COUNTRY ROADS: Georgetown Visits West Virginia on Friday Night

Peavy, Sorber look to lead in first away game

Your Georgetown Hoyas (7-1) will travel to Morgantown to face the West Virginia Mountaineers (5-2) on Friday, December 6, 2024, at 7:00 PM EST in the WVU Coliseum. This matchup is part of the Big 12-Big East Battle, rekindling an old rivalry from their shared Big East days—only much different.

There have been plenty of positives in Georgetown’s 5-game win streak. For one, defensively—especially during each second half—the Hoyas have looked radically different than recent years. Georgetown has been getting turnovers and scoring in transition. They have been moving well, communicating more, matching physicality, and fighting through screens. The competition level has not been elite, but fans definitely see potential.

For instance, the Hoyas have not allowed any single under-recruited-hot-shooting guard to light them up like in seasons past. That’s a big deal. Whether that translates to a better team overall with multiple good shooter is yet to be seen. The Notre Dame game still gives pause.

However, with a consistent big man down low, the ball moves in and out better than fans are used to. Getting easier buckets in a set offense can stop some runs. Runs are devastating. So far, Thomas Sorber moves on both ends of the floor like a center beyond his years. Sorber has been a jolt to the program, school, fanbase, and beyond for Georgetown.

The Mountaineers are led by three senior guards—Javon Small, Tucker DeVries (coach’s son), and Toby Okani—but don’t start anyone taller than 6’8” (sophomore Amani Hansberry). So far, Small and Devries have made 42 of 95 (44.2%) three-point attempts. The Hoyas need to prove they can prevent two shooters from torching them. Peavy may be tasked to guard the 6’8” Okani, so if Epps and Mack can slow down the shooters, it can be a close game.

Here are some Gen-AI “insights” that I’m trying out:

Georgetown:

• Thomas Sorber: The freshman has been a standout, recording three 20-point games this season[4].
• Jayden Epps: Averaging 16.8 PPG with a 40.3 FG% [1].
• Micah Peavy: Leading the team in points, assists, and steals per game [7].

West Virginia:

• Tucker DeVries: Coming off a 26-point performance against Arizona, including 8 three-pointers [8].
• Javon Small: Averaging 15.5 PPG with a 42.6 FG% [1].
• Toby Okani: Contributed 20 points in the win over Arizona [8].

Georgetown’s Ed Cooley, in his second season with the Hoyas, will face off against West Virginia’s Darian DeVries, who is in his inaugural season with the Mountaineers. Cooley recently notched his 350th career win as a head coach [4]. This game promises to be an exciting test between two teams looking to build on their early-season successes and gain a valuable non-conference victory.

Here are some links:

Meet the WVU Basketball Team: Sky is Limit for Toby Okani | WV Sports Now

The fifth-year senior from UIC was averaging 6.5 PPG for WVU going into the Battle 4 Atlantis. By the end of the tournament, Okani is averaging close to 10 PPG.

His athleticism is always on display, being a 6-foot-8 guard and the second-best defensive player on the team—behind Sencire Harris. So, seeing him display his athleticism and aggressiveness in a tournament should not come as a surprise to Mountaineer fans.

Okani logged a season-high in minutes at 36 against Louisville, shooting 6-9 from the floor, a season high (at the time), and logged two offensive rebounds.

West Virginia men’s basketball receiving votes in new AP Top 25 poll | Hail WV

Following a pair of wins over ranked opponents in Gonzaga and Arizona en route to a third-place finish at The Battle 4 Atlantis, West Virginia men’s basketball finds itself knocking on the door of the AP Top 25.

In the latest edition of the poll, WVU (5-2) received 26 votes — not enough to crack the Top 25 itself, but it does ranked 36th out of all Division 1 teams and shows that the voters are now paying attention to the Mountaineers following last week’s upsets. The Mountaineers is the seventh-highest Big 12 team either ranked of receiving votes in the new poll.

One of WVU’s ranked wins — Arizona (3-4) — now carries a bit less weight as the Wildcats dropped out of the AP Poll following two losses in The Bahamas, but three of the team’s four losses have come to Top 25 teams. Meanwhile, Gonzaga (7-1) dropped from No. 3 to No. 7 after their loss to the Mountaineers.

Small & DeVries Claim Big 12 Weekly Honors | WVU Sports

Small was the tournament’s leading scorer with 23.7 points per game at the Battle 4 Atlantis, helping West Virginia to a pair of ranked wins in The Bahamas. The senior guard had 31 points in the win against No. 3 Gonzaga, including a team-leading five in overtime. The South Bend, Indiana native had 26 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in the loss against Louisville, then had a 14-point, eight-assist performance against No. 24 Arizona, once again leading the Mountaineers in scoring during overtime to secure a victory. It is his first career Big 12 weekly honor.

DeVries averaged 16.7 points and shot 54.5% on 3-pointers on the way to a Battle 4 Atlantis All-Tournament Team selection. Against No. 3 Gonzaga, the swingman from Waukee, Iowa went on a personal 5-0 run in the last 25 seconds to send the game to overtime, part of a 16-point performance that helped WVU to its first top three win away from Morgantown since 2019-20. Following an eight-point game against Louisville, the Drake transfer set a tournament record with eight 3-pointers in the third-place game against No. 24 Arizona, scoring 26 points with six assists for his first Big 12 weekly honor.

Sorber’s 23 Lifts Georgetown Over UMBC 86-62 | GUHOYAS

The Georgetown University men’s basketball team defeated the UMBC Retrievers 86-62 on Monday evening at Capital One Arena. Thomas Sorber led the Hoyas with 23 points on an efficient 6-for-7 shooting to propel the Blue & Gray to its fifth-consecutive victory. With the win, the Blue & Gray improves to 7-1 while the Retrievers slide to 5-5 on the season…

“I thought today tested us, not so much from a physical standpoint, but from a fundamental defensive standpoint. There wasn’t a lot of set play, so we had to stick to our fundamental principles. I? thought in three-consecutive games that we got better defensively. Obviously, the competition is going to change, and we systematically scheduled this way to build confidence, continuity and chemistry. A lot of players feel what it is like to win, and that’s something that hopefully we’ll have some carryover as we now get ready to head on the road for the first time. The level of play will step up ten-fold. We’re excited about that, but we feel we’re prepared, and hopefully we’ll go out there and compete at an elite level.” – Head Coach Ed Cooley

Know-the-foe: Previewing Georgetown | WVU 24/7 Sports

Overall, the Hoya offensive attack has been above average, but not amazing. It ranks No. 108 in adjusted efficiency, and 138th in points per possession (0.955). Georgetown doesn’t take a lot of 3-pointers, and only make 28.6 percent of those attempts from beyond the arc. Instead, the focus is on the paint and putting pressure at the rim, which has been a strength all season. Whether that be with backdoor cuts or isolations in the post (a heavy emphasis), the Hoyas do a great job of scoring at the rim.

The primary reason for that is freshman center Thomas Sorber, who’s been the best player on the squad. The former top-100 prospect has been a revelation for the Hoyas this season on both ends of the floor, and currently leads the team in points (15.8), rebounds (8.8) and blocks (1.8) per game. He scores with a remarkable efficiency of 1.212 points per possession thanks to a variety of off-ball cuts as well as connecting on a perfect 11-for-11 on offensive putback opportunities. He does most of his damage in the block, however, as he’s been a dominating post presence so far this season. Despite being just a freshman, he’s physically imposing and can attack off the left and right shoulder in the post, as well as having a little face-up game, which makes him tough to stop. He has so much in his bag for just a rookie. I know I’ve said this before (about the bigs for Gonzaga), but Sorber is the type of player that could give WVU serious issues because of his style of play. This will be another tough test for Amani Hansberry, who’s done well so far in these opportunities. But the potential lack of Eduardo Andre is deeply concerning.

Freshman Thomas Sorber helps Georgetown rout UMBC | FLM

Jayden Epps added 16 points as the Hoyas (7-1) won their fifth straight game and concluded an eight-game homestand to open the season.

Earlier Monday, Sorber was named Big East Freshman of the Week for the third time this season, then went 11 for 12 from the free-throw line.

Malik Mack scored 13 points and Caleb Williams added 10. Micah Peavy had a strong all-around game of seven points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals. Georgetown forced 21 turnovers and scored 52 points in the paint.

Hoyas put ‘home cooking’ in the past, prepare to measure their growth | WaPo

But most striking have been [Peavy’s] professionalism and his eagerness to take on the challenge of smothering a potent scorer — basically, the presence of a grown-up on the court. It is a galvanizing development for a program that spluttered through three consecutive abysmal seasons and displayed an almost aggressive indifference to defense for much of the past seven years.

Peavy’s influence might best be seen in the enhanced effort Epps has offered on defense. But he’s different elsewhere, too. The only other upperclassman on the roster, Epps was a classic wired-to-score, ball-dominant guard a year ago. He averaged 18.5 points on 15.6 field goal attempts, and it was an open question how effectively he could adjust with a better cast around him.

The addition of Harvard transfer Malik Mack to provide another ballhandler with the ability to score has helped. But the newcomer who has helped smooth out Epps’s offensive game — and offers the greatest immediate and long-term promise for the program — is Sorber. The 6-10, 255-pound freshman leads the Hoyas in scoring (15.8) and rebounding (8.9); he’s shooting 60.8 percent while showing advanced footwork, vision and passing ability.

Remembering Lou Carnesecca, John Thompson and the legendary ‘sweater game’ | USA TODAY | Stephen Borelli

A few days after Thompson died in August 2020, this is how Mike Riley, his longtime assistant coach, recalled the situation unfolding: “Somebody called him back. Somebody that knew somebody that knew somebody else, and they said they could get him a duplicate of it. … And (Thompson) said he’d need it in, obviously, Triple-XL.

“And it wasn’t a sweater,” Riley told USA TODAY Sports. “It winds up being like a T-shirt. Now how they did that I have no idea. But coach gets this T-shirt, he puts it on in the locker room and then he comes out.”

The towering presence of Thompson, a 6-foot-10 former collegiate and NBA center, drew attention at any game he coached. Now imagine him appearing, his trademark white towel draped across his shoulder, in front of more than 19,500 fans at Madison Square Garden…