Your Georgetown Hoyas pulled off a stunning 78-64 upset over third-seeded Villanova in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday night. Many of the Georgetown faithful have watched this program weather a decade of frustration, but head coach Ed Cooley has found a squad with resilience late in his third season.
The Blue and Gray dominated the glass at Madison Square Garden, out-rebounding the Wildcats by a staggering 46-25 margin. Center Julius Halaifonua anchored that physical effort, recording his first collegiate double-double with 10 rebounds and 21 points on efficient shooting. Even with Vince Iwuchukwu’s big night on Wednesday against DePaul, Cooley rode the hot hand into the semifinals as Julius thrived in his 30 minutes on the floor.
Defensively, Georgetown executed a game plan that smothered Villanova’s perimeter shooters, holding them to a dismal 24.1 percent from beyond the arc for the game.
After struggling with 12 turnovers in the first half, the Hoyas cleaned up their execution and gave the ball away a mere two times during the final twenty minutes.
That improved ball security allowed the offense to find a steady rhythm and consistently attack the paint against a smaller Villanova lineup. Georgetown capitalized on this size advantage by scoring 36 total points inside the lane and generating 16 offensive boards.
Graduate student guard Jeremiah Williams was instrumental in managing the tempo, providing 14 points to help keep the Wildcats at bay.
Sophomore Kayvaun Mulready provided a massive spark off the bench, draining consecutive three-pointers late in the second half to push the lead to double digits.
Those timely shots effectively ended any hopes of a Villanova comeback and cemented a decisive 43-33 second-half scoring advantage for the Hoyas.
Many of the Georgetown faithful have said that seeing this team execute quality, defense-driven basketball this week is a reward in itself. The players showed impressive resilience to shut down a potent Villanova offense instead of folding under pressure.
Rooting for this group as they string together hard-fought stops and battle for loose balls provides plenty of excitement for the fanbase right now. One week does not make a season, but this is the high note that Cooley needs everyone to keep singing for as long as possible.
The Hoyas now face a massive challenge against the second-seeded UConn Huskies in Friday’s semifinals at 8PM (FS1).
Regardless of the final score in that matchup, watching the Blue and Gray clamp down on opponents and advance in March gives supporters plenty of reasons to cheer today.
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With five in double figures, the 11th-seeded Georgetown University men’s basketball team pulled off the 78-64 upset over the #3 Villanova University Wildcats in the quarterfinals of the 2026 BIG EAST Tournament presented by Jeep on Thursday night. With the win at Madison Square Garden, the Hoyas improve to 16-17 on the year while Villanova finishes the tournament with a 24-8 record. The Hoyas move on to the semifinals to face the #2 UConn Huskies, tabbed No. 6 in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches Poll, on Friday evening.
ON THE RECORD “We need to advance by any way and means, just continue to advance, however we do it. I thought it was back-to-back days. I think our defense, once again, was tough. I thought we connected. I thought we had incredible leadership all over the court. Everybody that stepped on the court participated in helping us win … So just really proud of how connected we’ve been over the last two days defensively, and I think when you guard, offense becomes a little bit easier, a lot easier, and we were able to make some threes today as last night we only made three threes. I haven’t seen the stat sheet, but I know we made more than three today as Kayvaun made back-to-back shots, which I thought was really game, set, match in that situation.” – Head Coach Ed Cooley
Wildcats Drop 78-64 Decision to Georgetown – Villanova University | VILLANOVA
Georgetown outscored Villanova 43-33 in the second half Thursday night to eliminate the No. 3 seeded Wildcats 78-64 from the BIG EAST Tournament at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The Hoyas connected on .508 of their field goal attempts and owned a 46-25 rebounding advantage in notching their second win in as many nights at this event.
“I thought late in the first half a little bit of our offense affected our defense,” said Villanova head coach Kevin Willard of a stretch where the Hoyas turned an 8-point deficit into a four-point lead at halftime. “That was the first time all year our offense kind of shifted to our defense instead of the other way around.”
The Wildcats closed to within 51-49 midway through the period but a 10-2 Georgetown spurt gave the Hoyas control of the contest.
Villanova Men’s Basketball Loses To Georgetown, 78-64, In Big East Quarterfinals | VILLANOVAN
Shortly after, Georgetown went on a 7-0 run to cut its deficit to two points. The Hoyas managed to tie the game with a three-pointer and an and-one foul off redshirt sophomore guard Malachi Palmer. From there, Georgetown would go on a 17-4 run over 6 minutes to close out the half, with a final score of 31-35.
The Wildcats did not regain the lead after that. At the half, Villanova was 13-of-36 (36.1%) from field goal range, 4-of-15 (26.7%) from beyond the arc and 1-of-2 (50%) from the free throw line. Lindsay led with 11 points. Georgetown opened the half with a quick two points from a dunk.
Perkins responded with a three-pointer to put the ‘Cats within three points. Villanova entered another scoring drought, allowing the Hoyas to take a seven-point lead. Things only got worse for the Wildcats from there.
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The Wildcats (24-8) were outrebounded 46-25 and allowed 16 offensive rebounds. It was a slow start for both sides but Villanova rode the hot shooting of Bryce Lindsay in the first half. Lindsay hit three if his first four shots from deep, including a fast-break three off a defensive lapse by Georgetown (16-17) to put Villanova up 27-18. From that moment until the final buzzer, it was all Hoyas.
Georgetown closed the first half on a 17-4 run. Villanova scored just two points over the final 6:45 of the first half. The Wildcats would get within one in the second half but did not grab a lead. At 56-51, Georgetown put together an 11-2 run, headlined by back-to-back three’s by Kayvaun Mulrrady to give the Hoyas their largest lead, at the time, of 14.
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Georgetown limited Villanova, one of the premier outside shooting teams in the nation, to 24 percent shooting from long distance Thursday, something that frustrated Wildcats head coach Kevin Willard as he credited the Hoyas’ defensive scheme for having stymied his own team in his return to the Big East tournament.
“I thought we got a lot of really good looks throughout the game,” he said. “(Georgetown) was in huge drop (coverage), so you’ve gotta take advantage of that and be able to do it. And unfortunately, (Devin Askew) had a tough night.” It was not only the struggles from the perimeter that doomed the Wildcats on this night, as Georgetown was able to attack the paint against a smaller Villanova unit.
Center Julius Halaifonua followed the example set Wednesday against DePaul by his teammate, Vincent Iwuchukwu, racking up a second straight double-double for a Hoya big man with his 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting and 10 rebounds.
“Those two first baskets definitely helped, but I think the rest of the game, I just trusted my guards to make the right play,” the New Zealander assessed. “They trusted me with the ball, and I just happened to make shots.”
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Halaifonua was the undisputed star, finishing with 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting and pulling down a career-high 10 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double.
“Those two first baskets definitely helped, but I think the rest of the game I just trusted my guards to make the right play, and they trusted me with the ball, and I just happened to make shots, and so, yeah,” Halaifonua said, downplaying his dominant performance with a grin.
Mulready was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field, including 3-for-3 from deep and 1-for-1 at the free throw line, tallying 14 points off the bench. Jeremiah Williams also scored 14, while Malik Mack added 12 points, hitting three three-pointers. Caleb Williams rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points, knocking down two triples of his own.
On the glass, Jayden Fort and Mulready each grabbed eight rebounds, and Isaiah Abraham added seven, all contributing to Georgetown’s staggering 46-25 rebounding advantage.
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Julius Halaifonua collected 21 points and a career-high 10 rebounds for his first career double- double as 11th-seeded Georgetown pulled away late in the second half for a decisive 78-64 victory over third-seeded Villanova on Thursday in the Big East tournament quarterfinals.
The Hoyas (16-17) advanced to the semifinals for the first time since their surprise run to the 2021 title as an No. 8 seed. Georgetown will face second-seeded and sixth-ranked UConn, which rolled to a 93-68 rout of Xavier earlier in the day.
Jeremiah Williams added 14 points and Kayvaun Mulready also scored 14, including eight straight Hoyas points when they surged to a double-digit lead late in the second half. Malik Mack scored 12 points on 4-of-15 shooting but hit a tying 3-pointer with 76 seconds left in the first half.
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It’s a bad loss for Nova, who beat Georgetown twice in the regular season, once by seven points and once by 15 points. This time, they shot just 38% from the floor and 7-29 from three. They couldn’t get much to fall. They were also hammered on the glass, outrebounded 42 to 19 while giving up 14 OREBs in the process.
The injured Matt Hodge wasn’t exactly Reggie Evans on the glass, but he did pull down 3-4 rebounds on average and added some size to the lineup. Without him, it’s Duke Brennan and a bunch of guards, and Nova was already an imbalanced, guard-heavy team to begin with. They’ve been thin in the frontcourt from day 1.
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Cooley said the Hoyas’ defensive focus on Villanova’s guards helped them secure the victory. “We wanted to make this game a tough twos game, as they’re one of the better 3-point shooting teams in our league, if not the nation,” Cooley said. “And we just tried to wear them down as much as we can.”
Eight minutes into the second half, the Hoyas found themselves clinging to their lead. The Wildcats, who went 4-for-15 from behind the arc in the first half, shot 3-for-6 in the first 12 minutes of the second. A pair of Villanova threes, in addition to capitalization on Georgetown fouls, cut the deficit to just 1 point.
Georgetown quickly responded. Graduate guard Jeremiah Williams converted a layup before sophomore forward Jayden Fort threw down a dunk off a Halaifonua feed, pushing the Hoyas ahead 51-46.
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“I think when you have a young basketball team that has played really well all year long and has had some struggles in big games, that’s part of the growing process and the learning process. That doesn’t stop you from boxing out, though. I mean, I think, again, they had more offensive rebounds than we did defensive rebounds, so I don’t think it was so much the setting this time. I just think Ed’s done a great job all year with his team. They have eight losses of four points or less.
They beat Clemson at home, they went to Maryland and won. Before the big guy (Vincent Iwuchukwu) got hurt, they were really playing well. So this is a good basketball team. And Jeremiah Williams, I’m happy for him, because he’s back playing like he did when he was at Rutgers. When he’s aggressive and getting in the lane, they’re tough to stop.”
Georgetown used its interior presence to give Villanova fits all night. The Hoyas outrebounded the Wildcats, 46-25, and had as many offensive rebounds as Villanova did defensive rebounds (16). Georgetown also outscored Villanova 36-20 in the paint, and 17-8 in second-chance points. But it was more than that for Villanova.
For a team ranked 42nd nationally in offensive rating according to KenPom, the Wildcats were anything but quality on Thursday. They had multiple stretches of scoreless streaks, including a 6:45 stretch to end the first half where they made just one basket.
“I thought a little bit of our offense late in the first half dictated a little bit of our defense,” Willard lamented. “That was probably the first time all year that our offense kind of shifted to our defense, instead of the other way around.” The offense and rebounding was naturally going to take a hit without starter Matt Hodge, who tore his ACL in the loss to St. John’s on February 28. Malachi Palmer has stepped up to fill Hodge’s role, but it’s left a hole in a bench unit that wasn’t very deep to begin with.
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Villanova was held to 37.7% shooting making 23 of 61 field goal attempts, and 7 of 29 from beyond the arc. The inconsistency on offense did not allow Nova to mount a charge. But off the boards Georgetown had a 46 – 25 advantage, 16 – 9 on the offensive glass. In second chance points Georgetown had a 17 – 8 advantage. “I thought a little bit of our offense late in the second half, late in the first half dictated a little bit of our defense, and that was probably the first time all year that our offense kind of shifted to our defense instead of the other way around,” said Villanova Coach Kevin Willard.
Key Run of the Game Villanova had the edge earlier by forcing Georgetown turnovers, 12 in the first half yet only 2 in the second half. Still, the game was in contention until late in the second half when the Hoyas stretched the lead to double-digits at the 8:20 mark 61 – 51. After Wildcats guard Tyler Perkins cut the gap to eight, the game turned in the Hoyas direction. Kayvaun Mulready hit back-to-back three-pointers from the right corner within 20 seconds to give Georgetown a 67 – 53 lead with 5:36 showing on the clock.
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This will give former Husky Isaiah Abraham another shot at his former team, as well. Abraham played sparingly as a freshman last season for the Huskies before transferring to Georgetown last spring. He’s averaged just 5 points and 2.8 rebounds per game for the Hoyas but has started all but two of the Hoyas’ 33 games.
And, of course, it’s always interesting when UConn faces Ed Cooley, who’s in his third season at the Hoyas’ helm.
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Georgetown had UConn within an inch of its life in Washington DC in their first regular-season meeting in January. The Huskies were up as many as 10 in the first half before letting the lead slip away and briefly trailing in the second half.
The game was tight down the stretch, but UConn hung on after an airball on a Hoya three-point attempt that could have tied the game in the final seconds.
In the return visit to Gampel Pavilion, Georgetown nearly ruined the Huskies’ Valentine’s Day with another closer-than-expected battle that came down to the wire. It was “a real shitshow at the end,” according to head coach Dan Hurley. His squad simply refused to close that game out, but went ahead and did it anyway.