Preview: Maine at Georgetown

Game 5: Maine Black Bears (1-5) at Georgetown Hoyas (4-0)

Series: First meeting

Where/When: Capital One Arena/Tuesday 830pm

TV: FS1

KenPom: Georgetown 84-61, 98 percent

Fresh off of passing their first actual test of the season - an 82-77 win at Richmond - the Georgetown Hoyas begin an eight game home stand by welcoming in the Maine Black Bears.

To put this in perspective it’s been almost 100 years since Georgetown last had a longer run of consecutive home contests. The Hoyas started the 1920-21 season with nine straight wins at Ryan Gymnasium. That schedule was a mixed bag with well known programs such as UNC and St. John’s to go along with Davis & Elkins and Camp Humphrey.

Jessie Govan, Marcus Derrickson, and Kaleb Johnson continue to lead the Hoyas while Jamorko Pickett provided a huge 3-pointer with Georgetown clinging to a late two point lead on the road last weekend.

What to Watch: Will Coach Ewing throw out more zone in this virtual scrimmage? It’s clear that he wants to play man-to-man but he had to throw some zone out against the Spiders. In our first real opportunity to see what Ewing would do in the face of adversity it was good to see him try a zone as Richmond was getting in the lane far to easily at times.

Can Trey Dickerson get some meaningful run? Dickerson figures to be an important piece at some point this season and the sooner he gets going the better for the Hoyas. So far Jahvon Blair has come up big but the grad transfer’s experience will needed as BIG EAST play nears.

Will Chris Sodom be feature in the second half? With Mourning out for the season it’s likely that Sodom will eventually find himself in meaningful games come BIG EAST time. At some point Jessie Govan will get into foul trouble and the Hoyas will have to survive.

Scouting Maine: In the simplest form the Black Bears are exactly as advertised in that they are an undersized team that struggles to rebound and shoots a poor percentage. That’s not a great combination and the reason they are expected to be one of the worst teams in not just the American East but the country.

5-foot-11 guard Aaron Calixte is the only Black Bear averaging double figures with 14.7 points per game. Maine lost an overtime game against Sacred Heart as part of their four game losing streak to start the season but did manage to beat Quinnipiac in their last outing.

Coach Bob Walsh - in his fourth season - is literally looking all over the planet to find players. The Black Bears roster features talent from Turkey, Serbia, the UK, Brazil, and Latvia.

Reason to be cynical: The schedule is the answer to this question until further notice.

Reason to be delusional: Georgetown just keeps on winning and that can become a habit.

Prediction: Georgetown 95, Maine 62