Story By: Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Washington, D.C–
To say it’s been a long season for the Hoyas would be an understatement. With a 70-69 loss to Villanova, the Hoyas can end the regular season with some optimism heading into the Big East Tournament after playing as hard as they possibly could today against the Wildcats.
Villanova raced out to leads of 14-0 in the first 3 minutes, 45 seconds and 26-9 with a little more than 11 minutes left in the first half, but the Hoyas found their game afterward, closing to within 39-30 at halftime and scoring the first 11 points of the second half for the first of eight lead changes.
“These guys played as hard as they have all season today. None of these guys gave up in those final minutes. When Jagan went down, he wanted to come back and that has been his attitude all season long, it was just a bit short today,” said Hoyas Head Coach Patrick Ewing.
For the Hoyas, their luck of coming back and winning this game after the horrific start was decided all on one basket.
Villanova’s Collin Gillespie found Jermaine Samuels near the left baseline, and the junior forward drove, went up for the shot as he was fouled by Pickett, and Wahab swatted the shot away.
Many of the fans thought it was clean block and just the foul should have been called, but it was ruled goaltending and the foul shot was made giving the Wildcats the 70-69 edge.
With just 5 ticks remaining in the game, the Hoyas had one shot remaining that fell short to the left side from long range by Terrell Allen that sent the Hoyas to super disappointing loss on Senior Day.
Next up for the Hoyas is a first round match-up against St. Johns in the first round of the Big East Tournament on Wednesday night in New York. A win here would set up a rematch against Creighton with a chance to advance to the Semi’s on Friday. The big question is what Hoyas team will show up? The one from today or the one from the previous two games?