Georgetown can surpass its win total from a year ago and start 2-0 in the Big East for the first time since 2015-16 when it faces Seton Hall on Sunday night in Newark, N.J.
The Hoyas (9-2, 1-0 Big East) are coming off an impressive 81-57 home win over Creighton on Wednesday, when they shot 10 of 16 from 3-point range.
“I thought it’s the best defensive effort that we’ve had since our tenure here,” said Georgetown second-year coach Ed Cooley, whose team went 9-23 last season. “I just thought that our attention to detail and our preparation was outstanding.”
Hoyas guard Jayden Epps was the Big East Player of the Week last week — the first Hoya to receive that honor since Mac McClung in 2019 — and leads four players averaging double figures with 16 points a game. The junior, in his second season at Georgetown since transferring from Illinois, is shooting 40.3 percent from 3-point range.
Thomas Sorber is next at 14.8 points per game. Micah Peavy, a grad transfer from TCU, is averaging 14 points, and Malik Mack is at a 12.3 points pace. Georgetown is averaging 76.9 points as a team and allowing just 64.2 points a game.
Offense has been the biggest issue for a Seton Hall team (5-7, 0-1) that has only three holdovers from last year’s NIT championship squad.
Seton Hall is shooting 40.7 percent from the floor and ranks among the worst in the nation in shots attempted per game (53.4). The Pirates have broken 70 points as a team just once this season and average 60.9 per game.
Isaiah Coleman had a career-high 22 points in Tuesday’s 79-67 road loss to Villanova, but again, the Pirates struggled to make shots, shooting just 39 percent from the field (23 of 59).
Coleman (12.9 points per game) and Chaunce Jenkins (11.7) are the only Pirates scoring in double figures. Seton Hall had ugly nonconference losses to Fordham and Monmouth and fell 66-63 to in-state rival Rutgers on a last-second shot by Scarlet Knights star Dylan Harper on Dec. 14.
After his team fell to Villanova for its third loss in a row, Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway said on his postgame radio show that it was time to make some changes.
“I’m starting to question some of my guys on my team’s desire to want to play this game at a high level, and it’s starting to get to us, right?” Holloway said. “In order to play this game, you got to be into it no matter what. Whether it’s your night, whether it’s not your night, you got to find something to bring to the team to help you, to help us win.
“We got some guys on this team that just care about them, and that’s hurting us,” he continued, “and I got to do something about it, and I’m going to do something about it.”
Seton Hall has won the past seven meetings with Georgetown.
–Field Level Media
