The Wildcats were off to a slow start on Friday night in Washington D.C., but pulled it together and pulled away from struggling Georgetown.
It seemed like it was just a matter of when the Villanova Wildcats would shake off their slow start.
Once they got rolling, thanks to Brendan Hausen jump-starting the ‘Cats with a three-point barrage, Villanova was able to take care of business against struggling Georgetown and pull away in the second half for a 70-54 victory on Friday night.
So far, throughout the month of February, the Wildcats have held each of their opponents to fewer than 57 points.
“Thought we came out with the right mindset, defended and rebounded at a high level, especially in spurts where we couldn’t make shots,” Villanova coach Kyle Neptune said. “We talk about taking pride in that. In a game where there were definitely times where we struggled to score, we locked in and got spots and I thought that was key for us.
“That’s what we have to hold our hat on moving forward. The last couple of games, we did what we needed to defensively, and I think we give ourselves a chance when we do that.”
The Wildcats only gave up five Georgetown free throws throughout the whole game, reinforcing the hard-nosed effort to clamp down on the Hoyas with disciplined effort.
“First half was good and second half, we had a couple of breakdowns here and there,” Villanova guard T.J. Bamba said. “So we can definitely keep getting better.”
On the scoring end, the ‘Cats stepped things up and closed things out in the second half.
An Eric Dixon dunk, followed by a Hakim Hart three-pointer made it 59-46, with 6:10 left in the game. The Wildcats maintained their double-digit lead until the final buzzer.
Villanova shot 16-of-27 (59.3%) overall and 6-of-14 (42.9%) from beyond the arc in the second half. The Wildcats closed the game strong, making all four of their final shot attempts of the game.
While Villanova had a slow start, it wasn’t a gargantuan hole it had to work out of. Neither team hit the 10-point mark for the game until more than nine minutes in, so the game was well in reach for the ‘Cats.
Once they got going with a barrage of Hausen three-pointers, Villanova never relinquished the lead.
The ‘Cats outscored the Hoyas 13-3 over the final seven minutes of the first half to take a 28-19 lead.
In the second half, the Hoyas managed to keep it a single-digit deficit, until Wildcats started to own the homestretch.
Bamba led the ‘Cats with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Hausen added 12 points and four boards off the bench. Eric Dixon had 11 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. Justin Moore chipped in 10 points.
Mark Armstrong suffered an ankle injury midway through the first half. He did try to return to the game and played five minutes in the second half.
“He actually twisted his ankle in walkthrough, believe it or not,” Neptune said. “I think he’ll be fine. Just a little ginger right now, but we’ve got a couple of days to rest and I think he’ll be fine.”
For Georgetown, Rowan Brumbaugh had 14 points and five assists off the bench. Jay Heath chipped in 12 points. Leading scorers Jayden Epps and Dontrez Styles were limited to 17 combined points on 6-of-27 shooting (22.2%). Supreme Cook had eight points and 11 rebounds.
Villanova improves to 14-11 overall and 7-7 in Big East play. The Wildcats will look to return above-.500 in conference action against the Butler Bulldogs on Tuesday. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET from Finneran Pavilion.