Villanova 67, No. 5 Georgetown 57: JayVaughn Pinkston scored 20 points as the host Wildcats picked up a critical win for their NCAA Tournament hopes and snapped the Hoyas’ 11-game winning streak.
Darrun Hilliard finished with 14 points, leading three other players in double figures, and Mouphtaou Yarou grabbed 12 rebounds for Villanova (19-12, 10-8 Big East), which improved to 4-1 at the Wells Fargo Center this season – including a 3-0 mark against top-five opponents.
Otto Porter Jr., led Georgetown (23-5, 13-4) in scoring for the fourth straight game with 17 points. The Hoyas committed a season-high 23 turnovers and allowed the Wildcats to shoot 47.1 percent from the field – the highest mark against Georgetown in the last 15 games.
The Hoyas used full-court pressure and forced two early Wildcats miscues to jump out to a 7-0 lead, but quickly fell behind 23-14 when they began to uncharacteristically turn the ball over. Georgetown matched its season average of 12 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.
Georgetown, which did not trail by more than nine points until the final minutes, twice closed to within one point in the second half but could never get over the hump as Villanova had an answer each time the Hoyas made it a one-possession game. The Wildcats converted only one field goal over the final 14:22, but hit 20 of their 26 free throws over that span to pull away.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Villanova, which entered Wednesday scoring a NCAA-high 27.6 percent of its points at the foul line, scored 44.8 percent of its points on free throws in this contest. The Wildcats finished 30-of-42 from the foul line. … Georgetown has notched three 11-game winning streaks under coach John Thompson, but has lost each of them on the road to a Big East opponent. … With his second rebound early in the first half, Yarou became the 10th player in Villanova history to score more than 1,000 points and grab at least 800 rebounds in his career.
Georgetown | Villanova | |
Otto Porter 17 | Scoring | JayVaughn Pinkston 20 |
Nate Lubick 5 | Assists | Ryan Arcidiacono 6 |
Nate Lubick 9 | Rebounds | Mouphtaou Yarou 12 |
Otto Porter 3 | Free Throws Made | JayVaughn Pinkston 11 |
Nate Lubick 2 | Steals | JayVaughn Pinkston 5 |
Mikael Hopkins 1 | Blocks | N/A |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Georgetown | 57 | 46.0 | 7-18 | 4-8 | 18 | 24 | 3 | 8 | 23 |
Villanova | 67 | 47.1 | 5-10 | 30-42 | 9 | 24 | 0 | 15 | 17 |