Who is excited for some basketball!?!?! Georgetown is hosting a late one today. The Hoyas have won their last two and stand 93rd in the KenPom and 110th in the NET. They’ve lost three, but all are in the top two quads. The Miami (Fl) and UNC games got away from Georgetown, but they’ve beaten […]
Who is excited for some basketball!?!?!
Georgetown is hosting a late one today. The Hoyas have won their last two and stand 93rd in the KenPom and 110th in the NET. They’ve lost three, but all are in the top two quads. The Miami (Fl) and UNC games got away from Georgetown, but they’ve beaten Clemson at home and (pretty poor) Maryland and Marquette squads away. Nothing impressive, nothing disastrous.
Speaking of disastrous… This is Xavier’s first game after one of their worst ever beatings. Sounds like hyperbole, doesn’t it? It’s not. The Musketeers suffered their worst ever home loss against Creighton in a game in which they very simply no-showed from the start. Not necessarily in terms of effort, but certainly in terms of playing basketball. On a night where Marist would have beaten them by 20, the Bluejays beat them by 41. It was a chastening, a loss that should happen to no high-major team not called Rutgers.
Xavier now has to try to bounce from that with an away game played late on a Saturday at a gym that will likely struggle to be half full. Georgetown fans can forgiven their apathy because their program hasn’t had a winning (or even .500) record in the Big East for a decade. They turned to Ed Cooley three years ago to lead them out of that wilderness. In a college landscape where turnarounds supposedly happen quickly at big names with a lot of money, Cooley has posted a 35-42 record and won exactly zero Big East tournament games.
But then he also hasn’t lost by 41 at home. Swings and roundabouts, as they say.
Team Fingerprint
On offense the Hoyas take very good care of the ball. In fact, no one in college basketball turns the ball over less than they do. They buttress that by being 161st in the nation in two point shooting and 325th in three point shooting. They are decent at the line and pretty good at getting there, but they aren’t terribly concerned about cleaning up their own copious misses. The battle on this end pits the 94th ranked offense against the 94th ranked defense. It is, as the kids might say, a mid-off.
On defense Georgetown rebounds pretty well and blocks shots really well. They’re toughish against teams shooting inside the arc, but pretty lax against three point shooting both in terms of makes and attempts. Any team that tries to get to the line they are more than happy to oblige. All of that totals up to the nation’s 108th best defense.
Players
| Starting matchups | ||
|---|---|---|
| Malik Mack | Point Guard | All Wright |
| Junior | Class | Sophomore |
| 6’2, 175 | Measurements | 6’3″, 190 |
| 14.6/3.3/4.5 | Game line | 10.2/2.1/2.3 |
| 38.3/35.9/85.7 | Shooting line | 45.7/46.8/87.5 |
| Mack is the main focal point for the Hoyas offense, leading the way in both points and assists. He’s not shot the ball particularly well from the field, but is elite at getting himself to the line. When he is off his game, everything falls apart for Georgetown with his two worst performaces of the season being the blowout loss to UNC and an overtime win over St. Peter’s. | ||
| Jeremiah Williams | Shooting Guard | Malik Messina-Moore |
| Senior | Class | Senior |
| 6’4″, 200 | Measurements | 6’5″, 200 |
| 5/1.8/2.7 | Game line | 7.4/3.2/4.1 |
| 38.3/27.3/64 | Shooting line | 32.1/26.8/75 |
| Williams is using his COVID year, having lost a year to injury, and has never really been an efficient scorer in his 5 year college career. His career shooting line of .432/.263/.665 is a little higher than what he is posting so far this season, but his main contributions are going to come defensively, where he has maintained his typical excellent steal rate, and in his ability to get himself to the free throw line, which would be more of a strength if he made more of his free throws. He did go for an efficient 15 in the Big East opener against Marquette, which was his first start of the season. | ||
| Isaiah Abraham | Small Forward | Tre Carroll |
| Sophomore | Class | Senior |
| 6’7″, 205 | Measurements | 6’8″, 235 |
| 5.5/2.8/0.6 | Game line | 16.1/5.4/2.8 |
| 44.2/25/66.7 | Shooting line | 47.4/37.5/60 |
| Abraham came over from UConn and has started every game this season, but has been a total afterthought in the offense. He’s only cracked double digits twice and averages less than 5 shots per game. He does decent work on the boards, blocks the occaisonal shot, and rarely turns the ball over, but he’s yet to really put his stamp on a game this season. | ||
| Caleb Williams | Power Forward | Filip Borovicanin |
| Sophomore | Class | Senior |
| 6’7″, 227 | Measurements | 6’9″, 227 |
| 11.7/5.9/1.6 | Game line | 8.6/7.1/4.2 |
| 49/38.1/82.6 | Shooting line | 47.3/29.4/87.5 |
| In his second year in the program, Williams has taken a huge leap forward in every aspect of his game. He’s shooting over 70% at the rim and has shown his ability to step out and shoot the three as well. He is the team’s leading rebounder, although his rates aren’t necessarily elite, and is also converting his chances from the line well. | ||
| Julius Halaifonua | Center | Jovan Milicevic |
| Sophomore | Class | Sophomore |
| 7’0″, 259 | Measurements | 6’10”, 241 |
| 11.3/5.3/1.5 | Game line | 11.8/4/1.2 |
| 59.7/26.7/77.8 | Shooting line | 39.8/41.5/65.6 |
| Currently the most efficient player on Georgetown and among the most efficient in the nation. He converts 70% at the rim and 57% on two point jumpers. He has shown a willingness to shoot the three although that has been somewhat undercut by an inability to make it. He gets on the offensive glass at a high rate and blocks shots well, although that all action style comes with a propensity for foul trouble. |
Reserves
Georgetown gets just above the national average in minutes from the bench, although they are missing a big piece in Vince Iwuchuckwu, who is out after having had an undisclosed medical procedure in November, and also Deshawn Harris-Smith, who stepped away from the team this week after having not played since late November. KJ Lewis is a name familiar to college basketball fans from his time at Arizona and he started every game of the non conference slate before being dropped to the bench against Marquette. Lewis is second on the team in scoring, though that is mostly down to volume, and he gets Georgetown a lot of possessions through steals, drawing fouls, and rebounds. Jayden Fort will back up the forward positions, and he defends the rim and rebounds well, but his ability to affect games by scoring is a clear step down from the starters. Baylor transfer Langston Love also will feature off the bench, although his shooting numbers are way down from his time with the Bears, especially from three.
Three Questions
– How does Richard Pitino respond? After Santa Clara and Iowa, Xavier’s head man changed things up and righted the ship. Those games were both bad losses, but their combined margin still didn’t rise to the level of the hiding Xavier just took. What happened on on Wednesday was as bad as things get. After this one, Xavier goes 11 days without a game. It can’t be just as bad again.
– How does the team respond? There were moments on Wednesday where it looked like everyone was very happy to just get off the court and be done. It’s hard to blame them, sometimes you just get destroyed. That can turn into malaise quickly, though. Once you’ve downed tools once, crossing that mental bridge is a little easier the next time. Xavier won’t lose by 41 if they do it here, but it will be noticeable.
– Who is a leader? No one could stop the slide against Creighton, someone needs to make sure it doesn’t spread.
Three Keys
– Shoot over 30% from deep: Xavier gets up enough three pointers that they don’t have to be terribly accurate. When they make even 30% of their attempts this year they are 6-1. They are also 6-1 when they make 10 or more. There is no strong correlation in their two point shooting and winning. This team lives and dies behind the arc.
– Be close early: You have to think that taking a big punch early would have a seriously deleterious effect on a team that just lost by 41. Georgetown doesn’t have a particularly good defense, so it’s entirely possible X could come back after a run, but did you see a team on Wednesday that was confident? These guys need a good 20 minutes to recover and get that good muscle memory back.
– Get Jovan Milicevic firing again: In the last four games Jovan has posted an efficiency over 100 just once. The seven he had against Creighton came on 0/2/0 on 0-8 from the floor. Xavier is a far better team when their big Canadian is a threat.
Category: General Sports
