Austin Freeman and Greg Monroe scored 16 points each, and No. 22 Georgetown built a big first-half lead before handling everything South Florida star Dominique Jones could offer in a 69-49 victory Wednesday in the Big East tournament.

Chris Wright also had 15 points for the eighth-seeded Hoyas (21-9), who were likely already in the NCAA tournament but now have the chance to improve their seeding with a deep run in the tourney. They’ll play No. 1 seed Syracuse in the quarterfinals Thursday.

The two conference heavyweights have split their 12 meetings in the Big East tournament.

Georgetown built a 14-point first-half lead relying mostly on defense, which was good even by coach John Thompson III’s stringent standards. South Florida (20-12) didn’t score for nearly eight minutes, and Jones couldn’t find open looks as the Hoyas rotated over to guard him.