, which finished 17 for 33 on 3s, while Georgetown went 4 for 15. Mikal Bridges scored 17 for the Wildcats, winners of seven consecutive games against the Hoyas, Villanova's longest streak in a series that dates to 1922. The last time Ewing faced Villanova in any capacity was in the last game of his college playing career at Georgetown, a surprising 66-64 victory for the underdog Wildcats in the 1985 NCAA championship game. It was quite clear, quite quickly, on Wednesday that there would be no such tight outcome -nor any chance of an upset by Georgetown (12-6, 2-5). This is Ewing's first season as a head coach at any level, and he opted to go with an easy-as-can-be non-conference schedule to try to build his players' confidence. Now that league play is underway, especially against a foe like Villanova, the gap between the Hoyas and the best teams is obvious. It was 42-20 at halftime, and Georgetown to that point had more turnovers (nine) than made baskets, shooting 8 for 26, including 0 for 8 on 3s. Villanova just kept pushing the margin after the break, going up by 30, then 40, and then reaching the apex at 88-44 on a layup by Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree with about 3 1/2 minutes remaining. Less than a minute later, Villanova coach Jay Wright finally sent on the subs and pulled any remaining starters. INJURED AND ILLVillanova: Reserves Tim Delaney and Jermaine Samuels sat out with a virus. Georgetown: Backup PG Trey Dickerson left in the first half with a back spasm and did not return. BIG PICTUREVillanova: Since its only loss, 101-93 at Butler on Dec. 30, Villanova has won four games in a row, propelled by an efficient offense that gets a lot of its work done from beyond the arc. Georgetown: This was the Hoyas' largest margin of defeat since a 33-point loss to Maryland, 104-71, on Dec. 10, 1974. UP NEXTVillanova: Travels to UConn on Saturday in a matchup between former Big East rivals and the Wildcats' first game at Hartford in five years. Villanova is 12-0 in non-conference games heading into the last one on their schedule. Georgetown: Hosts St. John's on Saturday, the teams' second meeting in less than two weeks. The Hoyas won 69-66 at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 9---Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich---More college basketball: http://collegebasketball.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/-Top25)
Time: 6:30 PM EST The top-ranked Villanova Wildcats struggled at times but were able to squeak past depleted St. John's 78-71 on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. The Wildcats (16-1, 4-1 in the Big East) have a similar challenge awaiting them against a team they are expected to beat when they travel down I-95 to face Georgetown on Wednesday night at Capital One Arena in Washington, D. C." That was one of those ugly road victories you just have to take, go back and watch the film, and learn from it," Villanova coach Jay Wright said after the Wildcats overcame a stellar 37-point performance by St. John's guard Shamorie Ponds." We didn't look good but I think the credit goes to St. John's. I thought they were outstanding defensively. They did a really good job against our guards." Villanova received a terrific effort off the bench by ever-improving guard Donte DiVincenzo, who scored 25 points and knocked down 6 of 9 shots from 3-point territory." The last thing I come in to look for is scoring," DiVincenzo said. "The shots just went down tonight." Mikal Bridges added 15 points and 11 rebounds, Jalen Brunson contributed 12 points and Omari Spellman had 10 as the Wildcats won for the 13th straight time over the Red Storm. The next stop on their three-game trip will be at Georgetown and will conclude Saturday at Connecticut. Wright will be in search of his 403rd career win on the Main Line since taking over in 2001. The program's leader for victories is Al Severance, who won 413 games from 1936-61. Villanova has won six in a row against Georgetown and is 9-4 all-time against the Hoyas on the road. Georgetown's last win in this series came on Jan. 19, 2015, a 78-58 victory. In Georgetown's last game, junior forward Marcus Derrickson had 18 points and 10 rebounds in its 74-61 loss to No. 13 Seton Hall at the Prudential Center. The Hoyas fell to 12-5 overall and 2-4 in the Big East." We have to do a better job of not turning the ball over," Georgetown rookie head coach Patrick Ewing told the program's athletic website. "We got off to a great start but then we started turning the ball over and let them back in the game." Junior forward Kaleb Johnson scored 14 points while junior center Jessie Govan and freshman guard Jahvon Blair added 11 points apiece. Ewing continued harping on turnovers and missed shots after building an early 12-3 lead." We can't turn it over that way," Ewing told reporters. "We missed layups. We need to get easy baskets. Our offense needs to improve. As a team, we have to stop turning it over." The Hoyas shot 36 percent from the field and committed 16 turnovers. They led briefly 31-30 with 5:31 remaining in the first half before the Pirates scored the final 14 points of the half and seized control. In last year's matchup in Washington, D. C., Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins combined for 40 points in an 81-55 Villanova rout.
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