In the Big East any team can win on a given night.

That is the beauty of conference play, or the horror of it, depending on which end of an upset a team finds itself on.

For the Hoyas it was the latter on Monday night as struggling Villanova (11-4, 1-2 Big East) rallied to defeat Georgetown (11-4, 1-1 Big East) at the Verizon Center, 56-52.

“Villanova made plays when they needed to make plays,” Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III said. “They got rebounds when they needed to get rebounds and got after loose balls. Our effort just wasn’t good enough.”

Coming off its most complete game with a win over then-No. 17 Notre Dame on Saturday, Georgetown looked sloppy and out of sync against Villanova. Bothered by the Wildcats’ full-court press defense, the Hoyas committed a season-high 22 turnovers and dished out just nine assists.

“I guess we let the rhythm and tempo get out of our favor,” Georgetown junior guard Jonathan Wallace said. “I think that cost us in the end.”

Junior center Roy Hibbert, who was dominant against the Irish, was a complete non-factor on Monday, going without a field goal attempt for the first time in his career and notching his only points of the evening on 2-of-6 free-throw shooting.

“We have to do a better job of [Roy] getting in position and feeding [Roy] the ball in the post,” Thompson said. “They did a very good job of not allowing us to throw the ball in.”

The other two preseason all-Big East players in the game – Georgetown’s junior forward Jeff Green and Villanova’s senior forward Curtis Sumpter – were nearly as ineffective as Hibbert. Green had seven points and five turnovers, while sitting most of the first half in foul trouble, and Sumpter fouled out with five points and three turnovers with just over two minutes remaining in the game.

Instead, the stars of the game were freshmen: guard Scottie Reynolds for the Wildcats and forward DaJuan Summers for the Hoyas.

Reynolds, who hails from nearby Herndon, Va. and was a McDonald’s High School All-American last year, made the most of his homecoming. With 400 friends and family members cheering him from the upper deck, Reynolds led the Wildcats with 16 points and three assists.

“It kind of all fell into place for him,” Villanova Head Coach Jay Wright said of Reynolds. “He played a great game against DePaul and then came home and played a great game here. It’s like the stars were aligned.”

Summers also had 16 points and three assists, while giving the Hoyas emotion and intensity in a game that often felt lethargic.

“I thought he was active,” Thompson said. “He did a lot of things besides just trying to score. I thought he did a decent job on defense and went after rebounds and chased down loose balls.”

In classic Big East fashion, Monday’s matchup was a defensive battle. Both teams struggled to get open looks, and few shots fell on either end. Georgetown’s leading scorers, Hibbert and Green, had two combined points in the first half, while Villanova’s points leaders, Sumpter and senior guard Mike Nardi, managed just two points between themselves as well.

The Hoyas shot just 39 percent from the floor – well below their league-leading average of 51 percent – but the Wildcats were held to a meager 32 percent field goal shooting. At the break Georgetown already had 13 turnovers – just two short of their season average – and Villanova had 11.

Neither team looked impressive, but the Hoyas led through most of the first half, taking a six-point lead to the locker room at halftime.

Coming out of the break Wallace drilled a three to give the Hoyas their largest lead of the night at nine points, and it looked as if Georgetown had finally broken the game open. But Villanova – which has never started Big East play with a record of 0-3 – was not going to let that happen on onday. Over the next 10 minutes the Wildcats chipped away at the Hoyas’ lead, finally tying it up on a Nardi three -his only points of the night – at 43-all with just under 10 minutes remaining.

For the next three and a half minutes neither team could score, but after a steal Villanova retook the lead on a three-pointer by Reynolds and the Wildcats never relinquished the lead again. The Hoyas made it interesting when Green made a steal and a layup to bring the Hoyas within two with just over a minute remaining. Summers then got an open look at a three that would have given Georgetown the lead with just seconds on the clock, but his shot missed.

Villanova sophomore forward Shane Clark made all four of his free throws in the final 15 seconds to give the Wildcats their sixth straight victory in Verizon Center.

“They played extremely well,” Thompson said of Villanova. “That’s what league play is all about. Anyone can beat anyone on any given night.”

The Hoyas, who have been plagued by poor free-throw shooting all season, were hurt again by that weakness. The Hoyas hit just 66.7 percent of their free throws and even Wallace, who is an 87 percent free-throw shooter, missed one (the front end of a one-and-one) on Monday night.

The Hoyas also continued to miss the contribution of sophomore swingman Marc Egerson, who withdrew from the university over the semester break. In their first two conference games the Hoyas received a combined 13 points from the bench. Egerson scored 11 in his final contest in the Blue and Gray at Michigan.

“This is early in the conference play,” Wallace said. “Like coach said, we are still a young team and we are still learning and these games are a good experience for us. We need to improve going into the next game.”

The next game will be a tough one for Georgetown, who will travel to Pittsburgh to take on the No. 7 Panthers on Saturday night. Tip-off at the Petersen Events Center is set for 9 p.m.