The Hoyas couldn’t quite pull through on the Main Line this afternoon. Despite a valiant effort, Jay Wright’s squad managed to grind out a win in a game that at times looked like it might fall in Georgetown’s favor. The Hoyas should be able to take the ride back on I-95 south with their heads held high though, because they showed yet again that they can compete with even the best teams in the country.
While the Hoyas did a decent job establishing Wahab to start the game, the Villanova press effectively burned Georgetown’s shot clock and forced some ill-advised shots. On the other end of the floor, Jermaine Samuels found himself with a quick 12 points less than halfway through the first half. To add to difficulties, quick fouls from Timothy Ighoefe and Qudus Wahab prompted Ewing to substitute Malcolm Wilson in for a while. In other news, those invested in the Blair Swish project would be happy to see the Canadian put up double figures by the 12-minute timeout on an impressive 4 for 5 shooting from the floor. His hot hand would ultimately fade as he finished the rest of the game 3 for 15.
The end of the first half turned into a dog fight as the two longtime rivals traded runs. Villanova continued moving the ball with incredible pace and found themselves open for three frequently. Although Dante Harris was handling Collin Gillespie with ability beyond his years, Samuels kept finding himself wide open and closed out the half with 18 points. Sibley also had to step up once Chudier Bile tallied his third personal foul. Intriguingly, his length seemed to be giving Samuels some fits to the point of cooling down his hot hand.
Bile recorded his fourth foul almost immediately off the second half jump, and Coach Ewing got boxed into playing small. Wahab met little resistance as he feasted in the paint. He would finish an impressive 8-11 from the field with 7 rebounds and 17 points. Unfortunately, the Samuels pump-fake gave the entire Georgetown squad serious headaches. Possession after possession the Hoyas fell trap to the move, to the point that the commentators couldn’t stop commenting on Samuels’ success. On the bright side, Dante Harris continued to force athletic turnovers and defend the ball screen better than any Hoya in recent memory not named Jagan Mosely.
Villanova reasserted why they are the #3 team in the country down the stretch, mostly on the offensive end. As Patrick Ewing said postgame, “At some point, you got to be able to guard your guy. Mano-a-mano.” The Hoyas evidently could not. One final 14-5 run in favor of the Wildcats in the last stretch of the game pushed the win just out of reach for Georgetown.
All in all, this was a valiant effort from a Hoyas team against one of the premier rosters in the country. The third-ranked Wildcats simply put up too many points for the Hoyas to stand a chance in this one. The career-high 32 points from Jermaine Samuels deflated Georgetown despite the Hoyas putting up an impressive 74 points against the suburban rivals. Hoya fans will undoubtedly be disappointed to have lost a close one, but Patrick Ewing still appears to be cooking up some quality gumbo.
Although the team lost, Ewing remains steadfast that this team has turned the corner and has great things coming: “I’m not leaving with my head down. Just like all year long, every game that we’ve lost, except for the Seton Hall game, we’ve had opportunities to win. All of them.”
