Caleb Daniels scores 20 as Villanova uses a big second half to beat Georgetown

WASHINGTON — At times, it wasn’t pretty. In this conference, especially this year, they rarely will be. But Villanova seems to have an X-factor when things aren’t going great: Caleb Daniels.

The fifth-year guard helped wake up a Wildcats team that was struggling with the Big East’s bottom feeder, Georgetown. Daniels scored nine points — all three-pointers — in the opening minutes of the second half to help Villanova pull away in a 73-57 win Wednesday night inside a quiet Capital One Arena.

The loss was a record-breaker for Georgetown. The Hoyas have lost 25 straight conference games.

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Daniels led all scorers and four Wildcats in double figures with 20 points to go with six rebounds. Freshman guard Mark Armstrong had a season-high 14 points. Brandon Slater also had 14 and Eric Dixon scored 10.

The Hoyas were paced by Jordan Riley’s 12 points. Akok Akok had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

It was at times an ugly first half for Villanova fans looking at Wednesday as a get-right game against the free-falling Hoyas. Georgetown got plenty of shots it wanted to get at the rim, and used its interior length to frustrate the Wildcats for most of the first half.

Out of the break, though, the Wildcats woke up.

Villanova (8-7, 2-2 Big East) scored the first five points of the half – a Whitmore layup and a Daniels three-pointer – to break a 35-35 tie. Daniels hit a trio of triples in the first five minutes of the half to push the lead to seven, 48-41.

“He’s a very experienced player at this level and a very talented scorer,” Villanova coach Kyle Neptune said. “I think even more than scoring, his effort defensively and him as a leader has been amazing for us this year.”

It was a 22-8 Villanova run – capped by a Whitmore elbow jumper – in the first 10 minutes, 30 seconds that gave Villanova a 14-point edge. That was more than enough separation to hold off the Hoyas, who never cut the deficit to single digits down the stretch.

Georgetown shot 6 of 28 from the field in the second half after starting 15-for-31.

“I thought we came out and just played a little harder defensively,” Neptune said. “I thought we were a little nastier defensively. We did a better job, cohesively, getting it done and getting stops and locking in.”

Villanova sophomore forward Jordan Longino left the game with two minutes remaining in the first half. Longino had the ball in the post and appeared to twist his left leg. He was not able to put any weight on it and had to be carried off the floor.

“We have to talk to the doctors,” Neptune said. “I don’t think it was anything too bad.”

Longino tore the meniscus in his left knee before the start of last season’s NCAA Tournament and has at times been held back by lingering pain in the knee in the beginning portion of this season. He had played 20 minutes in each of the previous four games entering Wednesday night.

With Longino out, the Wildcats were down to eight scholarship players for the final 22 minutes.

Daniels was asked what the message was at halftime after Longino went down.

“It’s simple,” Daniels said. “Stay together, play hard for him and play hard for each other. That’s what we did in the second half.”

This rivalry is no longer what it once was. Wednesday marked Villanova’s 18th win in the last 20 matchups between the two schools.

Wednesday marked 662 days since Georgetown’s last conference victory: the 2021 Big East Tournament title game. The Hoyas have five wins this season, and all of them have come against teams rated 172nd or lower by KenPom metrics.

Georgetown is now 73-95 under Patrick Ewing, and 26-68 in conference play.

Ewing was asked after the game about the record, an Associated Press story with comments from the school’s athletic director about the “challenging” time for the program, and if he was worried about his job future.

“I’m here to talk about the game,” Ewing said. “My future is my future. I’m here to be the head coach at Georgetown until the president or the board decides for me to move on.

“I’m a prideful person and Georgetown is a prideful program … It’s not about how you get knocked down it’s how you get back up.”

Villanova hosts No. 18 Xavier Saturday at Finneran Pavilion (4:30 p.m., FS1). The Musketeers scored a 10-point win over then-No. 2 Connecticut Saturday.

The Wildcats then hit the road for a two-game trip next week: Tuesday at DePaul and Friday at Butler.