6, 240-pound forward averaged 6.3 points and two rebounds in 18.6 minutes per game as he spent his sophomore season behind seniors JayVaughn Pinkston and leading-scorer Darrun Hilliard on a Villanova team that won 33 games and the Big East regular-season championship.

Now, the junior from Upper Marlboro, Md., is one of coach Jay Wright's starters and a go-to scorer, and he's taking full advantage of his increased opportunities.

Jenkins celebrated his 22nd birthday Friday night at the Pavilion with a season-high 17 points on 7-for-13 shooting in 25 minutes of action as the No. 11 Wildcats recorded their ninth consecutive 3-0 regular-season start with a rout of East Tennessee State, 86-51.

"We won, so it was (a good birthday present)," Jenkins said.

Jenkins said the change in playing time this season hasn't affected his mindset.

"It's just a different role, but the same mindset," Jenkins said. "Just come in and do whatever the team needs . . . just play hard, work, focus on defense and rebounding and everything else will follow."

Last season, the Wildcats had six players who averaged at least nine points per game: Hilliard (14.3), Josh Hart (10.1), Ryan Arcidiacono (10.1), Dylan Ennis (9.9), Pinkston (9.7) and Daniel Ochefu (9.2).

Wright lost Hilliard to graduation and Ennis to transfer (Oregon), but his 2015-16 squad might be even deeper than last season's group, with the rise of Jenkins and sophomore guard Phil Booth, and the addition of highly touted freshmen Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo and Mikal Bridges.

"It's a different depth this year," Wright said. "It's an offensive depth this year, where last year I thought we had a defensive depth, because JayVaughn Pinkston was so good defensively and Darrun Hilliard was so good defensively and Dylan was so good defensively that we could mix in Kris, Josh . . . those guys would bring us offense."

"The good thing is Donte and Mikal and Darryl (Reynolds), they bring us defense . . . that's pretty cool. They just have to get more experience."

Jenkins and Booth highlighted the second half for Villanova, as both notched 10 points in the final frame, going a combined 8-for-11 from the field. Booth, who averaged 5.8 points last season, scored a season-high 16 points on 5-for-11 shooting, in addition to five rebounds and an assist.

Brunson led the freshman trio with nine points and five assists in 28 minutes, while Bridges and DiVincenzo combined for 11 points and six rebounds.

The under-the-radar performer of the night was Ochefu, who scored 12 points and grabbed a season-high 16 rebounds. The senior center has a recorded a double-double in all three games this season.

"It's always a team rebounding effort, but I always tell them that I got them, regardless," Ochefu said. "It's definitely big for us, grabbing as many boards as possible."

After going down, 9-4, Villanova used a 31-2 run paced by a 4-for-4 start from Hart to take a 35-11 lead. The Wildcats headed into halftime leading, 49-27.

Arcidiacono, who started and played seven minutes in the first half, came to life in the second frame, scoring all 11 of his points on 4-for-4 shooting from the field and 3-for-3 from beyond the arc as Villanova extended its lead to 71-35 by the 12-minute mark in the second half.

The Wildcats shot over 50 percent (32-for-63) and knocked down 14 of their 34 three-point attempts.

"We don't really look at the numbers, but we definitely give them the green light," Wright said. "We have a lot of good shooters, and if these guys are open from three, we want them to shoot it."

East Tennessee State (2-1) struggled mightily on the offensive end, shooting 19 of 59 from the field for game and turning the ball over 17 times, compared with Villanova's 14. Junior guard T.J. Cromer led the Buccaneers in defeat with 12 points.