NEW YORK — The madness of March wasted no time making its mark at Madison Square Garden, where the 11th-seeded Georgetown Hoyas stunned the #3 Villanova Wildcats 78-64 in the quarterfinals of the 2026 BIG EAST Tournament on Thursday night. With five Hoyas scoring in double figures and a relentless effort on the glass, Georgetown (16-17) sent Villanova (24-8) packing and punched its ticket to a Friday night semifinal showdown against #2 UConn.
From the opening tip, the Hoyas played as if they had nothing to lose — and maybe that’s what made them so dangerous. Villanova, the heavy favorite, drew first blood with a pair of quick buckets, but Georgetown’s Julius Halaifonua answered with a personal 6-0 run, including a thunderous dunk sandwiched between two layups. The Hoyas seized an early 8-4 advantage, and the tone was set for a night that would upend expectations.
Villanova responded with a five-point burst to reclaim the lead, but the Hoyas never allowed the margin to grow. After a 14-3 run by the Wildcats put them up 27-18 midway through the first half, Georgetown steadied itself. Malik Mack’s three-pointer stopped the bleeding, and Halaifonua kept chipping away inside, scoring six consecutive points to cut the deficit to a single possession. The Hoyas closed the half on a 7-0 spurt, capped by a Kayvaun Mulready four-point play that electrified the Garden and sent Georgetown into the locker room up 35-31.
“Halftime. It was our speech. All the teammates, all of us gathered together. Just like you guys said about the turnovers, we acknowledged that as well. We said we got to trust each other, and no regrets. We didn’t come this far to come this far. We got a couple seniors on our team. We don’t want it to be their last game, so we’re also playing for them,” said Kayvaun Mulready, whose energy off the bench proved pivotal in the second half.
Georgetown’s run continued after the break, with Halaifonua throwing down another dunk to stretch the lead to 37-31. The Wildcats clawed back, trimming the deficit to one at 47-46 with just over 13 minutes left, but the Hoyas refused to blink. Jeremiah Williams and Jayden Fort combined for a quick burst, and then Mulready delivered the back-breaking blows: two three-pointers from the right corner on consecutive possessions, pushing the lead to 67-53 with 5:32 remaining. Villanova never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
“We need to advance by any way and means, just continue to advance, however we do it. I thought it was back-to-back days. I think our defense, once again, was tough. I thought we connected. I thought we had incredible leadership all over the court. Everybody that stepped on the court participated in helping us win … So just really proud of how connected we’ve been over the last two days defensively, and I think when you guard, offense becomes a little bit easier, a lot easier, and we were able to make some threes today as last night we only made three threes. I haven’t seen the stat sheet, but I know we made more than three today as Kayvaun made back-to-back shots, which I thought was really game, set, match in that situation,” said Georgetown head coach Ed Cooley, whose team has now won two straight in the tournament after toppling DePaul in the opening round.
Halaifonua was the undisputed star, finishing with 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting and pulling down a career-high 10 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double. “Those two first baskets definitely helped, but I think the rest of the game I just trusted my guards to make the right play, and they trusted me with the ball, and I just happened to make shots, and so, yeah,” Halaifonua said, downplaying his dominant performance with a grin.
Mulready was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field, including 3-for-3 from deep and 1-for-1 at the free throw line, tallying 14 points off the bench. Jeremiah Williams also scored 14, while Malik Mack added 12 points, hitting three three-pointers. Caleb Williams rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points, knocking down two triples of his own. On the glass, Jayden Fort and Mulready each grabbed eight rebounds, and Isaiah Abraham added seven, all contributing to Georgetown’s staggering 46-25 rebounding advantage.
The Hoyas’ shooting was sharp — 50.8% (30-59) from the field and 40.0% (8-20) from beyond the arc. They dominated second-chance opportunities, scoring 17 points off 16 offensive rebounds, and owned the paint with 36 points inside. Mack and Jeremiah Williams each dished out six assists, orchestrating an offense that looked as confident as it’s been all season.
For Villanova, it was a night of missed opportunities and cold shooting. The Wildcats connected on just 37.7% (23-61) from the field and 24.1% (7-29) from three-point range. Duke Brennan led the way with 14 points and six rebounds, followed by Tyler Perkins’ 13 points and Bryce Lindsay’s 11. Head coach Kevin Willard pointed to a crucial stretch late in the first half when Georgetown’s offense started to affect Villanova’s defensive intensity. “I thought late in the first half a little bit of our offense affected our defense,” Willard said. “That was the first time all year our offense kind of shifted to our defense instead of the other way around.”
Willard was quick to credit his counterpart. “Ed’s done a great job all year with this team. They have eight losses of four points or less. They beat Clemson, went to Maryland and won. Before the big guy got hurt, they were playing well. This is a good basketball team.”
Georgetown’s run to the semifinals as an 11-seed is historic — only the second time in BIG EAST Tournament history that a team seeded so low has reached this stage, joining the 2004 Villanova squad. The Hoyas are now 59-38 all-time in the tournament and 7-2 against Villanova in BIG EAST Tournament play. Their reward? A date with powerhouse UConn, ranked No. 6 in the country, on Friday night at 8 p.m. The Huskies, led by head coach Dan Hurley, have won 12 straight against Georgetown and boast a 42-36 all-time series edge. The Hoyas haven’t beaten UConn in the BIG EAST Tournament since 1991. If they want to keep their Cinderella run alive, they’ll need every bit of the grit and teamwork that got them this far.
As the dust settles on a night that will be remembered by Hoyas fans for years, Georgetown finds itself just one win away from the BIG EAST championship game. The journey continues — and for the Hoyas, the dream is still alive at the World’s Most Famous Arena.