LINKS: Gray Out, White Out, Blow Out, Fans Out

6 games left in the regular season to beak this losing streak

Your Georgetown Hoyas (8-16, 1-12) lost to the Villanova Wildcats (14-11, 7-7) at home under the Friday Night Lights, 70-54. This was their 10th loss in a row and likely their best chance to steal a conference win in quite a bit of time. As Ed Cooley alluded to in the post-game press conference, Villanova plays a style and pace that the Hoyas matchup pretty well against. Yet the execution was not there for much of the game. The defense is still abysmal. The decision making was still lacking. It’s mid-February and the Cooley culture is not clearly established. Even with one of the best crowds this season on Friday, we all feel the apathy taking root again in the Georgetown fanbase with another busted season.

Perhaps there was some toughness shown on Friday—fans seem to be rallying behind Rowan Brumbaugh in his quest to get others involved in the offense (5 assists). Still, there was a lot of sitting and waiting with 30 threes attempted, 31 two-pointers shot, and only 5 free-throws awarded. Villanova was fighting for their postseason in a “can’t lose” sort of way, but their interior defense is nothing special. Aside from a couple Wildcats shooting very well, the game was still within grasp if Georgetown wanted it. That won’t likely happen again this season.

St. John’s is coming to town on Wednesday fighting for a tournament spot. They are often mentioned in the first-four out. The Hoyas might be over-looking the mid-week game towards next Saturday’s more favorable matchup where they hope to get their second conference win over DePaul.

If not careful, Rick Pitino’s squad could roll into DC and blow the doors off Georgetown. The Hoyas cannot afford to take another step backwards before the trip to Chicago. Morale would be quite gray and completely set back whatever Ed Cooley has been building.

Here are the links:

Hoyas Drop Home Contest to Villanova – Georgetown University Athletics | Georgetown University Athletics

“I thought we played harder today. I thought we were a lot more detailed in our defensive approach. I thought this was the most connected we’ve been defensively. I liked our short preparation … I’m grateful for our crowd. I’m grateful for our students. I just need them to hang in there with us as we continue to fight and claw. I don’t think we were attentive to detail enough on small things, and think that has hurt us all year: our attentiveness, our wherewithal. We were playing against a very good team, a veteran team, a well-coached team, and so our mishaps continue to show up … Defensively we’re not as connected as we need to be, and that’s on me … I’ll tell you, I feel our team got better today.” – Head Coach Ed Cooley

Wildcats Downed Georgetown 70-54 | Villanova University

Georgetown engineered a quick 6-0 spurt courtesy of a pair of 3-pointers. But the ‘Cats responded with a trio of triples of their own, getting makes from Eric Dixon, Justin Moore and Tyler Burton to extend their lead to 39-27 with 15:17 on the second half clock.

Georgetown answered quickly, however, draining 8-of-13 over the first 8:34, including 5-of-8 from beyond the arc, to pull to within 45-41 before a Bamba basket for the Wildcats pushed the advantage back to six points.

“You know in this league teams are too good not to make runs, especially on the road,” Neptune said. “I thought we kept grinding and got some stops.”

Villanova was able to slow the Hoyas offense and when Hakim Hart knocked down a corner 3-pointer, the Wildcats held a 59-46 lead with 6:09 to play in the period. A dunk from Dixon was part of the Nova surge.

Villanova finished the job over the final minutes to make it a 70-54 victory, their sixth in a row over Georgetown.

Cats handle Hoyas, 70-54 | 247Sports

Over the years in this traditional, Big East rivalry, the Wildcats and Hoyas have played some absolutely thrilling, classic games which have been burned in the memories of fans of both programs. This game will not be one of those…

Villanova started slowly once again – struggling to find any offense but competing at the defensive end. The Cats received a scoring spark off the bench when Brendan Hausen entered the game and began jarring a series of three-pointers. Meanwhile, the Hoyas were busy shooting 25.8% from the floor and 15.4% 3PFG in the first half on the way to 19 first half points total. The score at half-time was 28-19 in favor of the Wildcats and it seemed ‘Nova had the game under control.

Villanova avoids slip-up at Georgetown as Justin Moore has strong second half | inquirer.com

Moore has struggled this season, with his year derailed by a right knee injury suffered in December. What was meant to be a curtain call and a chance to be the guy on a contending Villanova team has become a season where Moore’s main contribution is not on offense, but defensively and on the boards.

Since returning on Jan. 10, Moore had scored in double figures in just one of Villanova’s previous nine games. With Moore scoreless at halftime, Friday night was trending the same way.

Instead, Moore found some life. Playing in his hometown (Moore is from nearby Fort Washington, M.D. and played at local powerhouse DeMatha), Moore managed 10 second-half points, including two threes.

“It being my last time [here] in a Villanova uniform and us getting the win, that’s all we really care about,” Moore said.

He also attempted to dunk over a Georgetown defender, and while he was blocked, it showed a spark in his legs that hasn’t been there since his injury.

Georgetown can’t find the range vs. Villanova, drops its 10th straight | Washington Post

“I may need an emotional day off,” Cooley said. “Not a physical day off. Need an emotional day off as this has been a long process.”

The process has not been pretty, and the confines of home have not offered much respite for the Hoyas (8-17, 1-13 Big East). They have dropped their past four games at Capital One by a combined 99 points.

The Hoyas, playing in front of an announced 9,406, gave the crowd only brief moments for hope, the last coming with just under 12 minutes remaining when Dontrez Styles’s three-pointer cut the deficit to 45-41. That was as close as Georgetown would get the rest of the way.

“You’ve got to win at home,” Cooley said. “I’m grateful for our crowd. I’m very, very grateful for our crowd. I’m grateful to our students. I just need them to hang in there with us as we continue to fight and claw.

“I didn’t think we were attention-to-detail enough on small things. That has hurt us all year. Our alertness, our wherewithal.”

Villanova hands Georgetown 12th straight defeat 70 | Washington Time (AP)

Rowan Brumbaugh led the Hoyas (8-17, 1-13) with 14 points and five assists. Jay Heath had 12 points and Jayden Epps scored nine.

Hausen scored all 12 of his points in the first half to help Villanova take a 28-19 lead into the locker room.

Villanova pulls away from struggling Georgetown | Field Level Media

Rowan Brumbaugh led the Hoyas (8-17, 1-13) with 14 points and five assists. Supreme Cook had eight points and 11 rebounds, including on the offensive end. Jay Heath tacked on 12 points as Georgetown lost its 10th in a row.

The Hoyas have now posted a losing streak of at least 10 games in each of the last three seasons.

After a rugged first half filled with half-court sets and sluggish shooting by both teams, the second half opened with a much quicker pace as Georgetown heated up from beyond the arc to chisel away at its 28-19 halftime deficit.

Georgetown shook off its 2-of-13 effort from 3-point range in the opening half by making five of eight to begin the second stanza. Dontrez Styles hit a pair of 3-pointers, the second of which pulled the Hoyas to within 45-41 at the 11:58 mark.

Villanova pulls away from Georgetown after slow start, 70-54 | VU Hoops

The Wildcats only gave up five Georgetown free throws throughout the whole game, reinforcing the hard-nosed effort to clamp down on the Hoyas with disciplined effort.

“First half was good and second half, we had a couple of breakdowns here and there,” Villanova guard T.J. Bamba said. “So we can definitely keep getting better.”

On the scoring end, the ‘Cats stepped things up and closed things out in the second half.

An Eric Dixon dunk, followed by a Hakim Hart three-pointer made it 59-46, with 6:10 left in the game. The Wildcats maintained their double-digit lead until the final buzzer.

Villanova shot 16-of-27 (59.3%) overall and 6-of-14 (42.9%) from beyond the arc in the second half. The Wildcats closed the game strong, making all four of their final shot attempts of the game.