BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- Villanova coach Jay Wright is finally over his NCAA Tournament sniffles.
With a dominating 87-68 win over seventh-seeded Iowa in the South Regional on Sunday at the Barclays Center, second-seeded Villanova made it out of the second round of the tournament for the first time in six years.
"It's like if you have a cold and everybody keeps asking you, how's your cold? How's your cold? How are you doing?" Wright said. "After a while, you're like, I'm fine, you know.
"You know you've got to answer the question. I'm just relieved we don't have to answer the question honestly. It wasn't that big of a deal to us."
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Now Villanova (31-5) can concentrate on Miami when they meet Thursday in Louisville, Ky.
The Wildcats are headed to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2009 when they lost to eventual champion North Carolina in the semifinals.
"It's definitely a sigh of relief," said Villanova four-year starter Ryan Arcidiacono. "I just think the biggest thing is I'm honestly just done answering the questions about getting past the second weekend.
"I know it was always in the back of our senior's minds and our team. But we definitely can go all the way as long as we stick to what we do. If we defend like we did in the first half and stay solid like that, our offense will eventually come. I just think once we set the tone on the defensive end in rebounding, we can go as far as that takes us."
Iowa shot just 40 percent in the first half and trailed 54-29.
Josh Hart paced Villanova with 19 points. Arcidiacono added 16 points and Kris Jenkins had 15 points and six of the Wildcats' 23 assists. Jalen Brunson contributed 12 points.
Iowa (22-11) received 16 points from Jarrod Uthoff and 15 points from Nicholas Baer.
Iowa never got closer than 81-64 in the second half. The Hawkeyes led for only 1:28 in the first half.
"I was very proud of our guys in the second half as well as we played in the first half," Wright said. "We said at halftime that Iowa doesn't have to press us to speed this game up because they play so fast anyway."
The Wildcats extended their lead to 65-31 with an 11-2 burst in the first 3:56 of the second half.
Villanova was able to string together three significant runs for a 54-29 halftime lead. The last one was an 8-0 blitz over the last 1:21 of the half. Hart scored four of his 10 first-half points in the run.
In their first-round victory over Temple, Iowa did a nice job of taking care of the ball, committing just three turnovers. But in the first half against Villanova's zone, the Hawkeyes struggled, turning the ball over eight times and managing just 12 field goals. The Wildcats scored 12 point off the turnovers.
"Our close-outs weren't as crisp as they needed to be because they're a tough group to close out to because they'll rip a drive on you," said Iowa coach Fran McCaffery. "So we closed out a little bit short, and they were making threes. We had a couple of uncharacteristic turnovers that led to easy transition layups, and that was a big part of it as well."
Villanova was able to shoot through Iowa's zone, going 7 of 12 (58 percent) from 3-point range.
Villanova used the long ball in an 18-5 flurry to grab a 46-27, its largest lead to that point, with 3:50 left in the half. The Wildcats were 4-for-4 beyond the arc in the sequence. Phil Booth delivered two of the treys.
The Wildcats went on an 11-2 run to move out in front 24-15. Jenkins and Brunson each delivered a 3-pointer in the spurt.
Iowa committed two turnovers in the first four minutes of the game. The Hawkeyes turned the ball over just three times in their first-round win over Temple.
NOTES: Villanova and Iowa met once before in the NCAA Tournament, a 55-54 Villanova victory in the second round in 1983. ... Iowa recorded just three turnovers in the 72-70 overtime win over Temple in the first round, one off the NCAA Tournament record set by North Carolina in 1997. It had 13 turnovers against Villanova. ... The Hawkeyes average 10.2 turnovers per game while Villanova averages 11.1. ... Iowa F Jarrod Uthoff is the only player from a major conference to register at least 600 points, 200 rebounds and 80 blocks this season. ... Villanova's win over UNC Asheville in the first round was its 30th of the season, the third time in program history with at least 30 wins.
