PHILADELPHIA -- Villanova celebrated its third consecutive Big East regular season title after beating Georgetown on Saturday, hoisting the trophy at center court of the Wells Fargo Center.
The sellout crowd of 20,173 who stayed to cheer does not want it to be the last time Villanova celebrates in the arena this season.
With the 84-71 win over the Hoyas, the No. 3 Wildcats (27-4, 16-2 Big East) wrapped up their regular season. The win further helped Villanova's cause for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and if the Wildcats win next week's Big East tournament, they will likely be the top seed in the East Region, where the finals will take place at the Wells Fargo Center.
"I don't look at this stuff until after the Big East Tournament," Villanova coach Jay Wright said about the potential of playing at the WFC again in a few weeks. "But I'm sure there are a lot of things that have to happen for us to be seeded like that. And then we have to win games. We have to win a lot of games. So we don't think about that yet."
The Wildcats will be the No. 1 seed in the Big East Tournament, which tips Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. The Hoyas (14-17, 7-11), who closed out their regular season with six straight losses, will be the No. 8 seed in the conference tournament and would face Villanova again in New York if they can beat ninth-seeded DePaul in the first round.
Villanova had four players in double figures, led by Josh Hart's 18 points. Hart, a junior guard who also grabbed seven rebounds and had five assists, was joined by senior guard Ryan Arcidiacono (16 points), junior forward Kris Jenkins (17 points) and senior forward Daniel Ochefu (10 points).
The Wildcats put Saturday's game out of reach early, hitting 10 of their first 14 shots from the field and opening a 27-6 lead nine minutes into the game.
"Our senior class got these guys ready to play," Wright said. "They were dialed in on the scouting report. It's a special group of guys. It takes a lot for 18- to 22-year-olds to be focused like that, and that's what that was -- pure focus."
Added Georgetown coach John Thompson III: "I think we got some open looks that didn't go in and then our defense became porous. I think we were a little frustrated with 'Oh my shot didn't go in.' And there was negative carryover."
Jenkins hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to put Villanova up by 19 points at halftime. It was one of six 3-pointers for the Wildcats in the first 20 minutes, but they were held to one in the second half.
In their final regular season home game, both Ochefu and Arcidiacono got personal standing ovations as they left the court for the final time. The seniors also got to each address the team as a Villanova tradition on Friday night. And both moments were special for Arcidiacono, who grew up in Langhorne, Pa., a Philadelphia suburb.
"I tried to thank the coaches and tell the younger guys don't ever take for granted winning, because there's such a small difference between good teams and great teams," said Arcidiacono, who also went over the 500 career assist mark on Saturday.
"Coming out to the standing ovation, coach said to me, 'How neat is this?' I don't even think I said anything; I was in shock."
Villanova -- which had 23 assists on 27 field goals -- led comfortably for most of the game, with the only threat from Georgetown coming about midway through the second half when a 10-0 run cut the Wildcats' lead to 48-47. But the home side responded with an 11-6 run to go back up 59-53 with less than six minutes left.
"I think we were able to get stops," Thompson said of the second-half run. "We were able to get stops and able to get out in transition and get easier baskets. In the first half, we were playing against a set defense the whole time, so that was harder."
Sophomore guard L.J. Peak scored a career-best 31 points for the Hoyas, going 10-for-16 from the field and 9-for-12 from the foul line.
Peak's teammates, however, shot only a combined 14-for-42 from the floor (33.3 percent), and Georgetown went 4-for-26 from beyond the 3-point arc -- missing 15 of its first 16 shots from distance. Georgetown's leading scorer, D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, came in averaging 16.6 points per game, but was limited to seven, missing 10 of his 11 field-goal attempts.
As the Hoyas hobble into the postseason, Villanova is hoping to reverse its fortunes in the NCAA Tournament. Because even though the team is 84-9 (.903 winning percentage) in the last three regular seasons, Wright knows people remember most what happens in March.
"We just played in an 18-game tournament over two-and-a-half months," Wright said. "We won that tournament. That's the toughest tournament. But these are what you get evaluated on, and we know it. We want to have fun with this and lay it all out there. It's one-and-done, that's the difference. You know when you lose these games, you don't have a chance to come back and fix it."
NOTES: Saturday was Villanova's third off-campus home game at the Wells Fargo Center. The team lost to Providence and beat St. John's previously this season in the building. The team might have the opportunity to play in the arena again, as it will be the site of the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament's East region. ... Georgetown secured the No. 8 seed in the Big East Tournament, going 7-11 in conference play. The Hoyas will face ninth-seeded DePaul in Wednesday's first round. ... The Wildcats will open play on Thursday at Madison Square Garden looking to defend their title. ... Villanova senior guard Ryan Arcidiacono picked up his 500th career assist with a first-half dish. He finished the game with five helpers to bring his career total to 504.
