March 11, 2027
Big East Tournament Quarterfinal
(2) #10 Villanova 63, (7) Syracuse 62
We earn a bye to the quarterfinal, where we face a Syracuse team that is a very, very good seven seed and escape by a single point...thanks to an unexpected hero.
Sophomore wing
Richard Pray is in the game at crunch time because
Bruno Le Fleurquin has already fouled out. We trail, 62-61 as the clock ticks down. Pray takes a pass from
Jacob Allen and drives the left baseline. He misses the shot, but he's fouled, and with two tenths of a second remaining, Richard drains both free throws to punch our ticket to the conference semifinal.
Allen leads us with 15 points, while
Bradley Christmas notches his fifth double-double of the season (13p/10r).
Jose Blanco pulls down 11 rebounds, and
Devin Guzman hands out 5 assists.
It's a sloppy game, with both teams shooting in the vicinity of 40 percent, and we do enough to win...thanks to a player who sees the court for only four minutes.
Record: 26-4.
March 12, 2027
Big East Tournament Semifinal
(2) #10 Villanova 64, (3) Louisville 49
We suffocate the Cardinals on defense, holding them to 22 points in the first half, and comfortably advance to the tournament final.
Six Wildcats score between 8 and 13 points.
BLF (13p/10r) would have been a good PoG shout, but
Jose Blanco (13p/9r/2b) edges him out. I'm proud of our 10-for-19 marksmanship from behind the three-point arc.
We'll have a rematch with Georgetown in the championship game, as the Hoyas rout Notre Dame, 88-54, in the other semifinal.
Record: 27-4.
March 13, 2027
Big East Tournament Final
(1) #3 Georgetown 80, (2) #10 Villanova 77
This one hurts.
Code:
Georgetown 80, Villanova 77
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Villanova (27-5, 14-4):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Jose Blanco C 41 0-7 2-2 2 10 2 1 2
Bradley Christmas PF 37 6-13 0-0 3 12 1 3 14
B. Le Fleurquin SF 18 3-3 1-3 1 2 1 4 7
Jacob Allen SG 31 5-11 2-2 1 2 3 3 16
Devin Guzman PG 37 4-6 0-0 1 1 4 1 12
Corey Hicks SG 16 2-3 1-2 0 0 2 3 6
Richard Pray SF 17 2-6 0-0 0 2 0 2 4
Tommie Johnson C 16 5-6 2-2 1 4 1 1 13
Joshua Parkin C 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
Charles Vancleave PG 5 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 3
Caleb Blaney PF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Turnovers: 19 (J.Blanco 1, B.Christmas 3, J.Allen 3,
D.Guzman 1, C.Hicks 1, R.Pray 4, T.Johnson 3,
C.Vancleave 3)
Blocked Shots: 4 (B.Christmas 1, R.Pray 1, T.Johnson 1,
J.Parkin 1)
Steals: 4 (J.Allen 1, D.Guzman 1, C.Hicks 1, R.Pray 1)
3P FGs: 13-22 (B.Christmas 2-4, J.Allen 4-7, D.Guzman
4-4, C.Hicks 1-2, R.Pray 0-2, T.Johnson 1-1,
C.Vancleave 1-2)
Georgetown (31-3, 15-3):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Dwayne Ecker C 39 2-6 0-0 2 7 0 2 4
Herschel Findlay PF 32 2-2 2-2 2 12 3 3 6
Charles Muller SF 41 15-28 5-7 1 3 3 1 40
Louis Dicarlo SG 38 7-16 1-2 3 6 4 2 19
Manual Fort PG 38 1-5 2-2 2 4 7 4 4
William Bogard SG 9 1-1 0-0 1 2 0 0 2
Neal Deason PG 5 0-3 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Terrence Jones PF 13 0-0 0-0 1 1 0 1 0
Jeffrey Thai PF 6 1-2 2-2 1 1 1 1 4
Peter Henry SG 3 0-1 1-2 0 0 0 0 1
Turnovers: 13 (D.Ecker 1, H.Findlay 4, C.Muller 2,
L.Dicarlo 2, M.Fort 2, T.Jones 1, P.Henry 1)
Blocked Shots: 8 (D.Ecker 5, H.Findlay 1, M.Fort 1,
T.Jones 1)
Steals: 5 (C.Muller 1, L.Dicarlo 2, M.Fort 2)
3P FGs: 9-23 (C.Muller 5-10, L.Dicarlo 4-11, M.Fort
0-1, N.Deason 0-1)
Player of Game: SF Charles Muller (GTOWN)
We're ahead, 69-63, with 1:50 remaining when
Bruno Le Fleurquin steps to the line to shoot one-and-one. I feel very good about our chances at this point. But BLF bricks the first free throw, and the Hoyas have a lease on life.
They take it.
Charles Muller, who has already scored 34 points tonight, ends up making a contested three to tie the score at 70 and send the game to overtime. The Hoyas then do what excellent teams do, taking control of the game and lifting the tournament trophy.
Muller finishes with 40 points, the most a player has ever scored against a
Graham Sims-coached team. This is the 100th loss of Graham's career, against 455 victories.
Record: 27-5.
Meanwhile, at Lafayette: The #19 Leopards roll through the Patriot League tournament, winning three games by an aggregate score of 263-188.
Charles Allen scores 38 points in the championship game, an 86-57 dismantling of Bucknell. They take a 27-6 record into the NCAA tourney.