Villanova celebrated Senior Night with a bang, defeating Georgetown 75-47 in their last regular season game in the Finneran Pavilion on Tuesday, Feb. 27.
The win leaves Villanova with an overall record of 16-12 and moves its conference record just above the .500 mark to 9-8.
In a historic Big East rivalry that goes back decades, the Wildcats added a seventh straight win in their history against the Hoyas.
“There’s some great players here. Coming down the stretch, we need as many teams in that tournament as we can that represent the Big East, and the Big East is a monster,” Georgetown head coach Ed Cooley said. “We played [Villanova] twice. They’re as good as anybody we’ve played in this league. They have physicality, shotmakers, and direction. Villanova is heading in the right direction, and I’ll be cheering for them to get to the tournament.”
Although senior guard TJ Bamba led the ‘Cats in scoring in the Feb. 17 win against the Hoyas, his team was forced to go without him due to a facial fracture. Junior guard Jordan Longino also missed the game due to a non-COVID illness.
Filling Bamba’s shoes and leading scoring for the night was redshirt senior forward Eric Dixon, who secured 22 points. Following closely behind was graduate guard Justin Moore, who had 14 points, which mainly came from his four three-pointers.
“I think [Moore] has been great for the last six or seven games defensively,” head coach Kyle Neptune said. “Look what he’s done. I think he really keeps us together. I’m definitely never surprised when he makes shots.”
Sophomore guard Mark Armstrong finished with 12 points and a career high six assists. To round out the starting five, graduate guard Hakim Hart and graduate forward Tyler Burton also finished with double digits.
“I think every player has been a starter at this level and has contributed to big time basketball. That’s our entire roster,” head coach Kyle Neptune said. “So we have the utmost confidence that anyone who goes in to execute our game plan.”
For most of the first half, the two teams competed in a three point contest, with both teams gaining almost all of their points behind the arc. Nevertheless, the shooting momentum leaned heavily in favor of the ‘Cats, who put on a clinic, going 14-27 (51.9%) from the field and 9-16 (56.3%) for three pointers by the end of the half.
Besides three pointers, on defense Dixon and Burton were effective in limiting the Hoyas big men in the paint, with Burton collecting eight rebounds on the game and marking his 1,000th rebound in his career.
“I was really proud of the way our guys came out defensively,” Neptune said. “I think we, probably more than any game this year, came out and set the tone. I thought we kept it up for the full forty minutes. I think that’s what we have to continue to do.”
And despite the on-court fight that broke out in the waning seconds over a hard offensive foul committed by Georgetown, Villanova went into the locker room with a large 43-19 lead.
Coming into the second half as the three pointers cooled down, Dixon used his skills down low and on the free throw line to give the ‘Cats buckets as the Hoyas tried to chip away at their constantly growing deficit.
“[Dixon] is one of our one of our main threats, always, so we always like to get him the ball,” Neptune said. “I thought he just made great decisions in [the paint]. He shared the ball, attacked at times. And when he’s playing like that it makes it tough.”
But throughout the last minutes of the game it was clear that Georgetown was running out of steam with a streak of missed shots and over ten turnovers. This allowed for easy steals, buckets and more three pointers for Villanova as they closed out the game with an almost thirty point lead. In the last minute, graduate guard Colin O’Toole got his chance on the court to the uproar of fans who wanted to celebrate the former practice player on his birthday.
Overall, Villanova went 25-47 (53.2%) for field goals and 13-27 (48.1%) for three pointers.
Next up, Villanova will face off against Providence on Saturday, March 2 in Providence, RI. When the two teams matched off about a month ago, the Wildcats took the win over the Friars, 68-50.
Tip-off is set for noon.The game will be broadcast on Fox.
