STORRS, Conn.- Charlie Villanueva scored 24 points and freshman Rudy Gay added a career-high 20 last night to give no. 15 Connecticut an 83-64 win over Georgetown for coach Jim Calhoun’s 700th career victory.

Calhoun become one of seven active Division I coaches with 700 wins. The sellout crowd of 10,167 at Gampel Pavilion stood for the closing seconds, chanting “700” and wildly waving placards printed with the number.

His Huskies (20-6, 12-3 Big East) made sure they put this one away early, well ahead of the celebration. The win also moved UConn into a first-place tie with Boston College in the Big East. The Huskies have been one of the hottest teams in the conference down the stretch, winning their last eight Big East games.

The streak is due in large part to the emergence of point guard Marcus Williams, who leads the league in assists. He finished with 11 points and eight assists yesterday.

The Hoyas (16-10, 8-7) continued their slide, losing their fourth straight. Freshman Jeff Green led Georgetown with 17 points and helped get the Hoyas out to a quick start.

Green opened the game with a 3-pointer as the Hoyas hit their first three shots from beyond the arc and played the Huskies close for several minutes. The Hoyas’ biggest lead was 19-15 with 12:10 left, but it didn’t last long.

The Huskies blew open the game with a 20-3 run that started with a driving layup by Williams. Gay’s fallaway at the buzzer put UConn up 41-26 at halftime.

Georgetown would get no closer than 14 points the rest of the way and the Huskies’ ever-intense coach made sure his team played hard until the end. He angrily flung his sport coat in the middle of an 11-2 Georgetown run early in the second half and called a timeout. The Huskies quickly regrouped and the rout was on.

Calhoun, 62, is in his 33rd year as a head coach, spending his first 14 at Northeastern. The Boston-area native rolled up 248 wins at Northeastern and 452 in his 19 years at UConn, transforming a decent regional program into a national power. He has led UConn to two national championships (1999 and 2004), 14 Big East titles, and an NIT championship.

Big East rival Jim Boeheim of Syracuse picked up his 700th victory on Saturday. The two square off this Saturday in Storrs for in the regular season finale.

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NO. 4 WAKE TOPS GEORGIA TECH

One by one Wake Forest’s four seniors walked to center court and dropped to their knees. All in a line, they bowed their heads and kissed the court.

There was no better feeling than closing out their final season at Lawrence Joel Coliseum a perfect 16-0.

Vytas Danelius and Taron Downey kept no. 4 Wake Forest unbeaten at home by pulling the Demon Deacons out of an 11-point deficit and rallying them to a 98-91 victory over Georgia Tech last night.

Danelius had 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Downey scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half and sparked two pivotal runs with 3-pointers.

Jamaal Levy, Wake Forest’s only other scholarship senior, scored nine of his 10 points in the second half. The trio turned it up after falling behind 45-37 at halftime and getting a lecture from coach Skip Prosser during the break.

Downey said the Deacons (25-4, 12-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) played horrible defense in the first half, then turned it around after Prosser’s scolding. Wake Forest had just three turnovers in the second half, and out rebounded the Yellow Jackets 37-29.

Georgia Tech (16-10, 7-8) has been the Deacons’ top nemesis of late, winning two of the last three meetings.