Gillespie scores 28, No. 11 Villanova beats Georgetown 85-74

Collin Gillespie scored 28 points, Justin Moore added 19 and No. 11 Villanova won at Georgetown 85-74 on Saturday.

Gillespie connected on 6 of 9 3-pointers, including four in the second half. Villanova erased an eight-point, second-half deficit to continue its dominance over Georgetown. The Wildcats (14-5, 7-2 Big East) have won five of six over the Hoyas and 17 of the last 20.

Collin Holloway led Georgetown (6-10, 0-5) with a career-high 25 points and Dante Harris added 17. Georgetown has lost six straight and now starts Big East play with five straight losses for the first time in program history.

Jermaine Samuels had 18 points for Villanova, which avoided back-to-back losses after dropping a rare home game to Marquette on Wednesday. The Wildcats shot 53.6 % from the field and made all 16 free throws.

Coach Jay Wright’s program improved to 23-13 against Georgetown.

Georgetown led 47-39 a few minutes into the second half after a Holloway 3-pointer. Villanova used a 9—0 run to regain the lead and then lead most of the way. Aminu Mohammed had 13 points for Georgetown.

Big Picture

Villanova: The Wildcats responded after their rare home loss to keep pace just behind Providence at the top of the Big East standings. Villanova last lost consecutive conference games in the 2019-20 season when they dropped three in a row to Creighton, Butler and Seton Hall between Feb. 1 and Feb. 8, 2020.

Georgetown: The Hoyas are in danger of posting a second losing record in the last three seasons under coach Patrick Ewing. In his fifth season back at the school he led to the 1984 National Championship, Ewing has just one winning season at Georgetown and fell to 68-69 all-time.

Up next

Villanova: Host DePaul on Tuesday night. Villanova beat the Blue Demons 79-64 on Jan. 8.

Georgetown: The Hoyas play at No. 25 UConn on Tuesday night. The Huskies swept Georgetown last season.