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Georgetown smothers No. 4 Villanova in 20-point upset
- Updated: January 20, 2015
Georgetown beat Villanova — ranked No. 4 in the country — to move into first place in the Big East, a victory some students deemed worthy of a court-storming.
Coach John Thompson III felt it was a bit over the top.
“The kids, the fans, the students watch a lot of TV, so they’re excited, they storm the court,” Thompson said. “Yeah, I probably wish they hadn’t done that.”
That said, the rush of humanity following Monday night’s 78-58 win wasn’t close to the endless sea of bobbing heads that has accompanied some of the Hoyas’ landmark victories at the Verizon Center. After all, this was a regular-season game against a familiar rival.
Still, it was a big result — one that likely will put Georgetown back into the Associated Press Top 25. The Hoyas took it to the Wildcats in an old-fashioned, push-and-shove match worthy of the conference’s legacy of physical play, forcing 17 turnovers and holding Villanova to 34 percent shooting.
“That’s a team that puts you in a bind in so many ways, and they had an off night,” Thompson said. “We had a lot to do with them having an off night, but they weren’t at their best tonight.”
Freshman Isaac Copeland, whose 3-pointer in the final seconds beat Butler on Saturday, scored a career-high 17 points against the Wildcats, and D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera also had 17 for the Hoyas (13-5, 5-2), who pulled away early with a 17-0 run on the way to a 42-20 halftime lead. Georgetown shot 60 percent in the first half and 51 percent for the game to move a half game ahead of Villanova (17-2, 4-2).
Ryan Arcidiacono scored 16 points for the Wildcats, including three 3-pointers that helped cut the second-half deficit from 26 to 12. The score was 62-50 with eight minutes remaining, but the Hoyas responded with a 6-0 run capped by a long jumper from Copeland.
“We played a team that we couldn’t overcome,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “We’ve done this before, got down, got a little sloppy offensively, and we’ve been able to overcome it. This team is too good, this atmosphere was too good, to overcome playing like that.”
The teams combined to commit 50 fouls, with multiple bodies crashing onto the floor on multiple occasions. Villanova’s Daniel Ochefu fouled out with 4:13 to play and only four points to his credit — quite the comedown from his career-high 21 against Penn on Saturday.
Villanova’s only previous loss this season came in overtime against Seton Hall, but the Wildcats couldn’t find an open look against the Hoyas’ defense in the first half. JayVaughn Pinkston had the ball stolen out of his hands by Jabril Trawick, leading to a 3-pointer by Smith-Rivera in transition. Ochefu missed layups in traffic. In the first possession out of a timeout, Pinkston drove baseline and stepped out of bounds.
The Wildcats went more than seven minutes without a point as the Hoyas built a 30-11 lead.
“Losing was not a surprise,” Wright said. “The way we played was a surprise.”
