Villanova defeated Georgetown by a score of 66–64 to win their first-ever national championship, in what is considered by analysts to be one of the biggest upsets in tournament history.

The Wildcats had the highest field goal percentage in Final Four history,[6] winning their first national championship in men's basketball.

[9] The Hoyas held the number one ranking in the Associated Press Poll at the start of the season, and won their first 14 games against Division I clubs.

In the first game, held at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, Villanova's home arena, the teams battled into overtime before the Hoyas claimed a two-point victory.

[9] Georgetown received the top seed in the East regional bracket of the 1985 NCAA Tournament, the first with 64 teams in the field, and faced Lehigh in the first round.

There, Georgetown was matched with number four seed Loyola University Chicago; the Hoyas prevailed by 12 points and moved on to the East region's final.

[10] Coached by Rollie Massimino, the Wildcats were coming off of a season in which they had lost to Illinois in the second round of the 1984 NCAA Tournament.

The team's regular starting lineup included seniors Ed Pinckney, Dwayne McClain, and Gary McLain, along with juniors Harold Pressley and Dwight Wilbur.

[12] North Carolina, their opponent, held a five-point lead at halftime before a strong performance in the second half led to a 12-point Villanova win and a spot in the Final Four.

Three Wildcats players scored on long-range jumpers, including a shot by Pressley that fell after hitting the rim multiple times.

The Wildcats employed a "patient" offensive strategy during the game, which was in evidence during the last two minutes of the first half as Pinckney, with two personal fouls, was not on the floor.

The team employed what author Frank Fitzpatrick called "the last successful stall in college basketball history.

A long-distance shot by Wingate missed as time ran out in the first half, and the arm of Georgetown forward Williams made contact with the face and neck of Villanova reserve Chuck Everson; no foul was called, but Villanova assistant coach Marty Marback credited the encounter with giving his team energy going into the halftime break.

[19] The Wildcats reclaimed the lead on a field goal by Harold Jensen, his third of the game, before Pinckney made a shot while being fouled by Ewing.

The play began a stretch of about a minute in which Ewing committed three personal fouls and had to be removed from the Hoyas lineup; with Williams suffering from an ankle injury, Georgetown's two leading players on offense were out of the game.

With 10 minutes left in regulation, the Wildcats held a one-point lead, even though they had attempted only five field goals so far in the second half.

Villanova resumed their ball-control offense, and took the lead with 2:37 remaining on a made shot by Jensen; the Wildcats had taken 62 seconds to run the play.

[23] Although the team was unsuccessful on multiple one-and-one free throw attempts, they added seven more points in the final portion of the game.

Sportswriter Tim Layden commented on the Wildcats' statistics, "Part of what is so fascinating about the game is that Villanova, when it did not turn the ball over, almost always scored.

[25] A rule change in college basketball left teams unable to replicate Villanova's ball control strategy from the 1985 national championship game.