Following a much-needed week off, Georgetown travels to Indianapolis to face the 19th-ranked Butler Bulldogs at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Under any circumstances, facing a ranked team on the road would be a tough test. Couple that with the fact that the Hoyas may be without their two leading scorers, and Georgetown will need a minor miracle to emerge victorious.
Heading into Saturday’s game, the first thing on Hoya fans’ minds is likely the status of Mac McClung, who has missed the last three games with a foot injury, and Omer Yurtseven, who sustained an ankle injury in last Saturday’s win over DePaul. Coach Patrick Ewing did little to ease these concerns, saying there was, “No medical update as of right now.” Ewing went on to say that neither McClung nor Yurtseven had practiced as of Thursday.
It certainly seems like there is a very real possibility that Georgetown is without one or both of their leading scores on Saturday.
As for the Hoyas’ opponent, Butler sits in a tie for 4th in the Big East with a conference record of 7-5. When the two teams first met in D.C. on Jan. 28, Butler was not at their best, but the Bulldogs were still able to pull out a narrow 69-64 victory in the final minutes. Since that game, Butler has had its ups-and-downs. The Bulldogs lost to Providence at home on Feb. 1 and got blown out on the road versus Marquette. On the flip side, Butler tallied a marquee win over Villanova on Feb. 5 and held serve against Xavier this Wednesday.
In Georgetown’s home loss to Butler earlier this year, the Bulldogs were without a key piece in junior guard Aaron Thompson, who missed the game with a left wrist injury. Though Thompson has since returned from that injury, he suffered a blow to the head in Butler’s last game and did not return. We have little update on his injury at this time, but the Bulldogs may once again be without their floor general in Thompson.
With Thompson potentially missing Saturday’s game, Butler’s standout senior Kamar Baldwin may be asked to do even more. Although Georgetown did a solid job limiting Baldwin’s scoring in the first meeting, he still found a way to impact the game, penetrating inside and finding open teammates. On what Georgetown can improve from the first game, Jahvon Blair stressed that, “We got to defend the pick-and-roll better.”
One of the players that benefitted from Baldwin’s pass-first mentality was stretch forward Sean McDermott. A three-point specialist, McDermott showed off what he does best on Jan. 28, knocking down seven of 10 three-point attempts, including the go-ahead three with 49 seconds to play.
Georgetown will need to prevent McDermott from catching fire once again on Saturday. “As for all shooters, you got to run him off the three-point line and make him uncomfortable,” Jagan Mosely said Thursday.
With Georgetown battling injury, Ewing’s favorite saying of “next man-up” will be all the more important. Last game, Jahvon Blair and Qudus Wahab took full advantage of the extra minutes. Blair poured in a career-high 30 points to lead Georgetown offensively while Wahab anchored the Hoyas’ defense, posting six blocks. Georgetown will need these two, and potentially others, to once again step up if the Hoyas are to hang tough with the Bulldogs.
Against a well-coached Butler team, I think it’s fair to say almost nobody expects the short-handed Hoyas to win this game. For that reason, Georgetown has very little to lose and everything to gain. A win would shock the world and make the Hoyas feel a whole lot better about their tournament chances. I’m not saying it’s likely, but, hey, you never know.
Jacob’s Prediction (18-6 on the year): Butler 70, Georgetown 67
I was fully prepared to pick Georgetown in this game, but Thursday’s injury updates (or rather the lack thereof) makes me pause. It seems as though the odds are high that the Hoyas will be without at least one, if not both, of their leading scorers. Georgetown may have gotten by with playing a vastly shortened rotation for 10 minutes against DePaul, but it seems unlikely that such a rotation will work for a full 40 minutes against a far better coached Butler team. I have no doubt the Hoyas will play with heart, but the depth disparity between the two teams is bound to be a factor in this one.
Will’s Prediction (15-9 on the year): Georgetown 70, Butler 67
I’m getting whiplash from going between being extremely optimistic and then extremely pessimistic about the program. Right now, I’m extremely optimistic. I do recognize that my mantra this season of “Next man up” is getting severely tested (pretty soon we’ll have to let the “Dress Like a Hoya” kids play for the team as walk-ons), but I remain optimistic.
For the past three years, the Hoyas have taken down Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse, an arena renowned for being one of the most intimidating environments in all of college basketball. Two years ago, it was Trey Dickerson who stepped up to chip in 18 points. Last year, it was Greg Malinowski and his barrage of threes to lift the Hoyas past the Bulldogs. That is to say, all bets are off.
At this point in the season, I’ve given up on trying to predict what this team is going to do. The Bulldogs at Hinkle are going to provide a major test for the Hoyas, but I suspect that someone will step up to lead the Hoyas to victory. Will it be Jahvon Blair with another strong performance to continue his recent hot streak? Or perhaps it’ll be Qudus Wahab (who will likely be slotting into the starting center role if Yurtseven is out) to light up Hinkle and its leaky roof?
I trust the Hoyas to learn from the mistakes made from that blown lead from their meeting earlier this season (for the love of God, do not continuously leave McDermott open) and somehow pull out the improbable victory to get back into NCAA tournament talk.
