Georgetown hosts free-falling Butler on Wednesday night in Washington, looking to earn its first season sweep of the Bulldogs in more than a decade.
The Hoyas (13-12, 5-9 Big East) got 17 points apiece from KJ Lewis and Vince Iwuchukwu in a 77-64 victory in the teams’ first meeting in Indianapolis on Jan. 31. Georgetown last swept the Bulldogs in 2015 after also pulling off the feat in 2014.
Both Georgetown and Butler (13-13, 4-11) are among a group of six Big East teams separated by a game and a half for spots Nos. 6-11 ahead of Tuesday’s game between Villanova and Xaiver.
Despite the fact that the Big East has just three teams — UConn, St. John’s and Villanova — ranked in the Top 30 of the NET rankings, Hoyas coach Ed Cooley believes the conference that has produced four national champions since 2016 is still strong.
“I’m not the brightest guy in the room … I don’t believe in metrics per se, I trust my eyes,” Cooley said tongue in cheek after the Hoyas lost their second tight game of the season to then-No. 6 UConn 79-75 on Saturday.
“I absolutely love the Big East and it’s unfortunate that we don’t have many teams with better records, us being one,” Cooley added. “We can beat anybody in our league any night, road or home. Unfortunately we haven’t been fortunate to do that.”
Before hitting conference play, coach Thad Matta’s Bulldogs had the resume of an NCAA Tournament bubble team thanks to nonconference wins over Virginia and South Carolina as well as a victory over Northwestern, but they have dropped a season-long six straight.
Finley Bizjack — the No. 2 scorer in the Big East at 17.4 points per game — missed his first game of the season with an injured left wrist in a 63-56 loss to Seton Hall on Sunday night.
“It is pain tolerance, but he still can’t flex it without the pain and he said he can’t dribble left-handed,” Matta said about Finley, who did participate in warmups Sunday.
“Finley is a tough kid and we will get him back as soon as we can.”
If Bizjack continues to miss time, more might be expected from Michael Ajayi, who leads the conference in rebounding with 11.3 per game and is seventh in scoring at 15.7 ppg.
Butler, which has clinched a losing Big East record for the sixth straight season, is 8-4 at Georgetown.
–Field Level Media
