Philadelphia ? There was one thing everybody wanted to talk about after No. 4 Villanova’s 79-73 victory Monday over Louisville.

It wasn’t that the victory let the Wildcats match their best start in the Big East. It wasn’t that the loss dropped the Cardinals to an almost unimaginable 2-6 in their first season in the conference.

The topic of conversation was a six-minute stretch in the first half when three-pointers were as abundant in the Wachovia Center as mustard-covered pretzels.

“It was fun for us. For Louisville to be hitting threes like that, it wasn’t that fun,” said Allan Ray, who matched his season high with 26 points. “For us to be hitting it, it felt pretty good. Coming down on the other end and giving it up was kind of a bad feeling right there.”

In a three spree that would be hard to match if there was no defense being played, both teams hit nothing but three-pointers for a span of 5:54 in the first half.

Villanova made seven threes, and the Cardinals had five in the long-ball run, and nine of the shots accounted for a lead change.

Louisville coach Rick Pitino, one of the best in using the three-pointer to his team’s advantage, said “not really” when asked if he could remember a back-and-forth long-range shootout for that long a span.

Louisville's taquan dean (5) defends Villanova's Allan Ray in the second half. Ray scored 26 to Dean's 23 in the Wildcats' 79-73 victory over the Cardinals on Monday in Philadelphia.

The Wildcats (16-2, 7-1) twice seemed to have control of the game with a double-digit lead but the Cardinals (14-7, 2-6) pulled close twice before losing for the fifth time in six games.

As usual, Villanova relied on its guards. Mike Nardi had 20 points, and Randy Foye added 19.

Taquan Dean had 23 points and seven assists for Louisville, which was ranked seventh in the preseason and reached as high as No. 4 during the season but fell out of the Top 25 on Monday.

No. 20 Ohio State 95, Florida A&M 53

Columbus, Ohio – J.J. Sullinger matched his career high with 24 points, and Je’Kel Foster added 18 for Ohio State (15-3).