SENIORITY RULES: Providence Pummels Hoyas in Home Finale, 88-68

Your Georgetown Hoyas (7-23, 2-17 BIG EAST) hosted the No. 20/18 Providence College Friars (21-8, 13-5) on Sunday, February 26 for the season’s home finale and lost another one, 88-68. The Hoyas dropped the penultimate game of the season by falling behind early and failing to ever catch up.

Georgetown led most of the time in the first 4 minutes but gave up a 24-5 first-half run to the Friars who never looked back. Providence star Bryce Hopkins was subbed-out after 3 fouls and the Friars bizarrely played better.

The Hoyas started Primo Spears (26 pts 10-19 FG, 4-7 3PT, 4 assists), Brandon Murray (3 pts, 0-6 FG, 0-4 3PT, 5 assists), Jay Heath (19 pts, 7-13 FG, 5-8 3PT), Akok Akok (5 pts, 2-6 FG, 1-3 FG), and Bradley Ezewiro (6 pts, 2-7 FGs, 8 reb). Qudus Wahab was out with an illness. Wahab, Akok, Malcolm Wilson, and Bryson Mozone were celebrated on this somber Senior Day in front of a reported 7,000 in attendance. The GU bench was 4-12 from the floor and while Spears and Heath shot 17-32 FG (9-15 3PT) while the rest of the team shot 8-31 from the field and 2-13 from the perimeter.

Providence’s senior point guard Jared Bynum again tormented Georgetown in his homecoming to the DC area with 18 points on 6-12 shooting (6-9 3PT). Fifth-year forward Ed Croswell also punished the Hoyas with 25 points on 9-16 shooting and 13 rebounds. Other starters Noah Lock and Devin Carter each scored 12 points, while Bryce Hopkins scored only 6 points in 16 minutes (-15 for the game for +/-) due to the early foul trouble.

In familiar fashion, the Hoyas had a slow start with only 27 points in the first half and 9 turnovers in the period (5 TOs in the second). The Friars scored 13 points off turnovers and 13 second-chance points in the half, while GU scored 9 points off turnovers and only 6 second-chance points. Providence scored 24 of their 46 points in the first period in the paint while Georgetown only had 14 points in the paint in the first.

Providence looked motivated to redeem themselves after their UConn loss and out-rebounded Georgetown 42-35 for the game (23-17 in the first). The Friars had 23 assists and only 9 turnovers for the game.

Georgetown started the second half on a 12-1 run on the backs of Heath and Spears each hitting two threes to bring the deficit to 10 in under 3 minutes. Then Providence responded with a 20-3 run over the next 6 minutes to lead 69-42 with about 11 minutes left.

The Hoyas narrowed the lead with an 11-2 run with Heath hitting a couple threes and Wilson slipping down the lane and throwing down a dunk.

The closest GU got from there was 16 points, 80-64 with under 3 minutes left.

Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

Georgetown visits Creighton this week on Wednesday to close the regular season. Not playing next weekend, perhaps the extended break allows more preparation time ahead of the BIG EAST Tournament beginning March 8th.