Jermaine Samuels scores a career-high 32 points, Villanova gains an 84-74 win over Georgetown

After everything he did throughout the game Sunday for Villanova, including a career-high 32 points, Jermaine Samuels came up with a sequence that could have been his signature achievement of the Wildcats’ 84-74 Big East victory over Georgetown at Finneran Pavilion.

He drove the lane against 6-foot-11 Georgetown center Qudus Wahab and tried to dunk but slammed the ball off the back rim as Wahab grabbed the rebound. Undaunted, Samuels picked himself off the court, headed toward the unsuspecting Hoya and stole the ball.

“I just wanted to make a play,” Samuels said. “I messed up on the break and I didn’t want to stop playing and settle. I just tried to make a play for my teammates after messing up.”

The play with 1 minute, 20 seconds left of a still tight game didn’t result in any points for the Wildcats but it showed just how much Samuels can and does contribute to this team, whether it’s rebounding, steals, assists, or having a hot-shooting game from time to time.

This was one of the hottest shooting game of his career – 32 points, 6 of 7 from three-point range, 10 of 17 overall, six rebounds, five assists and three steals – that enabled the Cats (12-2, 7-1 Big East) to finish a season sweep of the Hoyas (5-9, 3-6).

“That’s probably the most important thing as a senior leader,” Samuels said of being versatile. “It isn’t all about scoring. It’s mainly getting stops defensively and holding everybody accountable to the high standard as well.”

Samuels was coming off a subpar game at St. John’s, which dealt the Wildcats their first Big East loss of the season on Wednesday. He had just two points on 1-of-6 shooting. But he found himself in the groove on Sunday, scoring 12 of his team’s first 17 points and finishing the half with 18 as Nova led 37-35.

“He definitely came out with a fierce focus today, and not just aggressiveness but intelligence,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “He drove the ball well. He shot the ball well, got our offense started, hitting people, getting other people shots. In the first half he just carried us.

The Wildcats had some shaky moments against the Hoyas, including eight second-half turnovers that kept the game close even though they ended up shooting 70% in the final 20 minutes. Samuels hit back-to-back threes during a time when the Hoyas scored on eight of 10 possessions to take their final lead, 67-66, on Jahvon Blair’s three-ball with 5 minutes, 46 seconds left.

But the Cats scored on their next five trips in a 12-4 run that was capped by a three-point basket from Cole Swider with 2:01 left, good for a 78-71 lead. After Georgetown’s Jamorko Pickett hit two free throws with a minute to play to make it a five-point game, the Wildcats got a break.

Official James Breeding called an intentional foul on Blair with 55.2 seconds remaining. Instead of a 1-and-1, the Wildcats received two free throws, which Jeremiah Robinson-Earl converted, and retained possession consisting of a missed shot, an offensive rebound and Collin Gillespie’s two free throws with 22.6 seconds to play to put the game away.

Wright said he did not see the play clearly.

Another contributor to the game was the 6-9 Swider, not usually a post defender, who was pressed into service to guard Wahab. Wahab scored 17 points, including seven in the opening 4:15 of the second half, but had only two points after that. Wright liked the way Swider battled against him.

“I never thought I’d say this in my career,” Wright joked. “I’m so happy and proud to say this. He did an incredible job in the second half. He’s worked so hard at it, not just defending. When you play (Wahab), you’ve got to guard pick-and-roll and you’ve got to get back and guard him and rebound against him. Cole was just outstanding.”