No one was exactly sure just what to expect when Villanova took the court for its BIG EAST Tournament quarterfinal game against Georgetown Thursday afternoon.
 
The Wildcats were already going to be without co-BIG EAST Player of the Year Collin Gillespie, who was lost to a torn MCL suffered in a late-season win over Creighton. Justin Moore? Who knew? The sophomore guard suffered a sprained ankle in Villanova’s regular-season finale loss to Providence and his status was up in the air right up until tipoff.
 
What was known was the Wildcats did still have Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, another of the BIG EAST’s Co-Players of the Year (Seton Hall’s Sandro Mamukelashvili was the third) and the services of savvy senior Jermaine Samuels.
 
All Wildcats’ head coach Jay Wright could hope was that his dynamic duo would be enough to stave off Georgetown’s upset bid and end Villanova’s hopes of a fourth straight tournament championship
 
But those hopes were dashed when Georgetown’s Dante Harris sank a pair of free throws with 4.2 seconds to play, and when Caleb Daniels desperation shot at the buzzer clanged off the rim for Villanova, the Hoyas had pulled off the upset and advanced to the BIG EAST Tournament semifinals for the first time since 2015.
 
To say it was an enormous victory for the Hoyas program might be understating it a bit.
 
“I’m extremely proud,” Hoyas head coach Patrick Ewing said. “A lot of people had counted us out. We struggled in the early part of the year. We were the last BIG EAST school to get back on campus so it took us some time to adjust. We had a lot of new faces on our team but I think the second half, after we came out of the Covid pause, I think everything clicked and jelled for us. I think guys have stepped up and embraced the challenge.”
 
After a tightly played first half that saw the Hoyas take a 37-35 lead into the half, Villanova began to flash the look of a team that was dead set on snatching its fourth-straight tournament crown. A 49-46 Villanova lead quickly surged to 61-50 after a three-ball by Moore with 8:51 to play. Yes, Moore did play, as he said he felt good enough in warmups to give it a go. He finished with 10 points before fouling out.
 
But as good as the tandem of Robinson-Earl and Samuels were (the two did combine for 46 points and 13 rebounds), the Wildcats saw their lead systemically trimmed by a Georgetown team that simply would not back down. In a span of just over three and a half minutes, the Hoyas went from that 11-point hole to a 63-62 lead with 5:05 to play after a three-pointer by Jahvon Blair and from there it was game on.
 
Villanova (16-6) did manage to bounce its lead back up to 70-65 with 1:25 to go after a three-pointer by Robinson-Earl and it appeared the Wildcats might escape the Garden with a narrow victory. But two free throws by Harris pulled the Hoyas within three. A three-point play by Qudus Wahab evened the score at 70-70 with 40.1 second remaining before Robinson-Earl hit one of two free throws for the Wildcats last lead.
 
That’s when Harris sank the final two free throws of the day for Georgetown, which set a tournament record by making all 23 of its free throws. And when Daniels’ final shot missed its mark, the Hoyas were in celebration mode and the champs were sent packing.
 
So what words of wisdom did Ewing have for his young guard as he stepped to the line for his game-winning shots?
 
“Make the free throws,” Ewing said. “We take a lot of free throws every day after practice to get ourselves prepared for moments like this. He stepped up and got the job done. He didn’t have a great offensive game for us (Wednesday) night but he backed it up today. He played great defense, he played great offense and was able to knock down two huge free throws to get us this win. He played 37 minutes, he had 18 points, he hit two huge free throws, (had) five assists and no turnovers. No turnovers. That’s huge. He’s growing up. He’s been playing magnificent for us.”
 
Harris said there were some butterflies as he stepped to the line and sank the first one after it rattled around the rim before dropping in.
 
“It kind of scared me a little bit but praise God it went in,” said Harris, who finished with a team-high 18 points. Wahab added 17 points and Blair (14) and Jamorko Pickett (12) also finished in double figures for Georgetown.
 
Villanova head coach Jay Wright thinks Georgetown might be building up some postseason steam after back-to-back wins in the tournament.
 
“It was a great college basketball game,” Wright said. “I thought they played really well and down the stretch it got down to a one-possession game and they executed those last two possessions better than us. I thought their guards were great. We had a tough time controlling Harris and Wahab was really tough, too. They’re a good team and playing good basketball at the right time of year.”