Story By: Sol Tucker
Photos By: Sol Tucker
After the victory over DePaul last night, the Hoyas went back into the locker room and continued to tell themselves, why not us. Well, tonight that why not us came at hands of Villanova as the Hoyas mounted one of their best efforts of the season to knock off the Wildcats, 74-67.
Georgetown (16-17) plays No. 6 and second-seeded UConn in the semifinals — which feature four of the league’s seven original members for the first time since 1994 — Friday.
Coming into the tournament most everyone had UConn slated to take a top seed out of the Big East into the NCAA tournament but based on the way the Hoyas played big on the inside with Julius Halaifonua, who scored 21 points and 10 rebounds for his first ever career double double.
One of the major differences in this game and the regular season games against Villanova was the ability for the Hoyas to hold a substantial lead going deep into the second half and then hitting big three pointers when they most needed them.
Kayvaun Mulready was the man of the night. He scored 14 points while going 5 of 5 (3 for 3 from 3-point range), and added eight rebounds for the Hoyas. Jeremiah Williams finished 6 of 14 from the field to finish with 14 points.
“We played one of the best games this season and credit these guys for giving it all the entire game on defense. I know I have said that we needed to play good defense to win games this season and these guys have learned a lot in the past few weeks,” said Hoyas Head Coach Ed Cooley.
“I have to give a lot of credit to Julius, as he did everything, I asked of him tonight and he just found himself making the shots that helped us down the stretch. Kayvaun really stepped up tonight and making those two big three pointers changes this game.
For Villanova Duke Brennan finished with 14 points, six rebounds and two steals for the Wildcats (24-8). Villanova also got 13 points from Tyler Perkins. Bryce Lindsay finished with 11 points and two steals.
The game tonight ended the season for first year coach Kevin Willard and leaves questions as to whether he is actually the right guy for Villanova. Many people had slated the Wildcats to make the semis or possibly even the final game. Another Big East team looking for answers going into the off season.
“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.
Georgetown is the first 11th seed in the Big East tournament to reach the semi-finals since Villanova did that in 2004. The Hoyas also remain the only team to lose 7 conference games in a row from February 7th to March 3rd and advance this far in the tournament.
For the Hoyas, they live on to face the Huskies and possibly a chance to revenge their two losses this season by a combined 6 points. You read that right, 6 points against a top ranked team. Can the Hoyas do the unthinkable tomorrow?
