VILLANOVA, Pa. – Villanova was never in danger of losing at home to the College of Charleston.

But the No. 2-ranked Wildcats showed some rustiness and fatigue in what wound up being a scrappy, grinding 16-point victory against an overmatched nonconference opponent.

Villanova was playing its sixth game in 13 days and still found a way to win. Again.

Josh Hart had 13 points and 11 rebounds, Kris Jenkins added 11 points and No. 2-ranked Villanova defeated the College of Charleston 63-47 on Wednesday night.

"It was not a pretty game," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "I've got to give College of Charleston a lot of credit. They play a controlled tempo and they handle the ball well, have tough guards. It was just not a team we could put away."

Mikal Bridges and Eric Paschall contributed eight points each for the Wildcats (6-0).

Hart, the reigning Big East Player of the Week, played 35 minutes and lifted the team down the stretch.

"It's the beginning of the year and this team still has a lot to learn," said Hart, who was 4 of 7 from the field. "It's one of those games where we can definitely learn from down the road."

Jenkins, who hit the winning shot in the national championship game last year against North Carolina, didn't start because he missed a class. Paschall got the start in his place, though Jenkins didn't sit for long, coming in just 3:07 into the game.

Guard Phil Booth also missed his third straight game with tendinitis in his left knee.

Jarrell Brantley led the College of Charleston (3-3) with 18 points and seven rebounds.

"It's a good way to learn," Brantley said. "They're a really good team and do a lot of things right. It will only help."

No other player reached double figures for the Cougars, who dropped their third in a row after opening the season with three straight wins. This loss will surely pay dividends in the future.

"My thought process coming into this game is it's the ultimate challenge," College of Charleston coach Earl Grant said. "You get to play against the best team in college basketball. They won the championship last year and until someone beats them this year, they're still the champion. They're ranked No. 2.

"I thought it would be perfect in terms of the type of the arena the Pavilion was. It's only 6,000 seats so it's similar to some of the CAA schools in terms of size. So I thought a lot of positives for us to come in and play this game."

Charleston scored the first four points of the second half to close within 35-25 before Villanova responded with a clutch 10-0 run. Four different Villanova players scored during the surge.

From there, Villanova held on to a comfortable double-digit lead on its way to another home victory -- even if it wasn't an easy task.

"We found a way to gut it out," Wright said. "We just got into an ugly game."

The game was close for about 10 minutes as Villanova was misfiring on offense and the College of Charleston went through a stretch with only four made field goals and eight turnovers.

Leading 22-14, the Wildcats ripped off an 8-0 run with 3-pointers by Hart and Jenkins. Bridges knocked down a short jumper for a 34-18 advantage with 1:57 remaining and they went into the locker room leading 35-21.

NOTES: Villanova won its 41st consecutive game at The Pavilion, its on-campus arena. ... Villanova now leads the all-time series with College of Charleston 2-1. ... The Cougars were picked fourth in the preseason Colonial Athletic Association poll. ... In the past three-plus seasons, the Wildcats are 25-0 in November. ... This was the fourth time in program history that the College of Charleston faced the defending national champion with the last time occurring in 2014-15 against Connecticut.