Villanova romps over Georgetown in Big East tournament opener; Creighton next

NEW YORK — The easy leg is behind them. And it sure looked easy.

Villanova, the Big East tournament’s sixth seed, knocked off 11th-seeded Georgetown, 80-48, in a laugher Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden in the first round of the conference tournament.

Now the hard part begins for the Wildcats, who came to New York needing to win four games in four nights to avoid missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012.

Up next is third-seeded and 24th-ranked Creighton Thursday night in a quarterfinal matchup.

Wednesday night was barely a test, not that Villanova is complaining. The Wildcats used a 14-0 run over 3½ minutes to seize control of the game in the first half and never looked back. They led 41-20 at halftime and Georgetown never got any closer than 18.

Justin Moore continued his strong run of play since returning in late January from an Achilles injury that kept him out of Villanova’s first 20 games.

He said Tuesday morning, before the Wildcats got on the bus for New York, that the team’s mindset was to take it one game at a time. He practiced what he preached. Moore was locked in from the jump and was a big part of that 14-0 run that blew the game open.

He scored 13 points on the night, 12 in the first half, and shot 4-for-7 from three-point range. He played just 20 minutes because it was a blowout.

“Everyone knows he’s a leader,” Villanova coach Kyle Neptune said. “Our guys move to his beat. Our guys just respect him. Anything he can give us out there basketball-wise we always talk about is nothing compared to what he gives out there leadership-wise.”

Joining Moore in double figures for Villanova was Cam Whitmore, who on Wednesday was named the conference’s freshman of the year. Whitmore scored 19 points on 8 of 11 shooting, including 3-for-5 from three-point range. He also grabbed 10 rebounds for his first double-double. Three other Wildcats scored 10 points apiece: Brandon Slater, Mark Armstrong and Brendan Hausen.

Whitmore has been a big beneficiary of Moore’s return in recent weeks, with more room to operate on offense.

“It’s pretty obvious that he’s helped,” Whitmore said. “He’s the glue of our team.

“I felt pretty good, the second half I kind of turned it up a bit. My teammates found me and shared the ball and that’s what we did.”

Villanova made a season-high 15 three-pointers Wednesday night. Eight Wildcats made threes.

“We all know we can shoot the ball,” Moore said. “Tonight was one of those games where we just were hitting at a high clip, but we were just focused on defense and that’s what got us over the hump.”

Georgetown was led by Primo Spears’ 17 points. The guard added seven assists and five rebounds.

Georgetown entered Wednesday with just two wins in its last 40 conference games. The Hoyas have showed little sign that they’re turning it around.

Coach Patrick Ewing is 28-81 in Big East regular-season games since taking over the program in 2017.

It’s fair to wonder if you were watching Ewing’s last game leading the bench Wednesday night. It certainly showed a national television audience how woefully behind his Hoyas are compared to the rest of the conference. They looked disjointed on offense and were unable to contest many of Villanova’s shots. During parts of the second half it seemed like they were barely trying to get defensive rebounds.

Georgetown entered Wednesday 227th in the NCAA’s NET rankings, sandwiched between the likes of Northern Colorado and Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.

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Villanova’s quarterfinal opponent looked like it was going to be Providence until the Friars laid an egg in a 24-point home loss to Seton Hall in the last game of the year. That allowed Creighton to move up to the third seed, and that’s probably a good thing for the Wildcats, who lost twice to Providence during the regular season.

Villanova split the season series with Creighton, each team winning its home game. But Villanova could have — and probably should have — won in Omaha on Feb. 4 before it failed to execute in the final minute. The Wildcats then rolled the Bluejays, 79-67, at home Feb. 25 in a game that was never close in the second half.

“This time of the year you just throw out what happened before,” Neptune said. “Now we’re in a tournament situation. We’re just thinking about this game against Creighton.”

Villanova-Creighton is the last of four quarterfinal games Thursday. Tip is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. (FS1).

One thing bodes well for Villanova: The Wildcats didn’t have to overexert their main players in Wednesday’s opener.