WASHINGTON, D.C. – The No. 11 Villanova Wildcats rallied from an eight-point deficit early in the second half to down Georgetown 85-74 in a BIG EAST game Saturday at Capital One Arena. The trio of Collin Gillespie (28 points). Justin Moore (19 points) and Jermaine Samuels (18 points) combined for 65 point to help pace Villanova to the win.
 
The Wildcats (14-5 overall, 7-2 BIG EAST) outscored the Hoyas (6-10 overall, 0-5 BIG EAST) 48- 34 over the game's final 20 minutes.
 
"That was a good road win for us," stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright, whose team won its fourth straight game away from home. "I'm proud of the guys. Every road game in this conference is a difficult game. I give a lot of credit to Georgetown. I know they've had a lot of injuries and Covid issues. Patrick (Ewing) hasn't been with them. If you look at their last two games since Patrick's been back, at Providence and this game you can tell they're going to be a force.
 
"I'm proud of our leadership – Collin, Jermaine Samuels and Justin did a great job."
 
Back in his home area near the District of Columbia, Moore scored seven points in the game's first 4:31 to help Villanova craft a 10-9 edge at the first official timeout. The Wildcats used a 9-3 spurt fueled by Samuels to extend their advantage to 19-12 with 11:56 on the first half clock.
 
Full court pressure by the Hoyas, however, helped them close the gap to 25-22. After 3-pointers on consecutive possessions by Georgetown's Dante Harris, the Wildcats' lead was 29-28. When Harris sank a pair of free throws with 3:25 to play in the period, the game was tied at 34. Two more free throws by Harris – on a play when Gillespie was whistled for his second foul - gave the Hoyas a 40-37 lead with 46.2 seconds to play in the half.
 
Neither team scored in the remaining time and the Wildcats trailed by three at intermission. Nova was outscored 29-18 over the final 11 plus minutes of the half.
 
Moore paced Villanova with 11 points while Gillespie added 10.
 
Georgetown scored the first four points of the second half to take a 44-37 lead. Villanova called for a timeout with 18:33 on the clock. A Collin Holloway deep 3-pointer from the left wing extended the Hoyas advantage to 47-39.
 
A 9-0 Villanova run, capped by a Bryan Antoine layup, allowed the Wildcats to take the lead at 48-47. Georgetown answered with a 5-0 spurt and move back in front 52-48. A Wildcats' response, capped by a Gillespie triple, put them back in front at 58-56 as the clock dipped below the 10-minute mark in the second half.
 
Gillespie's offensive production and some key defensive stops allowed the Wildcats to slowly take control over the final five minutes of action. Caleb Daniels added 10 points and the final count was 85-64.
 
"They do a great job of attacking switches, both ways," noted Wright. "They're just really good at that. They've always given us trouble with that.
 
"In the second half, I just thought we did a better job of guarding on the perimeter in those mismatches, especially against Harris. In the first half we got tough matchups on Harris and he was killing us. In the second half, I thought we did a really good job with those."
 
Villanova bounced back from a tough 57-54 loss to Marquette on Wednesday.
 
"I thought we played a little bit more intelligently this game," stated Wright. "In the second half of this game we were better taking care of the basketball than we were against Marquette and did a better job of decision-making."
 
Next up for the Wildcats is a home date Tuesday at Finneran Pavilion. DePaul will be the opponent in a contest that is set for a 7 p.m. tipoff. This is an adjusted tipoff time as the game was originally scheduled for 5 p.m. It will air on FS1 and the Villanova IHeart Radio Network.