Preview: Georgetown Hoyas at DePaul Blue Demons

Game 23: Georgetown Hoyas (12-10, 3-6) at DePaul Blue Demons (8-13, 1-7)

Series: Hoyas lead 28-7

Where/When: Allstate Arena, Tuesday 9pm

TV: FS1

KenPom: Hoyas 75-69, 71 percent

Line: Hoyas -7

Georgetown pulled off a first in Coach John Thompson III’s 13-seasons in charge and went 2-1 in a stretch of three consecutive games against ranked opponents last week. In the process the Hoyas snapped an eight game road losing streak within the BIG EAST

Last time out the Hoyas were led by what has to be their Big 3 with Rodney Pryor, LJ Peak, and Jessie Govan all going for at least 20 points as Georgetown was nearly perfect on offense as times. Not coincidentally the Hoyas look far more Princeton-y than at an point in the season. For a team that still struggles on defense the Hoyas did a good job of keeping Butler off of the free throw line, something that has been a problem in league player.

Jonathan Mulmore earned his second straight start and played a solid game that didn’t exactly come through in a quick glance of the box score while Jagan Mosely came up big off the bench with four assists.

Bradley Hayes continues to get the start for JT3 and he rewarded his coach by going 3-for-3 from the field and grabbing five rebounds in just 14 minutes.

Fellow starter Marcus Derrickson also logged just 14 minutes but that was due to early foul trouble. Derrickson has the ability to be one of the Hoyas Big 3 offensively on any given night.

DePaul sits with just one conference win although it comes against a Providence team that swept the Hoyas earlier this season. Expectations were raised a bit for the Blue Demons after they played Villanona down to the final possession in their first league game of the season but results haven’t been there. Billy Garrett once again leads DePaul in what seems like his tenth year of service. Something to be worried about is the fact that DePaul took Butler to overtime in its last home game, losing by just a point. So, they haven’t given up...yet.

NCAA: Originally I thought the Hoyas could only afford two more losses the rest of the way in order to do what seemed unthinkable just a few days ago – make the NCAA Tournament. Based on some of their numbers in the RPI, KenPom, etc, we need to revise this by a game but with a caveat – no bad losses. Oh, and there’s that whole USA Today already has them in thing to think about.

The new number to shoot for the rest of the way is 6-3 and that only works with the Hoyas sweeping cellar dwellers DePaul. This shouldn’t be a huge issue as Georgetown owns a 13-0 mark against the DePaul in regular season games, including 7-0 on the road.

NIT/.500: Georgetown needs to go 4-5 the rest of the way to ensure a winning record heading into the BIG EAST Tournament. The most direct path for four more conference wins includes sweeping DePaul.

Reason to be cynical: Quicker than anyone could have imagined, Georgetown is legitimately back on the bubble and now playing a team they have never lost to in a regular season conference game. That can’t go on forever.

Reason to be delusional: Georgetown needs to get on a streak and there’s no better way to place away from home to pick up a third straight win than at DePaul.

Prediction: Derrickson stays out of foul trouble and has a big night to lead Georgetown. Hoyas 77, DePaul 72