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GU MBB 56, No. 1/1 Villanova 88

WASHINGTON - The Georgetown men's basketball team dropped an 88-56 decision to the No. 1/1 Villanova Wildcats at Capital One Arena on Wednesday night. With its second-straight loss, the Hoyas slipped to 12-6 overall with a 2-5 record in BIG EAST Conference play. The `Cats improve to 17-1 on the year with a 5-1 mark in conference action.

"They're ranked No. 1 for a reason," Head Coach Patrick Ewing said after the game. "We need to learn from it and get ready for the next game."

Junior center Jessie Govan (Queens Village, N.Y./Wings Academy) led Georgetown with 12 points. Junior forward Marcus Derrickson (Bowie, Md./Brewster Academy [N.H.]) grabbed a team-leading eight rebounds while Govan chipped in six. Derrickson and sophomore Jagan Mosely (Marlboro, N.J./St. Anthony) paced the offense with four assists apiece.

For the game, the Hoyas shot 39.3 percent (22-of-56). For just the third time this season, Georgetown was outrebounded by its opponent as Villanova held the 31-27 advantage off the glass.

Despite the Hoyas scoring the first bucket, Villanova came back with 11 unanswered to take the early lead. With the Wildcats grabbing the 13-4 lead, Georgetown scored four-straight points and junior forward Kaleb Johnson (South Hill, Va./The Carlisle School) managed a key block on the other end to pull the Hoyas within five, 13-8. Despite the momentum seemingly swinging toward the Blue & Gray, Villanova would go on to sink 10 3-pointers in the first half to go into the break with a 42-20 lead.

The Blue & Gray improved its play coming out of the break, hitting all four of its 3-pointers in the final frame and shooting 46.7 percent from the floor during the stanza. The freshman trio of guard Jamorko Pickett (Washington, D.C./Massanutten Military Academy [Va.]), guard Jahvon Blair (Brampton, Ont./Athlete Institute Prep) and forward Antwan Walker (Washington, D.C./Hargrave Military Academy [Va.]) for a 21-point effort in the second frame. Johnson also put all seven of his points on the board in the second half.

However, the top-ranked Wildcats could not be stopped as they only got more efficient in the second half and maintained the sharp-shooting effort from the beyond the arc.

Villanova shot 60.0 percent (33-for-55) from the floor, tying its second-best outing this season, and hit 51.5 percent (17-for-33) of its shots from 3-point land. Jalen Brunson led the Wildcats with 18 points.

The Hoyas will continue their three-game homestand as they welcome St. John's to the District on Saturday, Jan. 17. Tipoff at Capital One Arena is scheduled for noon. The game will be shown live on FS1 with Justin Kutcher calling the play-by-play and Tarik Turner providing color analysis. The game can be heard locally on WNEW 99.1 FM with Rich Chvotkin handling the call.