Plenty to work on as Georgetown earned a ‘W’
It was a two-game losing streak, including the most lopsided loss of the season. No Epps (reportedly out with an illness). A scuffling, bottom-tier opponent. Peavy with a 102 fever pre-game. Dollar beer night (!!!). For the seasoned Hoya skeptic, this game had letdown written all over it.
Enter your 2025, your Georgetown Hoyas, a noted good basketball team. Led by Hoya legend Micah Peavy, they get the job done with a dominant defensive second-half performance and a genuinely impressive all-around effort despite continued shaky shooting.
This is definitely the type of game that Hoya teams of the last few years would have dropped. Particularly when their shooting woes continued (11% from three). But the Hoyas pulled off this solid win that they really had to have.
Let’s dive in.
Malik Mack – B-
14pts, 6-17 35% FG, 0-5 3PT, 2-3 FT, 5 REB, 6 AST, 1 STL, 2 TO, 40 MIN
Malik continued his shooting woes but made a lot of winning plays in this game. The shot is just not consistent enough, but I thought he was better distributing the ball in this one. He also managed some nice mid-range finishes late in the second half that they needed to have. He also had a nasty steal and runout during a stretch of elite defense to open the second half. He had a couple of plays at the rim where you can tell he is thinking about size. It will be an area of development for him to figure out how to finish against bigger, stronger players. In the Ivy League, he was probably able to rely on his athleticism a bit more to just finish over and through guys. That’s not going to be the case in the Big East, and he’s tried to force it too much. Still, his overall contributions were solid in this game, including his defense, which remains impressive. He needs to keep shooting. Hopefully, he starts to knock them down.
Micah Peavy – A
19pts, 9-15 60% FG, 0-1 3PT, 9 REB, 2 AST, 3 STL, 1 TO, 37 MIN
Given reports that he was sick and had a 102 fever before this game, he probably deserves an A++. The only thing he wasn’t able to do in this one was make (or even take) threes. Otherwise, he was phenomenal. He gave us another defensive masterclass, holding Butler’s 16 points per game leading scorer, Jahmyl Telfort, to nine points. But that doesn’t do his defense justice. Telfort is a mid-range merchant. He shoots 50% from two on nine attempts per game and generates almost all his points within 17 feet of the basket. Peavy held him to 0-4 from two in this one. Not only could he not make the shots he typically does, he couldn’t even get them. I do not think there is a better all-around defender in the country than Peavy. He’s shown it in so many different ways this year. It’s just really special to watch. On top of that defensive performance, he was lights out going to the rim. All that was missing was outside shooting, but he took what he wanted from the defense and was a monster around the rim.
Drew Fielder – B+
8pts, 3-5 60% FG, 2-4 50% 3PT, 2 REB, 0 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK, 0 TO, 19 MIN
Drew’s gone two for four from three in the past two games. And in both games, his misses have looked a lot better. He’s shooting more confidently and is slowly looking like the shooter he showed us last season. He looks really good when he is set and square and stepping into his shot. That has typically come from pick-and-pop action at the top of the key, but he knocked down a confident-looking corner three in the first half against Butler. The rest of this season will just come down to shooting, and Drew’s shot rounding into more reasonable form is a great sign. He can’t be the only one making threes if they are going to beat anyone besides Butler, but Drew has definitely held up his end the past two games. He also had a nice finish in the post in the first half. I think he’s a prime candidate for increased offensive production in general.
Thomas Sorber – A
19pts, 8-14 57% FG, 0-2 3PT, 3-4 FT, 5 REB, 2 AST, 3 STL, 1 BLK, 2 TO, 35 MIN
Thomas was phenomenal again. The only thing missing was the outside shooting, and to his credit, one of his threes was halfway down before rimming out (Burks got the putback before the halftime buzzer). He showed a number of really impressive finishes around the basket against a huge Butler defender (7’1 Andre Screen). In the second, he showed impressive body control on back-to-back possessions, finishing a nice right-handed layup falling away from the basket and then a running lefty floater at full speed. Those are plays that a lot of college players don’t make, let alone Freshman. His touch around the basket is elite and was on full display. He was excellent defensively, again, as well. It was just another elite all-around performance from the Freshman of the year.
Caleb Williams – A/A-
8pts, 4-6 66% FG, 0-2 3PT, 6 REB, 1 STL, 1 BLK, 0 TO, 36 MIN
He’s starting to figure things out on the offensive end. He had a great drive and finish in the first half, which came from a nice read. The Hoyas went to a four-out offensive set (four players around the perimeter, with Sorber on the block). The set is designed to get Sorber the ball in the post with a lot of spacing around him, so it’s harder for Butler to double. The possession right before they ran the same set to get Sorber a mid-range jumper from the baseline that he knocked down. On this possession, Butler’s defender on Sorber was overplaying, trying to deny the entry and push Sorber out away from the basket. Caleb made a great, quick read seeing an open lane, faked the entry pass and beat his man to the rim, finishing with a nice lefty layup. His defense and rebounding continue to be impressive for any player, let alone a Freshman. He just makes the right play. He has a great nose for the ball. He had a great offensive rebound and put back in the second half, where he just outworked Butler for the ball and made a nice five-foot floater. He also had a couple of really nice transition finishes in the second half. I am going to continue to support him staying in the starting lineup even with Epps available. He just does so much for the team. He’s tough to take off the floor. He averages 35+ minutes per game when he’s starting, so the coaching staff seems to agree.
Curtis Williams – C
3pts, 0-2 FG, 0-1 3PT, 3-4 FT, 2 REB, 1 STL, 1 TO, 21 MIN
Curtis has cooled off from three and has looked more tentative recently. That’s probably because teams have him scouted a little better and know he’s looking to catch and shoot. They are closing out hard on his shooting hand. He needs to develop a counter to attack the closeout. He had a couple of opportunities for that in this game but looked a little hesitant. That’s a read he just needs to make and go hard to the rim, where he’s shown he can finish. Props to him for knocking down his free throws in this one.
Jordan Burks – INC
2pts, 1-1 FG, 1 REB, 3 MIN
Jordan has seen his minutes decrease recently, and I think it’s mainly because he gives you very little offensively. So, it was nice to see him get a putback to beat the first-half buzzer.
Kayvaun Mulready – INC
0pts, 0-2 FG, 0-2 3PT, 0 AST, 0 TOV, 9 MIN
Without Epps, Kayvaun got some run in this game and played well despite badly missing a couple of threes. His shot has looked fine mechanically, he just has not been effective despite letting it fly when he’s open.
Offense – C- Currently ranked 186th in Off. efficiency per KenPom (previously 186th)
109.9 Off. Rating, 50% eFG, 11% 3PT (2-17), 32.3 AST Rate
I thought the offense mostly looked fine; they just shot poorly. So, what else is new? It’s actually pretty impressive to win a game with only one player making two threes (good job, Drew). Micah and Sorber carried the weight offensively in this one, with some impressive individual efforts at the rim and Caleb adding some solid finishes. Ultimately, their second-half defense and those performances (with some help from Malik late) were enough to beat Butler. It will be interesting to see what Cooley does with Jayden available again. Keeping Caleb in the starting lineup and bringing Jayden off the bench is worth considering. This team desperately needs the high-efficiency version of Jayden, which he has not been consistently in his career. They need to find a way to fit him into the offense without taking away from what they do best – run through Sorber and generate shots at the rim.
Defense – B Currently ranked 37th in Def. efficiency per KenPom (previously 32nd)
105.4 Def. Rating, 54% eFG, 17.4 TO Rate, 72.4% DRB Rate
They gave up 70, which they have not done much this year. To be fair, Butler scored seven points in the final 44 seconds (also not ideal). They flexed the defensive muscle early in the second half in this one, generating seven turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the half. Butler has been a top 50 offensive team this year, so it’s not a bad performance from Georgetown by any means, but they can be, and have been, more dominant. They did drop to 37th in defensive efficiency on KenPom, but I don’t have many complaints.
Next Up
Georgetown is now 1-0 to kick off their crucial five-game stretch. They travel to Xavier next (Tuesday, 8:30pm) in probably the toughest test of this stretch. This is a game that they probably shouldn’t win. KenPom has Xavier favored by 8. Xavier is also coming off a crushing last-second loss at Creighton, where they lost on a banked-in corner three with 5 seconds left. Yikes. They also just beat UConn at home. All of that points to an L.
But Georgetown beat Xavier earlier this year on the back of a Malik Mack 26-point masterclass. Georgetown has a path to steal this game and should have confidence against Xavier. Still, it remains a tough spot on the road. Ultimately, this game will come down to shot-making. Georgetown is not going to beat Xavier shooting like they did against Butler.