In their history against Providence, the Wildcats have won only eight times in Rhode Island. The losses have come in all shapes and sizes, from strange to heartbreaking to blowouts.

When the 'Cats finally won here 2 years ago, their charter flight encountered hair-raising troubles, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing.

This year, the Dunkin' Donuts Center could be the place the Wildcats came alive.

As much as fans will circle Saturday's exciting win against Texas as the turning point of this season, beating Providence, 82-73, last night was bigger. For a young team to come off the emotional high of shutting down Kevin Durant and endure the nastiest that the Big East has to offer in terms of atmosphere and not one, not two, but three charges from the Friars and emerge victorious says a lot about where the Wildcats, in the midst of a three-game win streak, are going.

"It says a lot to where their heads are at," said senior Mike Nardi, who, along with classmates Will Sheridan and Curtis Sumpter are the only Villanova players to have played at Providence. "They're young, and you can kind of get caught up in the hype a little bit.

"We're not in the Top 25 this week, but people are starting to talk, because we beat some good teams. But we just as a whole treated this as a business trip, and it was business."

Equally important is that in the wacky Big East, where Connecticut on Monday got blasted at Louisville and both Syracuse and Notre Dame went down swinging at St. John's this week, the Wildcats (14-5, 3-3 Big East) have established a road identity.

They are now 7-2 away from home overall, 2-2 on the road in the league. That might not sound like much, but considering only five of the conference's 16 teams have winning records on the road, it's something.

"Villanova hasn't had a lot of success here at Providence,'' coach Jay Wright said. "Our younger guys had no idea how hard it was to play here. They were like, 'OK, we're playing Providence.' As much film as they watched, they didn't play here last year, so they didn't know, but I think they got it.''

Playing with only half a Sumpter - Wright likened his senior, dealing with a deep bruise on his tibia, to legendary New York Knick Willis Reed - the Wildcats did something perhaps even more impressive than holding Durant to one point in the second half. They outrebounded the Big East's best team on the boards, 33-23, including 15 offensive rebounds that led to 14 second-chance points, this despite the fact that Sumpter was limited to 16 minutes and Shane Clark and Dante Cunningham each had two fouls before the first television timeout.

It was a stat that Providence coach Tim Welsh harped on over and over during his postgame news conference, almost wondering aloud how in the world that just happened.

"They didn't have any one guy who jumped out at you,'' Welsh said of Villanova, which split the bulk of its rebounding among Clark (six), Sheridan (six) and Cunningham (five). "But they all did it. They gang rebounded.''

If that one didn't stop the coach in his tracks, this one surely did: Providence shot 55 percent from the floor . . . and lost.

Much of that was due to the 'Cats' edge on the boards. The other half came from the turnovers. Villanova forced 22, denying the Friars much-needed possessions.

Still, Providence had more than one chance to win. The Friars mounted their first attack in the first half, soaring on a 22-8 rampage to take a late lead. They came back again midway through the second, turning a 13-point deficit into a five-point hole and finally, with less than 4 minutes to play, pushed one last time, cutting Villanova's 76-65 advantage to 76-72 when Herbert Hill picked off an inbounds pass for a breakaway dunk with 1:37 to play.

That usually would be the point where things went downhill in this state for Villanova. But like the last group to win here - the one that featured Randy Foye and Allan Ray (who was in the house with Celtics teammates Ryan Gomes and Sebastian Telfair) in their junior season - this team is starting to show some nerve.

Cunningham made one of two free throws with 1:03 to play, and when the Friars foolishly went for the splash instead of the sure thing, trying to convert an alley- oop pass to Geoff McDermott, Sheridan pulled in the rebound and Cunningham finished the break on the other end, throwing down a reverse jam.

Along with what the stats revealed about Providence, they also showed a glimmer of why Villanova suddenly is winning. The Wildcats scored 40 points in the paint and 24 beyond the arc, an inside-outside balance even Andy Reid could appreciate.

Nardi and Scottie Reynolds, quickly becoming a backcourt to be reckoned with, scored 19 and 20, respectively, with Reynolds playing all 40 minutes and Nardi enjoying a 1-minute reprieve.

Sumpter, who will still be day-to-day come Saturday's game at Notre Dame, smirked when asked about his newest injury. After two ACL injuries, this is no big deal.

"I'm getting used to it,'' he said. "I was fine. I mean, I'm not my normal self but whatever it takes to get the win.'' *