Just like that, the Hoyas dropped their fourth straight game to open Big East play, this time losing 83-75 to #21-ranked Providence in the Hoyas’ first visit to the Dunk since 2019.
As you might expect, this game was characterized by missed opportunities and overall sloppy play as this season’s negative storylines continue to haunt Georgetown. Although the Hoyas seemingly played with a higher level of intensity compared to their first three conference games, they still came out of the gates extremely sluggish in both halves, somehow finding a way to wait nearly seven minutes to score their first basket of the game and then later letting Providence open the second half on a 14-3 run. On top of that, both Dante Harris and Collin Holloway had their worst games of the season offensively, shooting a combined 4 of 20 from the field.
Defensively, Georgetown’s effort could only be described as lackluster. Although they found ways to find stops throughout the game while also notching 10 steals (four of which came at the hands of Don Carey), their struggles when defending the three-point line persisted. This was especially evident down the stretch when the Hoyas gave Noah Horchler a wide open look with just under two minutes remaining which he drained to put the game away.
On the other hand, one of the unsung heroes of this game (contrary to popular belief) was Timothy Ighoefe. Although Ighoefe was nearly nonexistent on offense, his biggest impact came on defense as he was able to almost completely shut down Providence’s main weapon in Nate Watson. Of course some offensive effectiveness would have given the Hoyas a better chance to win this game, but his presence on defense certainly kept this game from being a blowout.
In a nice change of pace, Patrick Ewing switched up his starting lineup, having Kaiden Rice coming off the bench for the first time this season as team captain Donald Carey returned for his first game since December 18th against TCU. This move proved to be one of the only positive notes coming away from the game as Carey reminded us why he is so valuable to this team, and Rice played within himself, not throwing up any bad shots while still showing off his lethal range. Together, the duo combined for 40 of the Hoyas’ 75 points on 10 for16 shooting from deep.
But of course when it comes to Georgetown basketball, every positive has to come with a negative. Although I’d personally like to commend Patrick Ewing for his decision to play Kaiden Rice off the bench, his lineup decisions outside of that were completely mind boggling. The two players who were hit the hardest by these decisions were freshmen Ryan Mutumbo and Tyler Beard. Since the beginning of conference play, both players have shown extreme progress in their games, but against Providence, when the team could have used them the most, they were stuck on the end of the bench. In the second half especially, Ewing was stuck hoping that Dante Harris would figure out his offensive woes instead of letting Beard provide a spark to the lineup after an extremely strong first half. Ewing’s decision to give his oddly constructed three-power forward small ball lineup extended minutes instead of letting Mutumbo come in and provide offensive help was truly head scratching. Not only did these decisions potentially cost the Hoyas the game but also could be stunting the freshmen’s growth going forward. This was not a good look for the #InPatWeTrust crowd.
In the end, the Hoyas were hit with deja vu. They had their moments of decent play and the young guns showed potential, but ultimately did not have what it took to knock off a sluggish Providence team at the Dunk. Whether or not losing by single digits was an improvement is still to be determined. The Hoyas return to the District to take on their powerhouse-rival Villanova Wildcats this Saturday in hopes of turning their season around.
