Georgetown Meets South Florida in Jamaican Finale

Game 5: Georgetown Hoyas (3-1) vs South Florida Bulls (3-0)

When: Sunday, noon

Where: Montego Bay Convention Centre

Series: Hoyas lead 8-4, USF won the last meeting in the 2012-13 season

TV: CBS Sports Network

KenPom Prediction: Georgetown 77, South Florida 66 (84 percent)

Line: Georgetown -10.5

Georgetown will try and bounce back after Friday night’s ugly loss to Loyola Marymount when they face old BIG EAST foe South Florida in their final game in Jamaica.

We saw how the Hoyas responded after a big win at Illinois during the week. It wasn’t good.

On Sunday we will see how the same young Hoyas teams responds after taking their first loss of the season in what was supposed to be a happy Homecoming for coach Patrick Ewing.

Outside of Jessie Govan’s 20 points and 11 rebounds, Georgetown wasn’t able to get much going against what looks to be a very good defensive team in LMU. The Hoyas had no real answers for the Lions zone and got next to nothing out of their guards not named James Akinjo.

Will Ewing make a lineup change? It seems unlikely this early on but Mac McClung could probably benefit from coming off the bench. He could still provide his usual energy off the bench but right now it seems as though his struggles on defense and offense – 0 for 14 shooting from 3-point range – might warrant a move out of the starting five. Getting a feel for the game while watching the first few minutes on the sidelines might help McClung especially as he tries to find his shot. On the flip side, there were always going to be growing pains with an all freshmen backcourt and this just might be something Georgetown has to get past.

Another player that needs to bounce back from Friday’s loss is Jamorko Pickett. No one would argue that Pickett is one of the most important players on the Hoyas but his struggles the past two games are a bit alarming – five points on just nine shots. Right now Pickett is tied for fifth on Georgetown in field goal attempts. Ewing needs Pickett to be more aggressive offensively.

SCOUTING THE BULLS

South Florida had no problems in their opening game in Jamaica as they crushed Ohio 73-46. Sophomore guard David Collins leads four Bulls in double figures by averaging just under 14 points per game. Alexis Yetna leads South Florida with seven rebounds per game while Justin Brown and TJ Lang are the top 3-point threats for coach Brian Gregory. South Florida was almost RPI 300 level bad last season.

BULLS BOOST?

Georgetown and South Florida met nine times as members of the BIG EAST with the Hoyas coming out on top on six occasions. Two of those games ended up being memorable as they set Georgetown on a nice winning streak.

In 2006 the Hoyas squeaked by the Bulls in a pretty blah midweek affair with No. 1 Duke coming to town a few days later. That game would end up serving as the textbook definition for any win is a good win. As we all know Georgetown knocked off the top ranked Blue Devils as a part of a seven game winning streak that saw the Hoyas enter the national rankings for the first time in years.

In 2013 the Hoyas lost at USF in one of their first games without Greg Whittington to fall to 2-3 in the league. Things were looking pretty bad but Georgetown responded with a ridiculous, out of nowhere 11-game winning streak that helped propel them to win the BIG EAST in the final season before conference realignment.

So, is there going to be a Bulls Boost this season? Georgetown could clearly use it.

Prediction: Georgetown 72, USF 66