Villanova Puts On Pesky Defensive Performance in Win Over Hoyas

VILLANOVA, Pa.— Villanova Men’s Basketball’s aggressive defense powered a 66-51 win over Georgetown at the Finneran Pavilion on Wednesday, Jan. 21, with the Wildcats forcing 17 turnovers in the first 30 minutes.

Those plays created 20 points for the Wildcats (15-4, 5-2 Big East). Georgetown entered play attempting just 33.5 percent of their shots from deep, but they tried to test Villanova’s shaky three-point defense early, taking ten of their first 16 shots from beyond the arc and making four of them.

Trailing 23-22 with two minutes to play in the first half after making just six of their first 28 shots, Villanova scored four quick points before the half on layups from Devin Askew and Acaden Lewis (15 points). Their hot shooting continued out of the break, when they made seven of their first eight shots, taking control of the game with a 20-1 run.

Georgetown head coach Ed Cooley called a pair of timeouts during the Wildcats’ run. A Bryce Lindsay three provoked the second, after which the Hoyas’ man-to-man defense began to slow Villanova down. Another Lindsay triple snapped a three minute scoreless streak, and Askew forced Cooley to burn his final timeout with another three, this one capping a 4-for-4 streak for the Wildcats and pushing their lead to 55-31.

The break slowed Villanova’s roll, sparking a 10-0 Hoyas run that cut the lead to 14, forcing a timeout from Kevin Willard soon thereafter, but the Wildcats managed to put Georgetown away without any further drama.

Villanova will return to action at No. 2 UConn, with that game set to begin at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 24.