VILLANOVA, Pa. –  Villanova makes its first visit to Georgetown's campus venue, McDonough Arena, in nearly four decades Friday night. The No. 9/6 Wildcats open BIG EAST play against the Hoyas (2-2 overall), ironically the last BIG EAST team they met in March before the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly ended the 2019-20 campaign.
 
The contest will tip off just after 7 p.m. and be televised nationally by FS1 (Scott Graham and Donny Marshall). The Villanova radio broadcast, with Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby, airs on 95.7 Ben FM in the Delaware Valley and the TuneIn app everywhere.
 
The Wildcats took both meetings between the teams last season, including a 70-69 thriller decided by a pair of Jermaine Samuels free throws in the final second in Washington, D.C. on March 7.
 
When last the 'Cats and Hoyas tangled on Georgetown's campus, the teams were coached by legends Rollie Massimino and John Thompson Jr. Georgetown prevailed 70-54 on Feb. 4, 1981. Current Hoyas coach Patrick Ewing was a high school senior at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School at that time, months away from his enrollment at Georgetown later that year.
 
Villanova head coach Jay Wright has yet to bring a team to McDonough, but he has been in the building.
 
"I remember being there for some AAU events," he says. "We've never been part of a game there though."
 
With COVID-19 guidelines prohibiting fan attendance in some locales, this figures to be one of several on-campus facilities the Wildcats will reacquaint themselves with during BIG EAST play. Providence is also hosting games in its on-campus building as is St. John's at Carnesecca Arena (nee Alumni Hall).
 
The Wildcats' (4-1 overall) BIG EAST opener comes on the heels of a gritty 68-64 win over No. 13/12 Texas on Sunday as part of the Big !2/BIG EAST Battle. Seniors Collin Gillespie and Samuels Jr. played critical roles in the final moments of a game that was deadlocked at 57 with less than four minutes to play at the Frank Erwin Special Events Center.
 
"A couple of Jermaine Samuels' offensive rebounds were just huge," noted Wright. "He was able to battle in there against Texas' great athletes. To come up with 12 rebounds, playing with a sprained finger with a splint on it, was courageous. He had some big-time drives at the end of the shot clock too.
 
"Just having been in these kinds of games, as Jermaine and Collin have, is so important. We miss Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree for that reason too. You can tell the kids what to do, but these guys have been there so many times and they're confident. Jermaine and Collin were outstanding."
 
The Hoyas downed Coppin State 80-48 on Tuesday night and battled West Virginia Sunday before falling in their Big 12/BIG EAST matchup 81-70. Wright notes that, though the Hoyas have altered their roster, the players that did the most damage in the two meetings with Villanova, Jamorko Pickett and Qudus Wahab, are Georgetown's second and third leading scorers in 2020-21.
 
Pickett averaged 16.0 points per game against Nova last season, highlighted by a 20-point effort in that March 7 encounter, while Wahab averaged 11.0 ppg in those games.
 
"Patrick has done an amazing job," says Wright. "He brings an NBA approach in that he's able to build a team every year. They share the basketball, shoot 3's, and I think it's a really good team."
 
Villanova is next slated to host Butler on Wednesday night at Finneran Pavilion (7 p.m. on FS1 and 95.7 Ben FM).