PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Villanova coach Jay Wright and his third-ranked Wildcats are looking forward to getting senior big man Daniel Ochefu back from his battle with a concussion.

In the meantime, junior Darryl Reynolds is doing just fine.

"I thought Darryl was just a force inside," Wright said after Reynolds destroyed his previous career-high with 19 points and 10 rebounds to help the Wildcats to a 72-60 Big East victory over No. 11 Providence -– avenging a home loss at the hands of the Friars less than two weeks ago.

"In practice he does it, Wright said of Reynolds, whose previous career high was six points. "No one on our team is surprised."

Ochefu, who could be back as early as Tuesday night at DePaul, has missed the last three games. Reynolds, who goes at it with Ochefu in practice every day, has 32 rebounds in the three games.

"What we've been telling Daniel is that part of Daniel's development is going against Darryl every day," Wright said. "A lot of times the games are easier for Daniel than practice because of Daniel."

Reynolds scored four points in each of his first two games as a starter, then went 9-for-10 from the floor and had his third and fourth blocked shots of the last three games.

The Wildcats, who have won 12 of their last 13 games to go to 20-3 (10-1 in the Big East), have won all three games.

"It obviously feels good, but I do miss our senior leader and when he gets back the goal is to keep it going," Reynolds said.

The Wildcats, whose 31-game home winning streak was stopped by Providence on Jan. 24, scored the game's first 10 points and built a 19-point lead in the first half. They saw a 15-point second half lead shrink, but only down to five.

After the game, Wright made it clear that a major factor in the game was the limitation of Providence forward Ben Bentil.

The conference's leading scorer, who had 31 points in the game in Philadelphia, Bentil didn't start because of a sprained right ankle, and his team was down 10-0 when he came in. He battled his way to 20 points but grabbed only two rebounds.

Guard Josh Hart added 14 points and 13 boards for Villanova, Wright saying that even though it wasn't Hart's best scoring game that it was "probably his best game as a Villanova basketball player."

Providence (18-6, 6-5) lost its second straight and third in the last four games.

"Right now I'm more concerned about our team's psyche more so than anything because we haven't played well the last two times," coach Ed Cooley of Providence said.

The Friars, starting their comeback with under eight minutes left, snapped a seven-minute field-goal drought with three 3-pointers in a 1:16 span to cut the lead to six with 5:56 remaining.

But the Wildcats did what they had to do to escape.

Senior guard Ryan Arcidiacono scored 16 points, nine of them late, and forward Kris Jenkins added 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Wildcats.

Providence guard Chris Dunn, who had 13 points and 14 assists in the win at Villanova, followed a 5-for-20 shooting night at DePaul with 4-for-15 in this game, scoring 11 points.

"I think he's trying to do a little too much sometimes," Cooley said. "I think he's putting a lot of pressure on himself. I think there's so many external pressures that he is dealing with as an individual, everything that's coming at him (the NBA, national college honors, etc.) and could be coming at him a thousand miles an hour right now -- hopefully I can do a better job of trying to ease some of his stress, some of his thoughts."

The Friars, outrebounded 48-24 at DePaul, were again dominated on the boards -- Villanova with a 46-29 rebound total.

Bentil was limited to 14 minutes in the loss at DePaul and was a game-time decision. He told his coach he was ready to go.

NOTES: Villanova has reached 20 wins under Jay Wright in 11 of the last 12 seasons. ... This was the 96th meeting between the schools, a series that started in 1926. ... Villanova was 11-of-11 from the foul line in the game. ... Providence visits Marquette on Wednesday night and goes to Milwaukee 0-9 all-time. Marquette beat the Friars in Providence on Jan. 5, on Wednesday night. ... Providence honored the reunion of the 1975-76 team, the last Providence team in the top 10 before this one.