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 Friday night at Capital 1 Arena and prepared this photo essay about the Hoyas’ matchup against DePaul. If you would like to check out his prior coverage, 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
Part 4: https://hoopshd.com/2024/11/30/hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-4-4
Part 5: https://hoopshd.com/2024/12/03/hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-5-5
Part 6: https://hoopshd.com/2024/12/19/hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-6-4
Part 7: https://hoopshd.com/2024/12/28/hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-7-5
Another great pregame meal: multiple types of pasta/garlic bread/brownie/chocolate chip cookie. The student section is hungry for a win and looks quite packed:
I noticed that the radio analyst for DePaul was Dave Corzine. I got to interview him about his fellow alum George Mikan a couple of years ago and he was super-nice:
Let’s tip off an eventful weekend in DC:
It is hard to feel confident about a DePaul team that has lost 39(!) straight Big East regular-season games over the past 3 seasons, but they certainly have the health advantage as Georgetown was down a pair of starters. Their leading 3-PT shooter (Jayden Epps) was out for the 3rd time in the past 6 games due to a left hamstring injury, while their leading scorer/rebounder/shot-blocker (Thomas Sorber) was out for the 1st time all season due to a right elbow injury:
DePaul coach Chris Holtmann has been waiting even longer for a win, as the last time he beat a Big East team was on 11/22/21 in a 3-PT win at Seton Hall when he was coach at Ohio State:
For a guy whose name sounds primarily like a defensive star, Blue Demons G Layden Blocker displayed his offensive repertoire in the 1st half with a layup, a jumper, and a pair of threes en route to 14 PTS in just 14 minutes of action:
Caleb Williams/Malik Mack tried to pick up the offensive slack for the Hoyas by getting to the basket for layup after layup, but they needed a bit more help:
DePaul entered the locker room up 39-28 at halftime thanks to Georgetown making exactly ONE shot from behind the arc and having just 3 AST. After coming back onto the court, Blue Demons PF NJ Benson missed a dunk but was still strong enough to wreck part of the stanchion, so the maintenance crew had to bring out a stepladder to fix it:
With Sorber out, Benson was able to use his 6’8”/235-pound frame to his advantage in the 2nd stanza with a layup, an alley-oop dunk that thankfully did not do any further damage to the basket, and even a 3 from the top of key to beat the shot clock. His 4 BLK on the defensive end were not too shabby either:
To the Hoyas’ credit, they did not go gently into that good night despite their depleted roster. Drew Fielder made several shots around the basket, a turnaround jumper, and a 3 to finish with 19 PTS:
Both Mack and his teammate Curtis Williams Jr. made a pair of threes down the stretch as they were able to chip away at a 17-PT 1st half deficit and whittle it down to a 1-possesion game in the final minutes. However, DePaul G CJ Gunn gave his team a shot in the arm with a layup, a jumper, and a corner 3 to finish with a team-high 17 PTS and lead his team to a 73-68 victory and their 1st conference road win since beating the Hoyas in DC on 2/24/22:
In the postgame press conference I asked Coach Holtmann (who spent the past 7 years at Ohio State) how close he was to Buckeyes’ football coach Ryan Day and whether he thought Day was 72 hours away from becoming a national champ. He smiled and said that Coach Day is 1 of the best people he knows and a hell of a guy. While he refused to make an official prediction, he admitted that he would like nothing more than for Coach Day and his staff to win it all on Monday night:
I wondered if Georgetown coach Ed Cooley and his team would have time to celebrate Martin Luther King Day on Monday considering he had a game at Villanova at 6PM that evening. He explained that he requested to play on MLK Day because it is something special, and much like King the Hoyas want to be a leader in discussing justice/injustice. He is grateful that the league has allowed him to play on Monday, and that King’s dream is coming true by virtue of Cooley being able to talk to us today:
That is a wrap for now but check back later this month when St. John’s visits DC.
