Im a Georgetown fan (although I was not when this game was played, I actually became a Hoya fan the season after) but it still hurts to think about how this game ended. But still if you were a Georgetown fan or not no one can deny how great a college basketball game was and how it is one of the biggest upsets in sports history.
The Georgetown Hoyas, the defending national champions featuring Patrick Ewing, one of the greatest players in the history of college basketball, helped the Hoyas to their third appearance in the National Championship game in fourth years. They marched through the tournament by defeating Leigh, Temple, Loyala-Chicago, Georgia Tech and St. Johns, which was their most impressive game of the tournament as they routed the Redmen (now known as the Red Storm), 77-59 to avenge one of their two losses during the regular season. Meanwhile the Villanova Wildcats, had barely made it into the tournament as a No. 8 seed, and were on a roll, having squeaked past Dayton in the first round, upset Michigan, Maryland, North Carolina, and Memphis State to reach the title game. Villanova continued to stay hot in the first half of this game by shooting 13-of-18 from the field in the first half and took a 29-28 lead in the first half. As it hard as it is to believe, they shot even better from the field in the second half, going 9-from-10 from the field, going an astonishing 22-for-28 from the field and 22-for-27 from the free throw line and pulled out a 66-64 victory.
Georgetown did have the lead briefly in the second half, after trailing 53-48 before clawing back with its defensive pressure to score six straight points, to take a 54-53 lead. Georgetown was about to go into a stall offense however Horace Brodnax dribbled his foot off the ball, the Wildcats came back and scored and the momentum stayed with Villanova for the rest of the game. The Wildcats top scorers for the game were Dwayne McLain with 16 points and Ed Pickney who had 16 points. But perhaps the most important contribution came from reserve guard Harold Jensen who came of the bench to shoot a perfect five-for-five from the field, (including the go ahead basket after Brodnaxs turnover )and four-of-five from the free throw for 14 points.
Not to take anything away from Villanova as a Georgetown fan, what most people dont know about the Hoyas was that Reggie Williams (my favorite all time Hoya), and arguably the Hoyas top perimeter player had suffered a sprained ankle in the Hoyas Final Four victory against St. Johns and was limited to just 29 minutes. Reggie had been hot early in the game scored three straight baskets in the first half of the game to put the Hoyas up 18-12 in the first half and did manage to finish the game with ten points (5-9 from the field, 0-2 from the free throw line) but had to come out of the game because of his ankle, although Coach Thompson, was diplomatic and never mentioned the injury and would later say after the game, Reggie had to come out of the game because he was winded. Reggie also does not like to discuss the fact that he was playing on a sprained ankle.
Had Reggie been completely healthy (and/or if Horace Bordnax hadn‘t dribbled the ball of his foot), Hoya fans can only wonder if the out come of this game might have turned out differently. But again Villanova played a great game and they deserved to win. Although the loss was disappointing I can take pride in the fact that the Hoyas along with Coach Thompson behaved with dignity after the game showing sportsmanship by not doing something like leaving the floor early or right after the game (like the Detroit Pistons did against the Bulls during the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals or Bill Bilicheck did at Super Bowl XLII ) applauding Villanova. Said Big East Commissioner Dave Gavitt after the game of the Hoyas, “They taught college basketball how to win this seaosn. Tongith they taught college basketball how to lose.”
