Georgetown Hoyas vs. Providence Friars Pick & Prediction FEBRUARY 8th 2023
No. 20 Providence puts its 12-0 home record on the line when Georgetown visits Rhode Island's capital city to continue Big East play on Wednesday night.
The Friars (17-6, 9-3 Big East) have had a week off since completing their third set of back-to-back road games in conference play, falling 85-83 in overtime at first-place and now-No. 13 Xavier on Feb. 1.
"I can't wait to get back home, and I'm looking forward to a sold-out building. We're going to need everything we can to get our 10th Big East win," Providence coach Ed Cooley said. "Nothing to put our heads down about (after the Xavier loss). I'm very, very proud of our men."
Diego Garcia
Against Xavier, graduate guard Noah Locke led Providence with 22 points on six 3-pointers, and redshirt senior forward Ed Croswell had 21 points and nine rebounds.
Sophomore Bryce Hopkins finished with a 10-point, 13-rebound double-double -- his fourth in the last six games and ninth of the season.
Hopkins remains the Friars' top producer with 16.1 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.
Graduate Jared Bynum, who has played the last three games after missing four in a row with a torso injury, became the 53rd player in program history to eclipse 1,000 career points.
The Friars will benefit from the comforts of home down the stretch, playing five of their final eight games in Providence. Their three conference losses have come on the road against Creighton, Marquette and Xavier, all of which rose in or entered the AP Top 25 this week.
"We went into three of the more hostile environments in our league and competed at an elite level twice without (Bynum), who clearly showed (at Xavier) why he's a first-team all-conference guard," Cooley said. "It's a long season. ... Let's look where we are somewhere in March."
Georgetown (6-18, 1-12) has clinched a losing Big East record for the fourth consecutive season, but it took Connecticut down to the wire in Saturday's 68-62 home loss.
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The Hoyas led with 4:42 remaining but could not hold on, dropping their third straight since a Jan. 24 win over DePaul that ended a 29-game conference losing streak.
"I didn't think we executed very well down the stretch," Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing said after his team's second loss to UConn.
The Hoyas also fell 84-73 in December in Storrs, Conn.
On Saturday, sophomore Brandon Murray had a team-high 21 points along with three steals, four rebounds and two assists.
Junior Jay Heath (13 points) hit three of his five field goals from 3-point range in just his second game back from a left hand injury that required surgery. He has scored in double figures in nine of his 13 games.
"I thought he gave us a huge boost with his offense," Ewing said of the Arizona State transfer. "We're very happy that he's back. We love what he's doing for us."
Georgetown's leading scorer is sophomore Primo Spears (16.1 points per game), a Connecticut native who had five assists, a steal and two rebounds despite not scoring against the Huskies.
The Friars and Hoyas have not met this season.
Providence, which swept last year's home-and-home set, will make a return trip to Washington, D.C., on Feb. 26. Bynum had 32 points in the Friars' 71-52 road win on Feb. 6, 2022.
--Field Level Media
Georgetown Hoyas vs. Providence Friars
Alpha Diallo scored 14 of his game-high 20 points in the first half as Providence cruised to a 76-60 win over shorthanded Georgetown in each team's Big East Conference opener on Tuesday in Rhode Island.
Luwane Pipkins had 14 points, A.J. Reeves added 13 and David Duke had 10 points, eight assists and six rebounds for the Friars (8-6, 1-0). Providence finished the day at 53.8 percent from the field, drawing 18 assists off 28 made field goals.
Omer Yurtseven collected 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Hoyas (10-4, 0-1), but those numbers didn't mean much in a game that the Friars led by double figures almost the entire way.
Jahvon Blair and Terrell Allen each added 10 points but combined to hit just 6 of 29 shots.
Georgetown started the second half with a 17-4 run, but all that did was pull it within 20. Even though Providence made only 38.1 percent from the field after halftime, its lead was never in danger.
Playing without sophomore guard Mac McClung (eye), who averaged 19 points per game and shot better than 40 percent on 3-pointers in its six-game winning streak, Georgetown was swamped immediately by Providence.
The Friars took the lead 50 seconds into the game on Diallo's jumper and didn't let the Hoyas up for air until the outcome was no longer in doubt. They scored 14 straight points to start the game before Georgetown got on the board after Jagan Mosely hit two free throws at the 13:38 mark.
Providence boosted the margin to 20 with 9:58 left in the half on a short jumper by Nate Watson, then expanded it to 30 with 2:43 remaining on Reeves' jumper in the lane. The advantage swelled to 33 before the Friars settled for a 54-23 lead at intermission.
Providence shot a season-best 65.5 percent from the field in the first half, including an other-worldly 10 of 18 on 3-pointers. It also scored 19 points off 10 Hoyas' turnovers and limited the visitors to 28 percent shooting from the floor.
--Field Level Media