HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will spend the upcoming months covering several Georgetown basketball home games, with (hopefully) a very special reward coming in March. He was in attendance Saturday afternoon at Capital 1 Arena and prepared this photo essay about the Hoyas’ matchup against UAlbany. If you would like to check out his prior coverage then please go to:
Part 1: https://hoopshd.com/2024/11/09/hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-1-4
Part 2: https://hoopshd.com/2024/11/16/hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-2-5
Part 3: https://hoopshd.com/2024/11/23/hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-3-4
We FINALLY got a hot pregame meal: green beans/pasta/steak bites/mini-donuts! The Saturday afternoon after Thanksgiving + a non-power conference opponent = everybody is out shopping or watching college football. Georgetown coach Ed Cooley had a 25-PT win last Tuesday over Wagner, but has not won consecutive games by 20+ PTS since beating Manhattan/UAlbany in December 2022…as coach at Providence. Let’s tip it off (with no band/students/cheerleaders):
UAlbany was missing 2 of its top-4 scorers due to injury (Byron Joshua/DeMarr Langford Jr.) but JR G Kheni Briggs helped his team hang around for the 1st 10 minutes via a STL/layup, long jumper, and a corner 3. After that it was all Georgetown all day long. FR big man Thomas Sorber was unstoppable inside with a ton of layups and finished the day with his 3rd double-double in his 1st 7 career games. SR wing Micah Peavy was making shots from all over the court, including an old-fashioned 3-PT play as well as a 3 from behind the arc, and even added a beautiful block at the rim for the cherry on top of his 17-PT 1st half. I thought 6’7” Caleb Williams was having a great half of his own…until I realized that both he and his 6’6” teammate Curtis Williams Jr. had each scored 4 PTS: #toomanywilliams! The Hoyas were up 49-35 at halftime and did not let up in the 2nd stanza despite Great Dane Justin Neely making just enough great baskets to keep it from getting completely out of hand. Hoyas G Malik Mack used his lanky lefty stroke to finish with 16 PTS/6-8 FG, while Peavy’s corner 3 made it 86-46 with 10 minutes left as Georgetown cruised to a 100-68 victory.
In the postgame press conference I asked UAlbany coach Dwayne Killings how his team was able to get a fantastic 14 STL despite missing 2 of his top defenders. He selflessly gave the credit to his coaching staff for knowing when to anticipate what the Hoyas were going to do. He said they could sniff things out a bit, but did not have the size to compete inside (which is why his team had a 58-22 disadvantage in points in the paint):
I wondered how Coach Cooley’s team was able to shoot over 40% from long-distance after entering today at 28.7 3P%. He confirmed that they have been practicing their 3-PT shooting a lot, and that the key is to get uncontested shots with your feet set (aka “10-toes threes”). That is what most kids practice, so unless you can knock down 25-foot step-backs like Steph Curry/Damian Lillard, you should keep it simple:
That is a wrap for now, but check back in 48 hours when UMBC visits DC.