ROLLIE MASSIMINO: It was a terrible blow because Al and I were good friends and he was very, very receptive to everything we did. 1 team in the country, and with the best player in Patrick Ewing. Former 'Nova players relived the ⦠"PERFECT UPSET" is a 2005 sports documentary about the Villanova Wildcats' shocking win against the heavily favored Georgetown Hoyas in the 1985 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship. So yeah, no, I did not want to see Walter again. It began on March 14, 1985, and ended with the championship game on April 1 in Lexington, Kentucky. ’’Needless to say, this is probably the greatest moment in Villanova basketball history,’’ said Massimino, whose team entered the Final Four as the only one with more than three losses. In 1985, Villanova upset Georgetown in one of the best national championship games in college basketball history. Villanova Wildcats coach Jay Wright joins Get Up to reminisce on Rollie Massimino and Villanovaâs 1985 NCAA championship game upset vs. John Thompson, Patrick Ewing and the Georgetown Hoyas. So I think you were more afraid of what Patrick did defensively. Villanova-Georgetown would be a perfect little microcosm of the 1980s. It should have been a technical foul and we should have won already, and now they’ve at least got a chance to tie. Chris Mullin was contained, pretty much, and Mark Jackson and Bill Wennington were guys we had an answer for, but we did not have an answer for Berry. ROLLIE MASSIMINO: Ask the kids, and they’ll tell you they wanted to play Georgetown rather than St. John’s in the final. Not an ounce. Even so, and this is testimony as to how well the Hoyas played, they won by only one basket. If there had a been a shot clock in â85, 100% Georgetown wins. So coach uses that, and he runs off and he’s pumping his fist going into the locker room. One was to counter Georgetown’s heralded full-court defensive pressure with deception. To Massimino, that was a critical play because of how McLain responded. EVERSON: Pres scored on our end to give us the lead with a few seconds left in the half, and they’re pushing the ball down the court and time is running out, and David Wingate’s got the ball. HARRINGTON: We knew that Ewing was one of the greatest college players of all time, but Eddie did not have an ounce of fear of Patrick. So 10 seconds, we call time out, and I said “Guys, you’re going to win the national championship. WILSON: The day of the game, there was even an article in the local paper out there that said there would be a Martian in the White House before we won. There was just something about his style of play and his strength and athletic ability —maybe the left hand — that had me off balance. The defending champion Georgetown Hoyas were a likely team to make it to the championship game in 1985. The Wildcats made two minor technical adjustments that turned out to be critical in the second half. Every time Gary got to the half court line, you would exhale. Villanova falls to Georgetown in 72-71 quarterfinal thriller. You want to clone yourself because the range of emotions is so high. Villanovaâs 66-64 victory over Georgetown in the 1985 NCAA title game remains one of the most famous college basketball games ever played. As CBS jumped into its NCAA tournament vault, this game from April 1 of 35 years ago was a natural: one of the great Cinderella upsets in NCAA history. And they did that by holding Georgetown to only seven defensive rebounds after the defending champions had averaged twice that many in their three previous tournament games. It’s been really nice. We will be walking through Villanova’s three National Championships on a game-by-game basis. As great as Georgetown was, we didn’t know if we could beat them, but we knew we could stay close with them, at least. There were several moments that typified each of those factors. Tournament Throwback: #8 Villanova vs. #1 Georgetown (1985), Friday’s Arizin: Daily links for March 12, Villanova falls to Rhode Island in overtime thriller, 40-37. Letâs come together as a Nova Nation (virtually and in our own homes) to share our collective love of Villanova Basketball. Perfect Upset: The 1985 Villanova vs. Georgetown NCAA Championship (TV Movie 2005) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. #NovaNation: Show your love of Villanova Basketball through our Virtual Game Watch Photo Campaign! EVERSON: Winning that game was a feeling of euphoria that you’ve never, ever, ever experienced in your life. In 2014-15, the Wildcats and Hoyas figure to be the two best teams in ⦠I mean, I was a high school coach coach the year before, so I couldn’t even fathom that I was there. EVERSON: I didn’t realize it was a big turning point in the game, during the heat of the moment, until I got to my locker at the end of the game and I’ve got 25 or 30 reporters hovering around me, asking about what happened. ROLLIE MASSIMINO: I got on Eddie Pinckney about how he was going to have trouble with Patrick Ewing. It was roused again by the sophomore guard Harold Jensen, who, after shooting only 40.5 percent in the team’s first 30 games, nailed 8 of 11 in the Final Four, including all 5 of his shots in the championship game. We were not afraid of the Hoya Paranoia and all that other stuff. PINCKNEY: There’s a lot of tension in the game anyway, but it just adds to it when there’s an incident that you can tie to the other team. The Villanova Wildcatsâ victory over the Georgetown Hoyas in the 1985 NCAA menâs basketball championship remains one of the greatest surprises in sports history. JENSEN: I knew that Dwayne was a very smart guy, and I knew that he wouldn’t try to get up. The New York Times Archives. VILLANOVA STUNS GEORGETOWN, 66-64, IN FINAL. Throw on your best Villanova gear, snap a photo of you watching the game at home and submit it at the link below. Even now, a quarter-century later, the upset gives hope to sporting Davids everywhere. We would practice against seven, eight defenders sometimes for upcoming games against them and their full-court press. It was always like, “Are you kidding me?” I’d have my hand in his face and tip his shot and it would still go down. The Villanova team goes to the White House to meet President Reagan. Dwight and I were on the bench halfway through the half and we look at each other and he’s saying, “Skee, why aren’t we back in the game?” I said, “Back in? Just don’t foul, let them come down, it’s going to take five seconds to come down and shoot the ball and make it, and then just leave the ball alone, and by the time the ref gets to a five-second count, the game will be over and we win.”. If you said before that game, “Hey guys, I’ll give you down one, them with the ball, with three and a half to go,” we’d have taken that in a heartbeat. And unlike the Cougars, who hurt themselves by going to a delay game with too much time remaining and missing several free throws in the final minutes, the Hoyas played creditably. BOOTH: Going into that game that night, we knew if Gary McLain could not handle the pressure, we were in deep trouble. Villanovaâs poise is astonishing. But the Wildcats followed each dunk with baskets of their own to stay close until they took their first lead, 29-28, when the forward Harold Pressley grabbed his own missed shot and scored with 5 seconds left in the half. ROLLIE MASSIMINO: I called another timeout (with the clock now stopped at two seconds) and I’m just shaking I’m so mad. Throw on your best Villanova gear, print out our âCheering on the Wildcats .... Want to watch a Villanova football or basketball game with friends? Maybe the 40 minutes of hell in Arkansas, but after that, nobody pressed like that. 2021 Big East Tournament: Final standings, seeding, bracket, schedule. ET. In a matter of two or three hours, you have your game prep, your walkthrough and you’re talking about what you’ve got to do, to the actual game where the emotions are totally off the charts, and now it’s like celebration time. PINCKNEY: You can’t describe the range of emotions after you win. He purposely came down to see the game and he was shaving and all of a sudden he passed. Given Villanova's 10 defeats, including a 23-point loss to Pittsburgh in its last regular-season game, and acknowledging Georgetown's prowess, this might have been the most fascinating upset in the 47 years of the NCAA championship game. JENSEN: That was the first option, Dwayne breaking to the ball, to the corner. That’s how we really got control of the game. 12. The first occurred less than five minutes into the contest when, after the Hoyas scored 6 straight points to take a 10-6 lead, the Wildcats’ fiery point guard, Gary McLain, committed a turnover trying to force the ball past the Hoyas’ Michael Jackson and was charged with traveling. And here, we beat Georgetown, and the next thing you know, there’s nobody else. His 18-footer and two free throws ignited another 6-0 streak that put the Wildcats ahead by 59-54 with 1:24 left. For the game, they shot an unprecedented 78.6 percent on 22 of 28 from the field, which established a tournament and championship-game record, and 81.5 percent from the free-throw line on 22 of 27. Look at the stats over the course of the years, and Ed played Patrick as well as anybody in college. I just remember that being a strange feeling, but such a great, great way to end the season. ’’He came right over to me and said that he lost the ball and he knew it,’’ the coach said, adding that McLain was the most ‘’unsung player in the tournament.’’ McLain, who spent much of his career in the shadow of more noted Big East Conference point guards such as Jackson, and Dwayne (Pearl) Washington of Syracuse, committed only two turnovers in the final game while playing the full 40 minutes. By Roy S. Johnson. Yes, the ball kept dropping but as I watch, they were just taking high percentage shots and using their senior smarts to its full advantage. 1985 Villanova vs. Georgetown - Part II - Running Game Diary Welcome to Part II of 1985 Villanova vs. Georgetown â Was it Really That Big of an Upsetâ¦? Eddie enjoyed playing against Ewing because he had to live with all the “Ewing is the best player in the country” talk — and he was — but Eddie was the kind of guy that would relish that. They committed one more in the next few minutes, but under McLain’s patient guidance, they attained shots that were well within the ranges of their best scorers. A look at the final standings and tournament seeding. He gave us nightmares. You’re running around looking for people to hug, just running aimlessly, jumping on tables. So for people to hear that we wanted Georgetown to win that ballgame, they thought we were crazy. ROLLIE MASSIMINO: Broadnax called their last timeout with 40 seconds left, and with maybe 10 seconds left (and Villanova leading 65-62 with Pressley at the line) I called time out. Villanova upset the vaunted Hoyas to capture the school’s first National Championship. Postcard sent from Dean M. Louise Fitzpatrick to the faculty and staff of the College of Nursing. Given the cancellation of this year’s NCAA Tournament, we have decided to use the next few weeks to look back and remember Villanova’s greatest tournament successes of the past. Their pressure defense — there is nothing like it in college basketball now. But I felt that the stars had aligned for us and it was our time. LAPPAS: People always says we held the ball, but Georgetown was the ones who decided to start holding the ball with about four minutes to go, (and a 54-53 lead) and it turned out that the key turnover in the game came a short time into it, when David Wingate passed the ball of Broadnax’s foot, we stole it and scored. PRESSLEY: You had to mentally stay in the game from start to finish with Georgetown, because once you let down ever so slightly, that’s when they’d go on their run. Second, I wanted them to tell themselves they were good enough to win.’’. 2021 Big East Tournament game preview: Georgetown Hoyas. I was just waiting for that clock to expire. People kind of barked at the fact that John Thompson took it off, but what was he going to do? 11. PINCKNEY: I’ll tell you this: If we played St. John’s, you’d probably be talking to somebody else for this story. Game Watch. The Wildcats lost a shootout in overtime to the Rams in their home opener. The DVD has arrived in the mail. They were the No.1 team in the country and had Co-Player of the Year Patrick Ewing at center. PINCKNEY: Still, I don’t want to say it was relief that we were playing Georgetown, because after they demolished St. John’s (77-59 in the other semifinal), my parents, both of them, said, “Well this has been a great run. The team played its home games at Villanova Field House in Villanova, Pennsylvania, and ⦠It’s the whole Jim Valvano moment. Kansas (1988) and Villanova (1985) both won the title as 8-point underdogs. They had great athletes and size and lateral quickness and then at the end of the press they had the ultimate rim protector. See the article in its original context from April 2, 1985⦠JENSEN: They were playing four corners, but we were happy to be in a one-point game with them holding the ball with just a few minutes left. Join us at our next watch party. Watch this complete national championship game from 1985, when one of the original Cinderella stories, Villanova, marched its way to the championship game against heavy favorite Georgetown. He scored 6 points during an 8-2 surge that gave the Wildcats a 53-48 lead with 6 minutes 2 seconds left. Both teams were unyielding, especially he Hoyas, who momentarily cooled the Wildcats with a string of 6 straight points and regained the lead, 54-53, with 4:48 remaining on a 16-footer by the guard David Wingate. This Sunday, March 29, CBS Sports will be re-airing the 1985 National Championship game at 1 p.m. Feel free to share your virtual game watch photos using the hashtag #NovaChamps85 on social media as well. MCLAIN: It’s one of those things where, if you’re blessed to play in a game the magnitude of that one, you can’t get overwhelmed by the dynamic of it being March Madness. MASSIMINO: The thing I remember most was, when it was all over, taking a shower and getting on the bus and wondering who we were going to play next and realizing that there was no next. But that game, we never had one of those lulls. The other adjustment was to station Pinckney near the basket on the right side of the foul lane, then send him cutting into the middle after a teammate, usually Pressley, had driven into the key and looked to shoot. A four-year member of the Villanova Wildcats basketball program, Brian Harrington was part of two Elite Eight squads and one of college basketballâs most memorable teams: the 1985 Villanova group that downed heavily favored Georgetown 66-64 to win the 1985 national title. How could this happen to Georgetown, which had led the nation by holding opponents to 39 percent shooting until the final game. The wife is out of town visiting high school friends. MCCLAIN: St. John’s didn’t just kind of have our number that year, they definitely had our number. It doesn’t mean you’re going to win, but it does mean you’ll at least be able to get the ball over halfcourt and maybe get into your offense. On March 2, 1985, the Villanova menâs basketball team closed its regular season with an 85-62 road loss to Pittsburgh on national TV, a defeat that dropped the Wildcats to 18-9 on the season. So, on the afternoon of the game, when Coach Rollie Massimino asked his players to find a secluded place where they could convince themselves that they could win, it was not a difficult thing to do. 10. It was just a bad matchup with Walter Berry. You’re making your team tired and not getting anything out of it. 13. MCCLAIN: Georgetown was America’s darling, the No. Making a move to get the ball, I actually stumbled and fell, but even though I fell, Harold still threw me the ball, and once I corralled it, I wasn’t going to let it go. Villanova, on the other hand, wasn't even ranked and had lost to the Hoyas both times the two teams met in the Big East play. We were all distraught but we had to play on and do the best we could. Social and Professional Network for Villanova Alumni and friends in Southwest Florida. That traveling violation was the Wildcats’ fourth turnover. VILLANOVA'S HISTORIC UPSET OF GEORGETOWN in the 1985 NCAA championship game remains one of college basketballâs most memorable and compelling moments. All I could see in my mind is Wingate putting a shot up and having someone tip the ball in, and then I would have caught the wrath of Coach Mass at halftime. Next week, weâll post a photo album showcasing all the fans who came together virtually to cheer on our Wildcats. 1985 NCAA Championship Game Villanova vs. Georgetown. But I get my guys ready and I said “OK, let’s get it to Dwayne.”. It was almost unbelievable to me that he became this tremendous jump shooter as a center because in college he wasn’t a huge scorer. LAPPAS: (Former Villanova coach) Al Severance passed away at the team hotel the morning of the championship game, and I’ll never forget, during our pregame meal, Rollie saying that Al would be up there swatting shots off the rim from heaven. Back then, they had a running clock, so when the ball went through the basket, it continued on, where now it stops. The documentary was aired March 2, 2005 on Home Box Office (HBO). Tune in to the VUHoops’ screening of the 1985 National Championship between #8 Villanova and #1 Georgetown TONIGHT AT 7:00 p.m. EST. With Ed Pinckney, Gary McLain, Dwayne McClain, Rollie Massimino. I wouldn’t have minded St. John’s. After converting 13 of 18 shots and 3 of 4 free throws in the first half to build a 29-28 lead, Villanova put on a display of offensive execution, defensive perseverance and mental fortitude in the second half that will be long remembered and cherished. Tune in to the VUHoopsâ screening of the 1985 National Championship between #8 Villanova and #1 Georgetown TONIGHT AT 7:00 p.m. EST.. PINCKNEY: If you never saw them play before, there’s no way you could simulate Patrick. When the Wildcats tried to run their delaying game, the Hoyas added another burden by sending them to the free-throw line six times in the final 1:10, and they converted 7 of 10 shots. Jan. 12, 1985 â Georgetown 52, Villanova 50 (OT) Playing undefeated Georgetown (for the first of three times during the season), Villanova fell by just two points in yet another overtime game. Too bad it’s got to be over.” Nobody thought we were winning that game except us. MCCLAIN: I told Harold “Put the ball in my hands.” I knew I had been shooting it well from the foul line (McClain missed one free throw in 25 tries during the tournament), and I really didn’t want to give them a chance to execute their defense. That strategy led to some quick passes to Pinckney, who was free for shots. The lead had changed hands eight times to that point as play reached a level that is rarely attained. He could practically play five guys by himself because he was such a great rim protector and shot blocker. And while he’s walking over to the ball, Wingate punches it into the stands, and now the referee has to stop the clock because the ball is in the stands. EVERSON: Coach Mass told us before the game to think about two things: One, anybody can beat anybody on a given night, and two, he wanted us to play the game to win instead of playing not to lose, essentially telling us to go for it. Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. Some Hart and Arcidiacono to end your work week. He took that and played with a chip on his shoulder and wanted to prove he could play with this guy. BUONAGURO: Eddie Pinckney had always played well against Patrick Ewing. The kids ⦠Such an exhibition has broken many Hoya foes because, as McLain says, ‘’they start acting like sharks sniffing blood.’’. It was unbelievable. PINONE: Pres made the first and missed the second, so they’re down four at the time and they come down and score with four or five seconds left on the clock (to make it 66-64) and Harold Jensen, smartly, is not picking the ball up, because once he picks it up the five-second clock starts. So when you do that for several years, there’s a comfort level in playing against them. Read ⦠So, as you’re locked inside quarantining and social distancing, share your thoughts, memories, and stories as we relive Villanova’s greatest moments. A total of 63 games were played. That’s why they called off the press a few times (in the second half) because they knew we were going to break it. Everybody is looking for ammunition to give you an edge to play harder, and that was it for us, with Chuck. ET. We’d had one or two five-second calls, and I’d been inbounding the ball the whole game, which was not an easy job against them. LAPPAS: We believed it but we didn’t believe it. I coached in college, and there was nothing like it. PLANSKY: We definitely realized how well we were shooting. This Sunday, March 29, CBS will be re-airing the 1985 National Championship game at 1 p.m. They lost twice to Georgetown in two games during the regular season, but both were close. #8 Villanova vs. #1 Georgetown (1985 NCAA Tournament): Live Score, Stats, Updates, Odds and more âCats try to capture the schoolâs first title ⦠Villanova, coached by Rollie Massimino, knocked off a powerhouse Georgetown team, 66-64, as it connected on .786 of its field goal attempts over the course of 40 minutes. The next choice would have been to throw it to halfcourt and let someone bang it around and take a 50-footer. Unlike most knowledgeable and now, red-faced observers, the Wildcats believed they could defeat the Hoyas. Rollie Massimino takes a ride on his players' shoulders after Villanova, an eight seed, beat defending champion Georgetown in the 1985 NCAA Tournament. They shot 55 percent from the field, hitting 29 of 53 shots; committed only five turnovers in the second half and got balanced scoring with double figures from four players. When Georgetown beat St. John’s, we collectively looked at each other like we had already won the national championship. R.C. So when I saw Reggie breaking hard down the middle of the lane, coming pretty much full speed, I turned and put a clean box-out on him — a hard box-out because there was no way I was letting him tap the ball in on me at the buzzer so I could get yelled at at halftime. PRESSLEY: I felt that way more so than anybody else. It was an out-of-body experience. I think he averaged like 14 points a game his senior year. As a result, they converted 9 of their first 10 attempts to tie the game at 20-all, and none of the shots was from farther away than the free-throw line. I had never cried just pure tears of joy until that moment. But that fire that had carried the Wildcats through five other tournament victories was not doused. ‘’One, to play not with the idea not to lose, but play to win. It is necessary to clarify something right away: Villanova’s 66-64 stirring upset victory over Georgetown in the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship Monday night should not be likened to North Carolina State’s unexpected 54-52 triumph over Houston in the 1983 title game. We’d been down the road with these guys numerous times. He was sick that day, so I told him “What, you get sick so you don’t have to play against Patrick?” But he played great. That is not an exaggeration. Anyone would be hard-pressed to find another basketball game - at any level - in which both teams played so well with so much at stake, and in which one of them, in this case the Wildcats, was perfect. Every single year, you go to the tournament, you lose a game, you go home, clean out your locker and wait until next season. What unfolded next remains the greatest upset in college basketball history.