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The Big East Tournament has produced some stunners thus far. That trend continued Thursday afternoon when the Georgetown Hoyas upset the top-seeded Villanova Wildcats.
Georgetown’s 72-71 victory over the Wildcats snapped a lengthy Big East Tourney win streak that ‘Nova piled up. This was the first loss the Cats had suffered in the BET since all the way back in the 2016 tournament final to Seton Hall. Georgetown’s win also continued a trend, as every lower-seeded squad has won through the first four games of the event.
The Hoyas powered themselves to victory thanks to a dominant showing at the FT line. They went a staggering 23-for-23 at the line, making every single opportunity they had count. In a close game like this, there’s no telling just how much of a difference that made. And it certainly showed itself to be a big factor in the final decision.
What’s more, Villanova built up a 10-point lead with roughly 10 minutes to play. The Hoyas chipped and chipped away at that lead, and gained control with 5:07 remaining. ‘Nova answered though, and eventually propelled themselves up by five with 1:29 left. But four made free throws by Dante Harris, and a dunk and a free throw by Qudus Wahab helped lift them to a win.
The Hoyas got 18 points from the aforementioned Harris, and 17 from Wahab. Jahvon Blair scored 14 points this afternoon, and Jamorko Pickett chipped in 12. Donald Carey finished one point shy of double figures with nine.
Villanova got 26 points out of Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, 20 out of Jermaine Samuels, and 10 from Justin Moore. Elsewhere, scoring was very hard to come by. Eric Dixon had six, but no one else had more than three. The Wildcats, without Collin Gillespie, have some issues that unfortunately seem to be surfacing. Whether that spells doom for them in the NCAA Tournament? Yet to be seen.
What we do know is Georgetown is now one step away from the Big East Tournament final. They will face the winner of Seton Hall-St. John’s on Friday night.