Duane Washington Jr. scored 11 of his 14 points in the first three minutes as No. 16 Ohio State jumped to a double-digit lead before cruising to a 76-51 win over No. 10 Villanova in Columbus, Ohio, on Wednesday.

D.J. Carton and Luther Muhammad added 11 points apiece, and CJ Walker and Kaleb Wesson scored 10 each for the Buckeyes (3-0), who led by as many as 27 points in the first half, after opening on a 19-3 run.

Jermaine Samuels led Villanova (1-1) with 14 points. Cole Swider had 11 and Collin Gillespie had 10 points and five assists.

Villanova trailed by 27 until a 9-0 run in the final 1:49 of the first half drew the Wildcats within 40-22 at the break. That was as close as the Wildcats would get, and their deficit reached 30 with 8:34 left.

The matchup was part of the Gavitt Tipoff Games between the Big Ten and Big East and honors Dave Gavitt, founder of the Big East.

Ohio State is 3-0 in the event, and the Wildcats are 2-2. Villanova lost at home to Michigan last season, 73-46.

Villanova played for the first time in Columbus, although this is the fourth meeting a series OSU leads 3-1.

The Buckeyes raced to a 9-0 lead on a pair of threes by Washington and another trey from Walker, before Jeremiah Robinson-Earl hit a 3-pointer for Villanova.

But that was not a deterrent to the hot-shooting Buckeyes, who led 17-3 at the 17:00 mark. Washington had 11 of those points and had made three of his four 3-point attempts.

The Buckeyes did their damage without Wesson, whose first basket made it 21-5 with 14:40 left before intermission.

Ohio State went on 9-0 run over a 5-minute span to take 36-10 lead on Muhammad's 3-pointer with 6:33 to go. At that point, the Buckeyes had made 14 of 20 from the floor, while Villanova was 3 of 19.

--Field Level Media