No. 1 Villanova Cruises to Victory over Georgetown

The No. 1 Villanova Wildcats (17-1, 5-1 Big East) dominated the Georgetown Hoyas (12-7, 2-5 Big East) on Wednesday night, winning by a score of 88-56. Jalen Brunson led Villanova with 18 points and seven assists, while Mikal Bridges added 17 points in 18 minutes of playing time.

The Wildcats dominated from the opening tip, with Phil Booth and Eric Paschall connecting on consecutive 3-pointers on the team’s first two possessions. Omari Spellman drilled a short-range jumper shortly after, helping Villanova extend an 8-2 lead at the under-16 media timeout. The teams exchanged baskets for the next several minutes, with Jessie Govan and Marcus Derrickson leading the Georgetown attack. Midway through the half, the Hoyas managed to hang with the top-ranked Wildcats, and trailed by just seven points. Following another media timeout, however, Villanova ran riot from deep, unloading an 18-0 run in the following three minutes with six straight 3-pointers. Govan and Derrickson temporarily stopped the bleeding with a pair of buckets that brought the game within 21 points, 31-10, but that was as close as the Hoyas would get. Brunson and Donte DiVincenzo joined the 3-point party to close the half, giving Villanova a comfortable 42-20 lead at the half.

Not much changed in the second half, as Brunson and Bridges both hit 3-pointers in the opening three minutes, extending the lead to 52-22. Meanwhile, Govan and Derrickson struggled to get anything going. Govan scored just two points in the half on 1-4 shooting, while Derrickson managed four points on 1-4 shooting. With Georgetown’s two best players failing to score on offense, Villanova utilized a balanced attack to put the game to bed. Every Wildcat who played for more than three minutes in the half scored, with Brunson and Bridges leading the way with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

The Wildcats shot 33-of-55 on the night, including 17-33 from deep. In contrast, the Hoyas managed to convert on 22 of their 56 attempts from the field. Both teams struggled to take care of the ball, with Georgetown committing 17 turnovers to Villanova’s 16.

Villanova will travel north for a Jan. 20 date with former Big East foe UCONN (10-8, 3-3 American), while Georgetown will host St. John’s (10-8, 0-6 Big East) on the same day.

Records on Records!

Villanova set a program record for most 3-pointers made in a single game with 17.

Georgetown’s 32-point loss is the worst conference loss in program history, and the team’s first-ever 30+ point conference loss.

Wednesday night was the first time Georgetown lost a game by more than 40 points since Dec. 27, 1971, when they lost to Marquette by 44 points.