Georgetown men’s basketball (13-6, 4-4 BIG EAST) stole one at the buzzer from the Villanova Wildcats (12-8, 5-4 BIG EAST) 64-63 at Finneran Pavilion on Jan. 20. In the reuniting of the Hoya’s original starting five, albeit not to start the game, Georgetown stunned the Wildcats on the road with a late 9-0 run, breaking the Hoyas’ four-game losing streak.
The theme of this game presented itself early. On one hand, it seemed like ‘Nova would be even more reliant on graduate forward Eric Dixon than normal without graduate guard Jhamir Brickus for most of the first half and with senior guard Wooga Poplar ejected via a flagrant II foul for throwing, a punch at the back of freshman forward Thomas Sorber’s head. For Georgetown, the story was the return of the tenth-best lineup in all of college basketball in adjusted efficiency, per evanmiya.com, in the Mack-Epps-Peavy-Fielder-Sorber grouping. While the majority of this lineup has been healthy during the Hoyas recent four-game skid, their synergy with all five on the floor is what makes this group special.
The first half was a game of runs, with three runs of 7-0 or greater. That largely ended up being the difference in the half as Villanova led by seven at the break after having two such runs to Georgetown’s one.
From a play-by-play standpoint, the game started off rather slow offensively, as there were only 8 combined points scored by the two teams in the first four minutes of the game. It picked up from there, largely led by Dixon and senior guard Jordan Longino for the Wildcats, and Sorber and graduate guard Micah Peavy for the Hoyas. Dixon, as the BIG EAST’s leading scorer, imposed his will on the game in particular.
After the Hoyas took an early 7-6 lead, Villanova, spurred by Dixon, used a 7-0 run to take the lead for themselves. Georgetown, now back to something resembling full health, responded with a 7-0 run of their own, started with a three from Peavy and completed by a Sorber post bucket to retake the lead. After starting the game on the bench, this run started around the same time the Hoyas’ usual starting five all returned to the floor at the same time for their first extended run in BIG EAST play.
The half was back and forth from there until the ‘Cats followed up another Peavy triple, putting Georgetown up 25-24, with an 8-0 run, this time led by Longino, to build the seven point lead they brought into half, 34-27.
Dixon led the first half with 16 points, while Peavy and Longino each had 11. The Hoyas shot 8-of-26 from the field in the first half.
Coming out of the break, the Wildcats built their lead up to as many as 12 points in the early stages, putting the Hoyas on the verge of falling out of the game. Fortunately for the Hoyas, Epps and Peavy got going from distance, a couple Villanova turnovers on inbounds passes and the Hoyas found themselves down only 46-41. As he did all game though, Dixon got to his spot and hit a triple as part of another Wildcat 7-0 run to get the lead back to double digits.
Outside of struggling to make shots, the Hoyas were also facing a new problem, getting beat on the boards. Time and time again, Villanova hit the offensive boards and kept possessions alive, making it virtually impossible for Georgetown to manufacture a run long enough to retake the lead.
As the game wore on through, the shots finally started to fall for the Hoyas, although while shots were still falling for the Wildcats. Every time Georgetown pulled within six points, Dixon responded with a three of their own, only for Peavy or junior guard Jayden Epps to hit a three on the other end. With only six minutes left, the score was 59-53 favoring the home team. After giving up a couple more shots, the Hoyas then held the Wildcats scoreless for the last five minutes, using a 7-0 run to pull within one at 63-62 with a number of players chipping in. With under 30 seconds left and the shot clock off, the Hoyas had the chance to take the final shot, and the game with it.
With 1.7 seconds left, Peavy hit a floater to give Georgetown a one point lead for the first time since his three put the Hoyas up 25-24. On the ensuing inbound, Dixon got a great look given the circumstances, on a turnaround jumper but it only drew iron as the Hoyas escaped, 64-63.
Dixon led the game with 29 points and Longino helped with 18, but it was 24 big ones from Peavy, including a career high six triples, and a 15 piece from both Epps and Sorber that won the day for the Hoyas.
Next, the Hoyas look to build on their momentum, going on the road Jan. 25 to take on the Providence Friars (9-10, 3-5 BIG EAST) at 12:30 p.m. on FOX. For continued coverage and updates on Georgetown sports, follow @GUVoiceSports on Twitter.
