Villanova got back on track Saturday with a hard-fought 85-74 win over Georgetown. It wasn’t the prettiest performance, but a win is a win and this is one Villanova will certainly take.

“Any road win in the Big East, it doesn’t matter what anyone’s record is, these teams in this league are basketball powers,” Jay Wright said. “It’s the biggest thing happening on their campus. It’s not like you’re at a football school where it’s a basketball game and it’s not that big of a deal. It means a lot to every school so if you can win on the road, you’ve done something special.”

The start felt a bit shaky for the ‘Cats, as Georgetown hit three of its first five shots and ‘Nova had an early turnover. It didn’t show on the scoreboard, however, as the Hoyas led by just a point just over three minutes into the game.

From there ‘Nova started to get going a bit and started building a lead. By the 10:53 mark ‘Nova had its largest lead of the game at nine, 21-12. But Georgetown had a response and would outscore Villanova 26-13 over the next nine-plus minutes to take its largest lead at four. The ‘Cats were able to trim one off the deficit before the halftime buzzer, heading to the break trailing 40-37.

Villanova’s play in the first half left something to be desired, but the period was ultimately pretty evenly played with the biggest difference coming from the free throw line, where Georgetown hit 12-13 to Villanova’s 7-7.

Georgetown scored seven of the first nine points of the second half to build the lead to eight and some legitimate nervousness hung in the air. But Villanova quickly responded, ripping off a 9-0 run to take a one-point lead with 14:13 to go.

We then saw a bit of a strange sequence. After ‘Nova had done all that work to retake the lead, Caleb Daniels came up with a steal and it looked like the ‘Cats would have a chance to extend the run. Instead, ‘Nova turned it right back over and Kaiden Rice promptly drained a 3 to halt the ‘Nova run and put the Hoyas back up two. The ‘Cats then committed another turnover and Donald Carey nailed a jumper to give Georgetown a quick five points and a four-point lead after ‘Nova had clawed back in front.

It felt like it had the chance to be a backbreaking sequence. Instead, Villanova steadied itself and a few minutes later went on a six-minute, 15-4 run to turn a one-point deficit into a somewhat comfortable 10-point lead.

“It’s just attitude, just sticking together, moving on to the next play,” Collin Gillespie said of navigating that wild turn of events.

“That’s what attitude is about,” Jermaine Samuels added. “We’re on the road, some things are not gonna go our way, it’s all about how you handle the situation in front of you. We all banded together. We knew it was going to be difficult because Georgetown is a great team and we rallied. We just try to keep fighting through adversity.”

Over the final four minutes, Georgetown wouldn’t get closer than seven as the ‘Cats ultimately earned an 11-point win.

Gillespie was fantastic for the ‘Cats on Saturday with 26 points on 8-14 shooting and 6-9 from 3. Justin Moore added 19 points, four rebounds and two steals. He did a great job attacking the rim and getting into the paint. Samuels was big as well, finishing with 18 points on 8-11 shooting, five rebounds, two assists and three steals.

Ultimately, the Wildcats did some good things. They again had an advantage from 2-point range and built a sizeable advantage in the paint. They won the rebounding battle and shot better from 3 (39.1%). They shot 63% overall in the second half, including 12-16 from 2-point range. There were some defensive breakdowns, but ‘Nova held Georgetown under its season average from 3. The Hoyas shot 44.6% overall and 33.3% from 3, and those numbers are inflated by an incredible 9-10 performance from Collin Holloway.

It wasn’t a dominant performance, but if you read our game preview you know we didn’t expect it to be. Georgetown was finally healthy, and their record coming into the game wasn’t indicative of their talent. In addition, the Hoyas do some things that were going to be legitimate challenges for ‘Nova. The ‘Cats responded and got a road win.

The ‘Cats will look to start another winning streak on Tuesday when they host DePaul.