Villanova will look to remain unbeaten in Big East play when it hosts Georgetown on Sunday.

The Hoyas enter the game with a 14-7 record and are 4-4 in the Big East. Their best win is over St. John’s and they suffered a home loss to SMU and a neutral court defeat to Loyola Marymount.

The Hoya offense has been humming, averaging 83.2 points per game. They’re led by big man Jessie Govan, who leads the team with 19.4 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. He’s done a nice job expanding his game and developing a perimeter threat, shooting 45.9 percent from 3 while having the third-most attempts on the team.

The freshmen backcourt of Mac McClung and James Akinjo round out the double-figure scores for Georgetown, averaging 13.8 and 13.9 points respectively. Akinjo also leads the team with 5.3 assists, but he turns it over 3.4 times per contest as well.

While that trio carries the offensive load, the Hoyas have a total of 10 players averaging 10 or more minutes. Josh LeBlanc, Trey Mourning, Greg Malinowski, Jamorko Pickett, Jahvon Blair, Kaleb Johnson, and Jagan Mosely will all look to provide support to G-Town’s three key contributors.

The Hoyas have a nice inside-outside mix, led by the improvement of Govan. They rank in the 97th percentile in spot-up situations and the 81st percentile in the post, per Synergy Sports. They’ve also had some success in the pick and roll and generating offense off cuts.

The defensive end has been another story, as Georgetown is surrendering 78.1 points per game. The Hoyas have struggled to defend the 3-point line, ranking 210th in the country. They give up 0.91 points per possession, ranking them in just the 29th percentile.

Interestingly, the Hoyas have had issues defending some of the areas where they’ve had success offensively, spot-ups and in the post. They’ve also had trouble with cuts and have been poor stopping opponents in transition.

Look for the 3-point line to be a key on Sunday. Georgetown shoots a respectable 37.7 percent from deep and has a number of players capable of doing damage from 3. Meanwhile, Villanova’s taste for the 3-ball is no secret and the ‘Cats have hit 32 3’s over their last two games. With Georgetown struggling to defend the arc, the hope is that ‘Nova can continue their recent success from 3.

We’ll be watching the battle on the boards as well. Georgetown enters the game with an advantage on the glass, averaging 39.8 rebounds per game to Villanova’s 35.2. The ‘Cats have had success on the boards this season, especially the offensive glass. It will be interesting to see if either team can generate an advantage on the boards.

Ultimately the defensive end should decide the game. Defending the 3-point line will be important, and Villanova will have to be careful with Govan.

It would be nice to see the ‘Cats put pressure on the Hoya backcourt at both ends. It’s fair to assume that a good part of Georgetown’s defensive issues is a result of the youth, and the young backcourt has had some decision-making issues offensively. They have the talent to hurt you but have been susceptible to turnovers and getting sped up. Akinjo especially has had turnover problems, and it would be nice to see the Wildcats execute good ball pressure and make the young guards beat them with decision-making.

We’ll also be watching to see which team controls the pace. The Hoyas like playing with a bit of pace and slowing them down at forcing the young guards to run offense could be beneficial for ‘Nova. At the same time, Georgetown has had difficulty stopping teams in transition, so the ‘Cats should look to exploit those opportunities when they present themselves. In addition, looking to switch things up and speed up the Hoyas’ young backcourt could be successful as well, and it will be interesting to see if Villanova can find a balance between taking advantage of chances to run, making the Georgetown guards initiate half-court offense, and picking spots to try to speed up the young Hoyas.

Georgetown’s rebuild is heading the right direction and this year’s team is better than the last few, but they remain a team that Villanova can handle as long as the ‘Cats take care of business. It’s always fun to reignite the rivalry, and hopefully ‘Nova can continue its stellar play and keep the winning streak going.