Villanova returns the favor to Georgetown

Villanova coach Jay Wright insisted that revenge never crossed his mind as the seventh-ranked Wildcats prepared for their rematch with No. 24 Georgetown, or as his team bottled up the Hoyas with its defense Saturday.

The Wildcats and most of the sellout crowd of 20,587 at the Wells Fargo Center got what they were seeking, a convincing, 69-53 victory over the Hoyas. Villanova competed with more discipline and more focus than it did in its 78-58 loss Jan. 19 at the Verizon Center, and revenge had nothing to do with it, according to Wright.

"We really want to make sure we don't do that because if we're relying on revenge, then what are we going to do Wednesday?" he said of the Cats' next game, at Providence. "I want our guys to learn that what should motivate us the most is playing for each other, and that's what I was really proud about with our guys."

Darrun Hilliard, the Wildcats' high scorer with 15 points, sounded the same "we don't look at it like revenge" message.

"Obviously, they played well when we played them at Georgetown," Hilliard said. "We just take it as our next game. We just want to be better than we were the previous game. We don't look at it as they beat us by 20 or they took it to us up there."

The model for Saturday's win was similar to what Georgetown (15-8, 7-5 Big East Conference) had fashioned almost three weeks ago. The Wildcats (21-2, 8-2) played solid defense, limiting the Hoyas to 30 percent shooting and forcing 15 turnovers that led to 24 points, most of them in transition.

That, combined with excellence at both ends from beyond the arc - the Wildcats were 12 of 24 from three-point territory while holding Georgetown to 1 of 17 - enabled 'Nova to take a 17-point lead during the first half that was too much for the Hoyas to overcome.

"Great intensity defensively," Wright said. "We weren't great offensively at the beginning, and we weren't really effective early in the last game offensively. Defensively, we were bad last game. I thought this game, we were really focused. We created turnovers and got some easy baskets off our turnovers, which kind of loosened up their defense a little bit."

Villanova took control early with a 13-0 run and led by 30-13 after Kris Jenkins drained a trey with 5 minutes, 42 seconds remaining in the first half. The Hoyas got as close as 12 just after halftime, but the Wildcats built the lead to as high as 24 - 57-33 - on three free throws by Ryan Arcidiacono with 9:50 to go.

Villanova did a particularly good job against junior guard D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, who had averaged 18 points in his previous nine games. Smith-Rivera scored a season-low two points on 1-of-7 shooting. Freshman L.J. Peak led the Hoyas with 15.

The Wildcats were a little too loose with the basketball in the second half, when they committed 14 of their season-high 20 turnovers, but the Hoyas converted those miscues into only eight points.

"Some of them were just so crazy . . . I think Georgetown was just as shocked as we were," Wright said.

Josh Hart, who started in place of Daniel Ochefu, had three three-balls and scored 13 points. Ochefu, Villanova's 6-foot-11 center, sat out the first four minutes for what was called "a minor academic issue," Wright said.