Box Score | Georgetown Quotes | Villanova Quotes
By SEAN BRENNAN
Special to BIGEAST.com
There might have been something different about Villanova’s BIG EAST Tournament experience this year, playing for the first time on opening night since the realignment in 2013-14. But there was nothing unfamiliar about the outcome. It was vintage Villanova.
The Wildcats may not be the feared program that has ruled the BIG EAST for the past 10 seasons or so, when they reached the conference championship game in six of the past eight seasons, winning five titles. There were an array of reasons as to why the Cats have endured a very un-Villanova-like season, not the least of which were injuries to Justin Moore and freshman stud Cam Whitmore.
Whitmore missed several games early in the season as he recovered from a thumb injury while Moore was still healing from the Achilles injury he suffered in last season’s NCAA Tournament. But Whitmore’s return coupled with the arrival of Moore in late January gave Villanova the look of a contender again and the notion that maybe it wasn’t too late to make a late-season run and somehow find a way to the NCAA Tournament.
It would take a lot of work on the Wildcats’ end to make that dream a reality, but that road to a Big Dance ticket started when the Wildcats began to build their late-season resume by winning three of their final four regular-season games. Two of those wins, it should be noted, came over both then-No. 16 Xavier and then-No. 19 Creighton. It was a good start, but there was still much more to do. The good times had to keep on rolling for sixth-seeded Villanova as it opened BIG EAST Tournament play against No. 11 Georgetown.
Well, the suddenly surging Wildcats looked like the Nova of old as they jumped out to a 21-point lead at halftime and never looked back as they rolled to a dominant 80-48 victory over the Hoyas at Madison Square Garden. Nova now moves on to face No. 3 Creighton in Thursday’s quarterfinals at 9:30 p.m.
“We all know what type of player Justin Moore is and Cam Whitmore. We all know what they are capable of doing,” Villanova coach Kyle Neptune said. “I thought it was a great team effort.”
Yes, that duo had quite the evening at the Garden with Whitmore, who earlier Wednesday was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, logging a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Moore, who played just over 20 minutes, posted 13 points with six rebounds and two steals. While they were hard enough for Georgetown to handle, the Wildcats also got solid efforts from Brandon Slater as well as the freshman pair of Mark Armstrong and Brendan Hausen with all three scoring 10 points.
The Hoyas (7-25) looked to be in for a long night right from the start. With Moore scoring 12 of his 13 points in the first half, all on three-pointers - the Cats had eight threes in the first half - all the drama was taken out of the game early. It was just a question of how much the margin of victory would be for a Villanova team that just may be peaking at the right time.
As the second half opened there was no let up from Villanova’s offense and when it got a three-pointer from Armstrong, the Wildcats’ lead was 48-25 and somewhere, holed up in a Manhattan hotel, Creighton head coach Greg McDermott and his staff were busing breaking down Villanova film in preparation for Thursday night’s heavyweight bout. Whitmore also saved his best for the second half when he tallied 12 of his game-high 19 points.
Villanova put an exclamation point on its victory when Armstrong tossed a picture-perfect alley-oop pass to Whitmore who slammed it home for a 75-46 lead with 3:02 to play. It was just that kind of night for the surging Wildcats and another bleak night for the Hoyas.
And a scary thought for Creighton or anyone else who may come face-to-face with Nova, Neptune said there is more where this came from.
“We’re a work in progress,” he said. “We can still get better.”
The loss puts the wrap on a forgettable season for Georgetown and head coach Patrick Ewing. The Hoyas have struggled through two brutal seasons which led to some asking if the former Hoya and Knicks great was concerned about his job status.
“My future is in the hands of the president, our AD and the Board of Directors,” Ewing said. “Listen, I am proud of being a Georgetown Hoya. This institution has been great to me over the years. I’d be honored to come back as the coach here. That’s it.”
The Wildcats, who nailed a season-high 15 three-pointers in the win, have not missed the NCAA Tournament since 2012 and they know that in order to keep their Big Dance streak alive, they have to run the table at the BIG EAST Tournament. It won’t be an easy road for sure. But suddenly these Wildcats are starting to resemble the teams of Villanova past. And that can be a scary proposition for BIG EAST opponents at this time of year.
Next up is Creighton, which has reached the last two tournament title games. The two teams split the season series this year.
“At this time of year you just throw out what happened before,” Neptune said. “And now we’re in a tournament situation so we’re just thinking about this game against Creighton. We’ll go back to the hotel, we’ll rest up and we’ll start game planning.”