LINKS: Expect a Defensive Battle as Hoyas Host Johnnies

Pitino and St. John’s use their elite defense for late-game heroics

Your Georgetown Hoyas (13-7, 4-5) will face a challenging matchup against the No. 15 St. John’s Red Storm (17-3, 8-1 BE) on Tuesday, January 28th. The game will take place at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., with tip-off scheduled for 6:30 PM. Fans can catch the action live on FS1, featuring commentary from John Fanta and Donny Marshall. Listeners can tune in on Team 980 or the SiriusXM app (Ch. 381), with Rich Chvotkin providing play-by-play commentary in his 51st season.

One game below .500 in the conference, Georgetown enters the contest with a record of 13-7 overall and 4-5 in conference play, looking to rebound from a recent loss to Providence. St. John’s is tied with Marquette to lead the BIG EAST.

There’s no denying that the defense let Georgetown down at Cooley’s old stomping grounds. While a solid 10-minute start for the Hoyas was once something for fans to hang their hats on as “noted improvement,” this team now has loftier expectations. It’s late January and “youth” is no longer a viable excuse.

Georgetown has a chance to beat a top-25 team, at home. Between the recent issues with turnovers against pressure and weak rebounding, it’s hard to get too optimistic for this chance to take down the conference-leading Johnnies. Still, they are human and the Hoyas have something to prove. The spread is +3.5 (or +4.5), so the world thinks the Hoyas have a shot.

The Hoyas played the Johnnies tough at MSG, and the Red Storm are again missing Deivon Smith. Pitino has since built some more momentum and has his team playing late-game situations with a lot of confidence. If Hoya fans think a 10-point lead is safe with 4 minutes remaining, they better think again.

No team has shot particularly well at Capital One Arena. In the five BIG EAST games there this season, opponents have shot 89 for 210 (42.3%) from the field and 33 for 93 (35.4%) from three, while the Hoyas have shot 104 for 230 (45.2%) from the field and 27 for 71 (38%). St. John’s shot 34.8% (23-66) from the field when they hosted at MSG.

With defensive-heavy-physical games, rebounding means even more. After Providence, Cooley said, “This game was all done on rebounding… They were really, really good sending guys to the glass. We were soft.” That can’t happen again.

The Red Storm aren’t a super tall bunch but they have some length to give them the 9th best offensive rebounding average in the nation. Zuby Ejofor (6’9”) only had three against the Hoyas last time but averages 4.5 per game. 6’7” RJ Luis averages two o-rebs per game and 6’7” guard Aaron Scott had 4 on that end when they hosted Georgetown the other week. With Deivon Smith out, their shortest player is Simeon Wilcher at 6’4”.

While the stats might indicate that Georgetown has to counter with big games from Curtis Williams and Caleb Williams, the gut of this humble lunch-blog contributor says that the two shortest players on the floor—Malik Mack and Jayden Epps—will be the keys to Georgetown’s performance.

Here are the links:

Georgetown Hosts No. 15 St. John’s in Midweek Showdown | GUHoyas

On Saturday, despite career games from Micah Peavy and Thomas Sorber, the Hoyas couldn’t fend off the Providence Friars, falling 78-68 at Amica Mutual Pavilion. Peavy led all scorers with a career-best 27 points on 12-for-19 shooting while Sorber followed closely, matching his career high with 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting to go along with 15 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season.

For their efforts over the last two games, Sorber was named the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week for the fifth time this season after averaging 20.0 ppg, 13.0 rpg and 3.0 apg while Peavy was named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll. Peavy averaged 25.5 ppg on 60.0% (21-35) shooting, and grabbed 3.0 rpg over the week while dishing out 1.5 apg and picking 1.5 pockets per game.

Sorber leads a quartet of Hoyas averaging double figures posting 14.8 ppg, a mark that ranks 12th in the BIG EAST. Peavy chips in 14.6 ppg, followed by Malik Mack (13.0 ppg) and Jayden Epps (12.9 ppg). Georgetown and Villanova are the only institutions with four players among the top 30 in scoring in the league.

No. 15 St. John’s faces Georgetown, aims to extend win streak | FLM

“A lot of teams, when they get down 16, get down 14, really hang their heads,” Pitino said after the win. “It’s just the opposite with these guys, and that goes back to their fear of losing, and they just dig in and dig in and played magnificent when the game was on the line and we had to dig in. We made every great defensive play, which we didn’t do in the first, first 28 minutes.”

After starting 3-0 in conference play for the first time since 2012, Georgetown (13-7, 4-5) has lost five of six games and has and fallen into the middle of the league standings along with three other teams sitting on five losses.

With an improved defense in Ed Cooley’s second season with the Hoyas, offense generally has been the issue of late.

Georgetown has been held to under 70 points in seven straight games, going 2-5. The Hoyas have topped that mark just once this season in Big East play — an 81-57 win over Creighton on Dec. 18.

Game Preview – Georgetown vs. #15 St. John’s | House-Enterprise | Road2TheGarden

Georgetown will be much healthier on Tuesday night as Ed Cooley’s team hunts down another signature conference win.

The Hoyas have proven to be pesky in conference play, having already taken down Creighton, Xavier, Seton Hall, and Villanova. However, Cooley’s team is just 1-5 over its last six games, with the lone win coming at Villanova, a game in which the Wildcats were held scoreless for the final 4:52 of the game.

In its most recent game, a disappointing 78-68 loss to Providence, the Hoyas were led by Micah Peavy who scored 27 points, and Thomas Sorber who finished with 25 points and 15 rebounds.

The rest of Georgetown scored 16 points, shooting 6-24 from the field while registering no points or shot attempts from the bench.

Red Storm ride six-game winning streak into nation’s capital for Tuesday night matchup | Red Storm Sports

The Red Storm have been on fire as of late winning 12 of its last 13 games, including six-straight victories. The six consecutive BIG EAST wins is the program’s longest streak in a single-season since 2014, when it captured the same number of victories from Feb. 1 to Feb. 18. The 12 wins in a 13-game span are the Johnnies’ highest total since the 2018-19 campaign, when it opened the season at 14-1.

The Johnnies continued to rise in the national polls on Monday sliding up to No. 15 in the Associated Press poll and No. 14 in the USA Today Coaches’ poll. The coaches’ poll ranking marked the program’s highest since March 13, 2000.

St. John’s has been relentless in its comeback efforts, holding a 6-1 record when trailing at halftime. In its last contest on Wednesday against Xavier, the Red Storm erased a 16-point deficit for the second time during conference play and downed the Musketeers in overtime, 79-71, inside Madison Square Garden. The Johnnies are averaging a BIG EAST 42.8 points in the latter stanza outscoring opponents by 9.25 points over the final 20 minutes. The second half scoring margin ranks fourth-most in NCAA Division trailing a trio of top-five teams in Duke, Iowa State and Florida.

St. John’s vs. Georgetown prediction, odds: 2025 college basketball picks, Jan. 28 best bets by proven model | CBS Sports

The 20th-ranked St. John’s Red Storm will look to win their seventh game in a row when they take on the Georgetown Hoyas in a key Big East matchup on Tuesday night. St. John’s is coming off a 79-71 overtime win over Xavier on Wednesday, while Georgetown dropped a 78-68 decision to Providence on Saturday. The Red Storm (17-3, 8-1 Big East), who are tied for the conference lead with Marquette, are 3-1 on the road this season. The Hoyas (13-7, 4-5 Big East), who are tied with Providence for seventh in the league, are 10-3 on their home court.

Tipoff from Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., is set for 6:30 p.m. ET. St. John’s leads the all-time series 68-57, including a 63-58 win on Jan. 14. St. John’s is a 5-point favorite in the latest St. John’s vs. Georgetown odds from SportsLine consensus, while the over/under for total points scored is 140.5. Before making any Georgetown vs. St. John’s picks, check out the college basketball predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model.

St. John’s men’s basketball moves up to No. 15 in latest AP Top 25 poll | Rumble in the Garden

St. John’s is now ranked No. 15 in the country with 588 votes in the latest AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll released Monday afternoon. The Johnnies moved up five spots from last week’s No. 20 ranking after a 1-0 week in which they came back from down 16 points to defeat Xavier in overtime. This is the Red Storm’s highest ranking since the December 29, 2014 poll when they were also rated 15th in the country.

Marquette and UConn join St. John’s as the only Big East teams ranked in the AP poll, with the Golden Eagles hopping one spot to No. 9 and the Huskies plummeting six spots and nearly falling out of the poll entirely with a No. 25 ranking.

With a 17-3 overall record and an 8-1 Big East record, St. John’s is out to their best start through 20 games since the 1989-90 season and their best start through eight Big East games since the 1998-99 season.

St. John’s men’s basketball pulls off overtime comeback against Xavier | Rumble in the Garden

At first, Xavier were not only ready for the Red Storm’s physicality after a humbling 82-72 defeat to the Johnnies over two weeks ago, but they were the aggressors against a top-ten ranked defense. The Musketeers took turns gashing the Red Storm’s paint defense with cuts and drives to the basket, as St. John’s looked uncharacteristically vulnerable in the paint. Ryan Conwell, Dailyn Swain, and Zach Freemantle each scored in double-figures before the halftime buzzer.

The Musketeers closed out the first half with a prolonged 24-12 run to take a 40-30 lead into the break, shooting 50 percent from the field and four-of-six from deep, matching their three-point total from their January 7 meeting. The Red Storm found themselves shooting 34% from the field and only hitting 1-of-9 from three. However, they couldn’t create extra scoring chances to compensate for another lackluster shooting performance, as they were even in rebounds and turnovers.

Georgetown Falls at Providence | GUHoyas

“I thought the energy that we played with was good, not great. This was the first game we played all year where I thought our defense let us down. I don’t think we were gritty and I thought that Providence was tougher. They played really well defensively. We have a really, really quick turnaround on Tuesday. This has been a marathon of games, as we were the first bye in the BIG EAST, so we have not had a stretch where we can get healthy. Georgetown is going to continue to get better, continue to improve, and slowly but surely that wagon is coming.” – Head Coach Ed Cooley

“I just tried to stay focused and stick to the game plan. I know they were throwing multiple bigs at me, but I was trying not to mind that. I was just trying to stick to the game plan and do whatever Coach Cooley told me to do.” – Thomas Sorber

Ex-Providence coach Ed Cooley was aiming for his first win against Friars. What happened? | Providence Journal

“This game was all done on rebounding,” Georgetown coach Ed Cooley said. “End of discussion on that. They were really, really good sending guys to the glass. We were soft.”

Georgetown (13-7, 4-5 Big East) was in complete command early. Malik Mack’s 3-pointer staked the Hoyas to a 23-11 cushion and capped an opening 10-for-14 burst from the field. Providence had already used a timeout attempting to stall the momentum and opened just 2-for-10 shooting.

“Taking better shots,” Pierre said. “We came out taking some tough ones.”

The Friars (10-10, 4-5) buckled down on defense and hit the offensive glass to generate some energy from there, opening a 38-33 lead into halftime. Essandoko’s two-hand jam gave Providence its first advantage at 32-31 and Pierre’s following drive came off the third chance of the possession. Georgetown finished in a 4-for-13 freeze, including just two points between the 7:34 and 2:22 marks.

Providence student section chants ‘F**k Ed Cooley’ before win over Georgetown | On3

College basketball fan bases in America are among some of the most passionate you’ll find out there. And the Providence Friars student section simply could not wait for the return of their old head basketball coach, Ed Cooley. He departed for the Georgetown Hoyas in March of 2023, and let’s just say the Friars’ fan base still has some very strong feelings over his departure. In the morning shootaround on Saturday, the Providence student section chanted, “F**k Ed Cooley”, before their team proceeded to win the game, 78-68.