MACK ATTACK: Georgetown Disarms Xavier Musketeers, 69-63

Malik Mack scored 20 points in the second half

Your Georgetown Hoyas (11-2, 2-0) outpaced the Xavier Musketeers (9-5, 1-2) on Friday night at Capital One Arena, 69-63. With an injured Jayden Epps only playing four minutes, this was the Malik Mack game where Mack unleashed a 20-point second half to secure the win to take the Hoyas to 3-0 in the conference.

Caleb Williams started in place of Epps, along with Malik Mack, Micah Peavy, Drew Fielder, and Thomas Sorber. Jayden Epps (game time decision, lower-body) came off the bench.

Xavier started Marcus Foster, Ryan Conwell, Dayvion McKnight, Jerome Hunter, and Dailyn Swain.Zach Freemantle came in off the bench at the first media timeout.

The Hoyas were winning 6-0 with the Muskies missing all five of their FG attempts. Freemantle came in and made an impact immediately as Sorber was double teamed and, despite a good pass, the Hoyas couldn’t capitalize, leading to a Xavier transition layup for their first points.

Epps came in to a round of applause and GU pushed the lead to 10-2 at a 30-second Xavier timeout with 13 minutes left. XU was 1-10 (0-4 3PT) from the floor and the Hoyas were 5-11 (0-2 3PT). The Georgetown defense was setting the tone.

7 minutes later, Georgetown was up 20-15, with Xavier making their hay at the line (6-8) and the Hoyas missing their last five shots—including going 0-6 from the arc thus far. The Hoyas were never behind and were outplaying the Musketeers—even the announcers said it felt like GU should be up by more.

Ed Cooley called timeout with 3:28 left. The Hoyas missing 8 of their last 10 attempts and Xavier cutting GU’s lead to four, 24-20.

Georgetown closed out the half with a handful of questionable, longer jump-shot attempts but connected with Peavy’s baseline turnaround to stay up 30-24 at the half.

Xavier was shooting 27.6% eight-29 and connected on only one their 10 three-point attempts. Making 7 of their 10 free throws was helping them stay alive. Credit to Cooley and the Hoyas for a solid defensive gameplan in the half, but the fouls did not help the cause.

Georgetown wasn’t shooting much better as they were 12 for 30 from the floor (40%) and missed all 6 of their three-point attempts. They made 6 of their 10 first-half free throws. The Hoyas won the assist battle of the first half, 5 to 2, and the rebounds were pretty even with GU having the edge 21 to 19.

Georgetown also led with points in the paint with 16 to Xavier’s 14. Xavier did end up having 7 fast points to Georgetown’s 0, while Georgetown had 4 points off of turnovers and Xavier only had 1.

Micah Peavy had 11 first-half points (6 rebounds) on 5 for 10 shooting from the field, missing both his three-point attempts. Thomas Sorber (3-6 FG, 5 Reb) and Malik Mack (2-6 FG, 0-2 3PT) each had 6 points at the half. Jayden Epps only had 4 minutes.

Zach Freemantle had 5 points in the half on a three-pointer and two free throws in 14 minutes. His surprise presence did make a difference with Sorber. Conwell scored 6 on 2-8 FG (0-4 3PT) and Foster, Hunter, and McKnight each had four points.

After intermission, it took the Hoyas three more attempts before Mack hit the first three with a late-possession second-chance step-back from the arc. Conwell answered with a three on the other end.

Fielder committed his fourth foul ahead of the U16 timeout and the Hoyas only led by three, 35-32. Sean Miller ran his mouth to the referees about fouls during the break and Mack hit both technical shots. Xavier had also dialed up the physicality and ball pressure since halftime.

Caleb cleaned up an offensive rebound with a baseline jumper, Sorber forced a Freemantle jump-hook airball, and Mack drained a three at the top to extend the lead back to 10. Then there were three illegal screens in a row. Hoyas were up 44-34 at the U12 timeout, with both teams shooting about 45% from the floor in the half at this point.

The team traded buckets with Malik Mack making two in a row for GU. Thomas Sorber walked off the floor to the locker room with about 8:36 but came back soon. Mack made two more buckets. He stepped up and was carrying the Hoyas to victory.

With 6:51 minutes left, Georgetown led 55-47 and Mack had 17 second-half points.

Then Xavier made an 8-0 run. Caleb Williams and Drew Fielder each missed a front-end of a one-and-one during the swing. With 3:50 left, Georgetown led by only one, 58-57.

Sorber had a nasty collision with Conwell who fouled out on the play and Tommy hit the two free throws. Peavy made a crafty layup and Sorber made a nice finish rolling off a screen. XU called timeout. Hoyas up 64-59.

Fielder got a rebound on a long bounce from a Mack three-pointer and made the second shot of the pair from the charity stripe to go up 65-59. McKnight answered with a lefty layup and Xavier fouled Mack on the other end. Mack hit them both. GU was up 67-61 with 30 seconds left but it didn’t quite feel secure yet.

The free-throw game continued. A foul was called on the other end and McKnight hit both. Xavier pressed and fouled Mack, who made the second shot for his 20th second-half points.

On the other end McKnight pivoted wildly and put up a miss, there was a scramble for the rebound and Curtis Williams, Jr. was fouled and capped the win with the first free-throw. The final buzzer sounded and Georgetown won 69-63.

Malik Mack led all scorers with 26 points (8-16 FG, 3-9 3PT, 7-9 FT) and 3 assists. Peavy scored 15 on 7-14 FG (0-2 3PT). Caleb Williams had 7 points and 9 rebounds. Fielder scored 5 and grabbed 7 boards. Thomas Sorber had 12 points (5-12 FG) and 5 rebounds.

The Hoyas held Xavier to shooting 42.9% from the floor in the second half (12-28 FG, 4-9 3PT) and 35.1% for the game (20-57 FG, 5-19 3 PT). Georgetown won the battles of points off turnovers 14 to 10 and second-chance points 14 to 9. Xavier had 11 turnovers while Georgetown had 12 turnovers has had 40 rebounds while Xavier had 35 rebounds.

This was Malik Mack’s best game in a Hoyas jersey—the gray Iverson-era uniforms as a bonus. Mack took over when he needed to, especially with Epps playing only 4 first-half minutes and Sorber shaken up at times. Mack even had a late-game block to help seal the win.

This is Georgetown’s first 3-win conference season since the 2020-2021 season and their first 3-0 start since 2013. This GU squad never trailed tonight and relied on their defense to slow down a hot-shooting Xavier team.

The Hoyas visit No. 8 Marquette on Tuesday at 8 PM and will again be televised on CBS Sports Network.

3-0! HOYA SAXA!