Game 29: Georgetown Hoyas (13-15, 5-12) at Xavier Musketeers (13-15, 5-12)
When: Saturday Feb 28, 1:30 PM
Where: Cintas Center
TV: TNT and truTV (J.B. Long and Chris Spatola)
Radio: Team 980 AM (Rich Chvotkin), Sirius XM online (Hoyas), 388 (Xavier)
Series: Xavier leads 23-7 and has won 12 of 13 all-time meetings at home.
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Last Meeting: Xavier won the first meeting this season 80-77 on Dec. 20.
Streaks: Xavier has won two in a row overall and eight straight at home vs Georgetown
Net Rankings: Xavier 98, Georgetown 99
KenPom Rankings: Georgetown 87, Xavier 97
KenPom Odds: Xavier has a 60% chance of winning, with a projected score of 78-76.
Line: Xavier -4.5, o/u 153.5 (Fox)
The Musketeers Report: Richard Pitino has done a pretty good job in his first season considering that the entire roster is new. Full disclosure, I picked Xavier last in my preseason ballot for the Omaha Herald conference preview. Tre Carroll leads the conference in scoring at 18.4 ppg while Filip Borovicanin comes in as the fourth leading rebounder in the league at 7.8 per game and fifth in the Big East with 4.5 assists per game, just ahead of the Malik Mack (4.2). Georgetown is the only sweep Xavier can still earn in Richard Pitino’s first season. Xavier’s best wins are non-conference victories over our old Big East friends West Virginia and Cincinnati.
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Injury Update: On Thursday Georgetown announced that leading scorer KJ Lewis (14.9 ppg) would miss the remainder of the season with a left ankle injury. Lewis has one more year of college eligibility remaining. Jeremiah Williams or Isaiah Abraham seem most likely to slide into the starting lineup with Lewis unavailable.
WHAT’S AT STAKE?
Oh just the chance to end another long, losing conference losing streak against a conference foe on the road and possibly avoiding last place in the Big East is all.
The Hoyas get another chance at ending an eight-game losing streak in another opponent’s gym. Earlier this season the Hoyas got the rare road win in Milwaukee over Marquette and will now try and pull off something even more rare and that’s win at Xavier.
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Georgetown has lost 12 of 13 games all-time at Xavier with all but two contests coming since the Musketeers joined the league in 2014.
The Hoyas lone victory in Cincinnati came over the then-No. 5 Musketeers on Jan. 19, 2016 in what will forever be known as the Tre Campbell game as the DC native scored 21 and made 5 of 7 3-pointers. DSR added 20 and seven assists. It was a thing of beauty in real time and looks even better given the last decade of results. It’s also the last time the Hoyas beat a Top 5 opponent anywhere.
Cooley came really close to winning at Xaver in his first season with the Hoyas in 2024. Jayden Epps scored 32 in a 92-91 Georgetown loss where the Hoyas led by as many as 14 in another example of the plane not landing.
Another win this season by Cooley and Georgetown will be a surprise with Lewis now out. KenPom still has Georgetown as the slightest of favorites in the season finale against Providence on March 7.
