LINKS: In Another Loss, Patrick Ewing Reminds That He’s Not Ed Cooley

Your Georgetown Hoyas (6-19, 1-13 BIG EAST) were defeated by the No. 20 Providence Friars, 74-62, on Wednesday, Feb. 8 at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence. Qudus Wahab scored his 1,000th point and Brad Ezewiro had a career-high night. Overall, Patrick Ewing’s Hoyas are 3-7 against Ed Cooley’s PC teams with two wins in 2019 and one win in 2021. The Hoyas have one more chance to beat PC at home on February 26th.

Coming off a 27-win, conference-winning season, it’s hard not to be a bit envious of the atmosphere at the AMP and optimism on Providence’s campus. The Friars had 11,892 people in attendance for their 13th home win and 10th BIG EAST win on Wednesday. Coach Cooley has apparently built a consistent contender and seems to have solid grasp of developing experience, adding transfers, and quickly creating team chemistry. On top of that, he’s got a great attitude, promotes the conference, and always produces a good interview. He is a coach who attracts support.

This is not to say Georgetown should hire Cooley next month, it’s to say that success in the BIG EAST may not be that far away. Experienced players don’t grow on trees, but getting a team to gel should not be this hard. The probability that Providence would put together back-to-back top-of-the-standings 10-plus-win seasons had to be lower than the chances Georgetown would give up 32+ losses over those same two years.

In the post-game press conference, Ewing says “Ed (Cooley) has done an outstanding job at getting them to buy in and play the way that he wants them to play. They have some older guys who have been around for a while and they play together.”

To most fans this will sound like another thinly veiled excuse for a loss—Georgetown has younger players, who have not played together enough, and if they bought in to the way Ewing wants them to play, they would be winning more games. Not to take anything away from Cooley, but it’s not magic. It’s hard not to believe any above-average NCAA coach could not do more with the Georgetown roster by now. It’s February.

Patrick Ewing is not Ed Cooley and, right now, he’s not an above average college basketball coach. In the best light, one might say that Ewing aggressively took his NBA mindset to Georgetown with the goal of pushing the pace and outscoring opponents while stubbornly resisting traditional college defensive strategies. Generally, recruiting has not been the problem in the Ewing era, but retention, discipline, and chemistry certainly have been. Coaches like Cooley understand that those are the foundations to a winning program.

With the Ewing hire, what might have been an interesting experiment in progressively infusing Van Gundy coaching principles in BIG EAST basketball turned into confused screen switching, porous perimeter defense, and ugly footraces to 76 points every night. Oh, and boisterous encouragements to rebound. Again, not taking anything away from Cooley and his recent success, but Patrick Ewing and his NBA predilections made things much harder than they need to be. Retention, discipline, and chemistry.

Georgetown heads back home to Capital One Arena to host the No. 10 Marquette Golden Eagles on Saturday, February 11th at noon on FS1. There are six games left until the BIG EAST Tournament, which many fans expect to be the swan song of the Ewing Era at Georgetown.

Here are the links:

No. 20 Providence Tops Georgetown to Stay Perfect at Home | Field Level Media

The Hoyas logged a 10-2 run midway through the second. Ezewiro had two dunks and six total points during that stretch.

Locke and Hopkins canned wing 3-pointers to give Providence a 64-51 lead with 7:26 left.

After Ezewiro flushed a pair of dunks, Carter set up Hopkins for a basket with 5:01 left, restoring the Friars’ 13-point margin.

The Hoyas shot 0-for-9 from 3-point range in the second half.

Ezewiro’s Breakout Game Not Enough as Georgetown Falls at No. 20/17 Providence | GUHOYAS

Ezewiro’s career-high 19 points came from eight made field goals and a perfect 3-for-3 effort from the free throw line. Coming off the bench, the game marked his first time in double figures as the sophomore also tacked on a career-best three blocks.

Primo Spears and Brandon Murray tallied 18 and 16 points, respectively, to round out those in double figures. Spears paced the offense with seven helpers while Murray grabbed a squad-best seven rebounds...

Qudus Wahab scored his 1,000th collegiate point as he sunk a free throw at 19:28 in the second half.

No. 20 Providence Runs Past Georgetown | ABC6

At the 16:30 mark, Moore finished through contact and converted a three-point play. The Friars held a 49-37 lead at the first media timeout of the half (15:49 mark).

Georgetown went scoreless for over four minutes as the second half progressed. In the meantime, the Friars went on an 8-0 run to extend their lead to 17.

At the 11:34 mark, Jayden Pierre (Elizabeth, N.J.) found Ed Croswell (Philadelphia, Pa.) on an inbounds pass for a highlight alley-oop slam.

The Hoyas narrowed the gap to single digits with a 10-2 run, making five of their last six shots. PC led 56-47.

After the Hoyas cut into the deficit, PC answered with back-to-back three-pointers by Locke and Hopkins. The Friars once again extended the lead into double digits.

With just over five minutes left, Hopkins rejected a Georgetown shot and ran coast-to-coast to finish an alley-oop dunk from Carter on the other end. PC led 68-55.

Hopkins Leads No. 20 Providence Past Georgetown 74-62 | WTOP (AP)

Providence outrebounded Georgetown 38-33 and outscored the Hoyas 38-32 in the paint. The Friars came in allowing Big East opponents to shoot only 28% on 3-pointers and limited Georgetown to 3 of 15 from beyond the arc.

“They’re probably one of the most physical teams we have in our conference,” Hoyas coach Patrick Ewing said. “Ed has done an outstanding job of getting them to buy in to the way that he wants to play. They have some older guys who have been around and they play together.”

No. 20/17 Men’s Basketball Drives Past Georgetown 74-62 } FRIARS

The No. 20/17 Providence College men’s basketball team defeated the Georgetown Hoyas (6-19, 1-13 BIG EAST), 74-62, on Wednesday, Feb. 8 at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, R.I. The Friars improved to 18-6 on the season and 10-3 in BIG EAST play. With the win, the Friars earned their 13th win of the season at home as well as their 10th league win. The Friars have now recorded 10 or more BIG EAST wins in eight of Ed Cooley’s 12 seasons at Providence.

“We’re always excited to come home and play in front of our home crowd,” Cooley said. “I was proud of how we came out and how we finished. Our players continue to get better and better.”

Sophomore Bryce Hopkins (Oak Park, Ill.) led the way for the Friars with 17 points, six rebounds and four assists. Sophomore Devin Carter (Miami, Fla.) chipped in with 12 points, nine boards and seven assists. Four players finished in double figures for the Friars.