Villanova wins tussle over Georgetown

On Super Sunday, Villanova won a back-and-forth affair with Georgetown to avoid a two-game skid.

The Wildcats earned an 84-74 win over the Hoyas, who gave the Cats fits all afternoon. Though they were 13.5-point favorites, the Wildcats never led by more than 10 in the matchup and traded blows with their longtime adversary nearly all game long.

Jermaine Samuels stood out and shined brightly in the win. Samuels dropped 32 points and hit six 3-pointers, both standing as career highs for the senior. They toppled the 29 points and five 3-pointers that he hit against the Marquette Golden Eagles back on February 27, 2019. So it truly was a career day for Samuels, and he picked a heck of a time to do it.

Three others joined Samuels in double figures. Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Collin Gillespie and Justin Moore hit double digits, scoring 14, 12 and 10 respectively. Caleb Daniels came close, scoring eight points while Cole Swider added six of his own.

In the losing effort, the Hoyas played hard and pretty darn well. Moral victories ain’t much of a thing, but after winning at Creighton earlier in the week, the Hoyas came out with an aggressive mindset in this one against Villanova. Four players got into double figures, with Jahvon Blair leading the charge with 18. Qudus Wahab played extremely well, scoring 17 points on an 8-for-11 mark from the floor. Jamorko Pickett and breakout star Chudier Bile each added 12 points and Donald Carey finished just shy of the mark with eight. Dante Harris chipped seven of his own in, but no other Hoyas were able to get on the board.

Villanova is cruising along, with the loss at St. John’s a mere slip up at this point. They have a big week ahead of them though, with games against Marquette and Creighton on the ledger. The Hoyas, meanwhile, draw Creighton as well on Tuesday in a rematch and then Butler come Saturday.