Philadelphia, PA (My Sportsbook) - Villanova didn't need a half to get in a groove Saturday, using Dante Cunningham's 18 points and 10 rebounds to set the tone in an 89-69 rout of UCLA that earned the third-seeded Wildcats a trip to the Sweet 16.

Villanova (28-7) trailed upstart 14th-seeded American by 14 points in the second half of a East Region first-round contest on Thursday, but battled back to withstand the upset bid.

There was no comeback needed Saturday.

Corey Fisher was another of six Wildcats in double figures with 13 points, while Reggie Redding also scored 13 and Corey Stokes added 12. Villanova's point total was the most surrendered by the Bruins this season.

The Wildcats will meet the winner of Duke/Texas in an East Regional semifinal at TD Banknorth Garden in Boston next week.

Josh Shipp led sixth-seeded UCLA (26-9) with 18 points, while Darren Collison added 15. Nikola Dragovic donated 11 for the Bruins, who last led at 6-5 and saw an early 9-9 tie turn into a 20-9 deficit.

A pair of hard fouls in the paint sent a message and set the game's first-half tempo. Twice, the Wildcats fouled driving Bruins hard in the lane, then took that physicality to the offensive end, drawing two fouls on UCLA's starting center Alfred Aboya in the first 2:43.

With the Bruins big man on the bench, the Wildcats scored 22 first-half points in the paint, but still did plenty of damage on the perimeter. Villanova hit 8-of-12 shots to start the contest, and capped an 11-0 spurt on Stokes' straight-on three.

After a Bruins basket, Stokes and Redding drained consecutive long-distance jumpers, pushing the Wildcats to a 26-11 edge on the heels of an 8-of-9 shooting stretch. Aboya picked up his third foul with 6:52 left in the half, and Villanova grabbed two of its eight first-half offensive rebounds during one possession, which ended with Scottie Reynolds' three from the left corner for a 41-26 lead.

One of those rebounds came from Dwayne Anderson, who grabbed 11 of them to go with 10 points. Villanova pulled down 16 offensive rebounds on the contest.

UCLA had just one more field goal (9) than turnovers (8) in the first half. Villanova took a 44-31 advantage into the locker and didn't relinquish that momentum once play resumed.

Cunningham's putback gave Villanova the second half's first five points for a 49-31 margin, and Fisher scored five straight points of his own a few minutes later to push the lead to 56-35.

UCLA never mounted a serious threat throughout the second half. The margin was trimmed to 16 points but quickly bounced back up to 21 at 66-45 on a transition three from Stokes. Cunningham followed with a thunderous slam in traffic for a 68-45 lead. UCLA cut the deficit back to 18, but Reynolds scored twice near the rim in transition to up the advantage to 76-53 -- and if not before -- the rout was on.

Game Notes

The Wildcats shot 46.3 percent from the floor, while UCLA made 42.6 percent of its shots...The Bruins committed 20 turnovers...Villanova held a 41-28 rebounding advantage...UCLA ended its streak of three consecutive Final Four appearances...The programs have now split four lifetime meetings.