February 4, 2019 - After a choppy first half, one in which Georgetown ended with a one-point lead via James Akinjo’s buzzer beating three pointer, the Hoyas went down to homestanding Villanova by five twice in the second half before equalizing the score, again after an Akinjo three ball. With 7:27 remaining, there was obvious hope G’Town could break a seven game losing streak to ‘Nova.

It didn’t’ happen, as the Wildcats rattled off eight straight points before outscoring Georgetown 16-2 over the course of around six minutes, finally securing a 77-65 win. A listed 14,506, Wells Fargo Center witnessed ‘Nova pull away and G’Town flop.

How did it occur?

“Tied it at 53-53, I felt we started hunting shots. You know we have to make the right play…if we’re going to win” said G’Town’s head coach Pat Ewing, when asked the question. “Came in hunting shots, guys were open. Have to make the right play.

“And then they just took the turnovers or the missed shots, and was able to baskets off of them”.

The Hoyas shot just 33.3% in the second half, 33.8% overall. Their 25%, last stanza three ball shooting clip is instructive, as is the 8-28 (30.8%) mark from beyond the arc over 40 minutes.

Part of their shooting woes can be attributed to Jessie Govan’s bad outing. A senior center and the team’s best outside threat, Govan faced consistent foul trouble, finally being disqualified with just less than five minutes remaining, his team down six.

Despite “Every team in the BIG EAST wants to get him in foul trouble, and unfortunately today was the case”, Ewing felt his team is equipped to handle Govan’s abysmal production – 0 points, two rebounds in just over 13 minutes. For context, prior to Sunday he contributed 21.3 points and 9.3 rebounds in league competition, good for fourth and first, respectively, among BIG EAST players.

Another consistent thorn in Georgetown’s side? Sophomore guard Collin Gillespie, who notched a career high 30 points, work largely produced through prodigious long ball shooting (6-11). He also pulled down seven rebounds, another personal best.

“You give up 30 to...Gillespie. You focus on him, you know that he can shoot, but then we just gave him too much air space” recounted Ewing, “and he was able to knock down all those threes”.

Gillespie’s work helped offset senior guard Phil Booth’s 14 points, five rebounds, 9.5 points below his BIG EAST game average coming into yesterday. Nevertheless, Booth scored five consecutive points to start ‘Nova’s decisive second half sprint.

Senior forward Eric Paschall was well, Eric Pachall, finishing with 24 points and a game high nine rebounds for Villanova, now 18-4 and 9-0 in conference play.

Ewing commended both: “Both those guys got better from last year. He’s (Paschall) able to drive, he can shoot his three, be able to knock down his three at a high clip. Able to put it on the floor, much better than last year.

“And Booth…didn’t have one of his normal games, but he still had a pretty good game”.

As did G’Town’s Akinjo. A freshman guard, James logged a team best 19 points while leading the tilt in assists (four) – he’s the conference’s top disher. There were second half stretches where Akinjo not only controlled the game’s tempo, but was the Hoyas’ only consistent offensive threat, leading Ewing to comment “He played well”.

Trey Mourning, a senior forward, came off the bench for Ewing to contribute a solid 12 points, six rebounds. Sophomore wing Jamorko Pickett returned to his stating position after last week’s change, logging 10 points, three rebounds and three steals.

Jay Wright’s Wildcats, who shot 42% generally and 29% on three pointers versus Georgetown (only Gillespie and Booth made them), are atop the BIG EAST, ranked 14th nationally and next face Creighton at Finnergan Pavilion this Wednesday. Tip-off is 8p EST.

Ewing knows despite losing, G’Town is still in the BIG EAST hunt.

“You look at the BIG EAST, everybody is right there. You have Villanova who is 9-0 now. Marquette who is 8-1, then everybody else is jumbled up. We were in third, now with this loss I don’t know where it’s going to drop us, maybe last” semi-joked Ewing. For the record, his team is 14-8, 4-5 and fourth in the conference at this moment.

With a trip to Providence beckoning Wednesday (730p EST start), he said Georgetown has “a good opportunity to maybe bounce back and get a win…And hopefully that will be the case”.