Acaden Lewis scores career-high 26 points as Villanova beats Georgetown

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Acaden Lewis finished with a career-high 26 points to guide Villanova to an 80-73 road victory over Georgetown on Saturday.

Lewis was the only Wildcat to score a field goal in the final ten minutes of the game, when he dropped back-to-back three-pointers to separate Villanova (18-5, 9-3 Big East) from Georgetown. It was his fifth 20-point outing this season. Lewis also contributed six assists and is now averaging 5.3 per game.

Villanova shot 28-for-57 (49.1%) from the field, including 10-for-29 (34.5%) in three-pointers.

Junior guard Tyler Perkins added 15 points, marking his seventh straight game with double digits. He is averaging 17.4 points over his last seven games.

“I think [Lewis is] really growing up as the season progresses,” Villanova coach Kevin Willard said. “I have the utmost confidence in him. He’s progressing the way you want any freshman point guard to progress. And he had it going tonight, and he had been making great plays. He’s been getting everybody involved, which has been great. And then tonight, we need him to score.”

Lewis also contributed six assists. He is now averaging 12.4 points and 5.3 assists per game.

“I’ve actually seen it, like, my little freshman,” Villanova forward Duke Brennan said. “At the start of the year, seeing him in those big-time games, sometimes he wasn’t feeling it. And now we get out of here, and he’s ready to go, ready to score. I’ve been seeing his growth and stuff like that, but he’s always been capable of that.”

Junior guard Tyler Perkins scored 15 points, marking his seventh consecutive game with double digits. He is averaging 17.4 points over his last seven games.

Brennan posted his 10th double-double of the season, totaling 13 points and 13 rebounds (six offensive). It is the most double-doubles by a Villanova player since Jeremiah Robinson-Earl had nine during his freshman season in 2019-20.

“Oh, goodness. I mean, I’m pretty banged up and bruised up,” Brennan said when asked about the physicality of the Big East. “Just keep on getting in and covering, and we know every single game coming up is going to be physical. So, knowing that, preparing for that, is allowing me to come out ready to go.”

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He is now averaging a team-high 10.7 rebounds per game, which ranks second in the Big East. Brennan is fifth in the country and leads the Big East with 98 offensive rebounds.

In the first half, Villanova struggled to limit Georgetown’s paint scoring. At one point, Georgetown shot 63% from the field to make it competitive against a high-scoring Villanova offense.

Georgetown had 16 first-half points in the paint. However, in the second half, Villanova limited Georgetown to four points in the paint through the first 14 minutes. The Hoyas finished with 10 paint points in the back half.

Willard simply said “free throws” when asked about what the team can improve upon.

Villanova had its worst performance from the line in recent years. On Saturday, the Wildcats shot a season-worst 14-for-28 from the charity stripe.

The free throw misses almost ended up being costly in the final four minutes of the game. Georgetown kept the margin within four points, and Villanova could not gain much separation.

Historically, Villanova has been one of the best free-throw shooting teams in the country. The Wildcats led the league in free-throw percentage from 2021 to 2023.

Villanova returns to Finneran Pavilion on Tuesday to face Marquette (8-15, 3-9) for the second time this season (7:30 p.m., TNT/truTV).

The Wildcats won the previous meeting in January, 76-73.