Game Thread: Georgetown at Marquette

Game 17: Georgetown Hoyas (5-11, 0-5) at Marquette Golden Eagles (12-4, 4-1)

When: Saturday, 2 PM EST

Where: Fiserv Forum (Milwaukee, WI)

TV: FS1 (Jeff Levering and Brian Butch)

Radio: Team 980, Sirius XM 388 (Rich Chvotkin - 49th season)

Series: Marquette leads the all-time series 19-14 and is 11-4 at home.

Last Meeting: The Golden Eagles got the sweep over the Hoyas last season, the last coming in a 77-66 win at home.

Georgetown Quick Look:
KenPom: 218
Best Win: Siena (166)
Net: 248
Last 5: LLLLL
KenPom Projected Record: 7-24 (2-18) with a 9.3% chance of going winless in the Big East

Marquette Quick Look:
KenPom: 17
Best Win: Creighton (18)
Net: 23
Last 5: WWWLW
KenPom Projected Record: 22-9 (14-6)

KenPom Prediction: Marquette 88, Georgetown 68 — 96%

Line: Georgetown +18.5 o/u 154.5

Ok, folks. We’ve got 15 Big East games left starting on Saturday in Milwaukee so let’s talk a little hoops for a change.

Still no word on if Brandon Murray (upper body), Bryson Mozone (lower body) or Wayne Bristol Jr (concussion like symptoms) will be available as Georgetown tries to end these losing streaks (Big East and Major conference). Expect Jordan Riley and Denver Anglin to get more minutes like they did against Villanova in the second half. Keep in mind that Jay Heath (finger surgery) remains out until at least Feb. The Hoyas are huge 18 ¹⁄₂ point underdogs but it’s not the largest spread of the season, so there’s that.

So let’s get to Marquette.

The Golden Eagles haven’t lost in regulation since Nov. 21. In fact all four of their losses have been by five points or less with one coming in OT and another in 2OT. If you haven’t watched Shaka Smart’s guys yet you will likely be a fan when the opponent isn’t Georgetown.

The passing is really good - at least when I’ve turned in - and it starts with former George Mason point guard Tyler Kolek. He can really control the game if you let him as seen with his league leading 7.6 apg - a full 2 assists over Creighton’s Ryan Nebhard in second. When the former A10 Rookie of the Year isn’t not dropping dimes, Smart has a really good, would-look-great-in-the-Princeton point forward in Oso Ighodaro. Smart has put together a few Top 50 offenses in the past but right now Marquette is all the way up to No. 6 on KenPom! The defense could use some work to become a serious second weekend threat but they have a few months to get that straight. Oh, what a problem to have.

As far as this series goes, it’s not been super kind to the Hoyas of late. Patrick Ewing is just 2-8 against Marquette and the last win - in the 2021 Big East tournament - set Marquette in the right direction by sparking a coaching change. The Hoyas of of course did win the BET a few days later.

Ewing’s lone regular season win in this series came back in 2019 in a game where the Hoyas were 9 point underdogs. The Hoyas won with a starting lineup of James Akinjo, Mac McClung, Jagan Mosely, Josh LeBlanc and Jessie Govan to finish the regular season at 9-9 in the league. It was a great bounce back performance after getting run out of the gym a few days earlier in Chicago. Akinjo and McClung combined for 48 of the Hoyas 86 points giving many Hoya fans hope of what may come for years to come. Sadly they played less than 10 more games together after that stellar performance. Alrighty then, enough with the flashbacks.

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