On Sunday afternoon at 4:30 PM, your Georgetown Hoyas (1-1) will return to action at McDonough Arena against the 11th-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers (3-1). The Hoyas will look to overcome a disappointing loss to Navy on Tuesday, a game that slipped away from them in the last five minutes of regulation. Everyone expected this to be a rebuilding year for Georgetown, but a loss always stings nonetheless. Coach Ewing will look to get his crew back on track against the Bob Huggins-led Mountaineers.
The Hoyas and Mountaineers are former Big East adversaries with a long history. Georgetown leads the all-time series 27 to 25. The last time these two teams faced each other was back in 2014 in the NIT when the Hoyas won 77-65. Funnily enough, this game was also played at McDonough, but the atmosphere will be entirely different this time around with no fans.
On Kenpom, West Virginia is ranked 8th in the nation (compared to Georgetown’s ranking of 99th), which shows just how good of a team they are. They started off their season with victories against South Dakota State, VCU, and Western Kentucky. The Western Kentucky game was close, but this was likely a result of fatigue since the Mountaineers were playing their third game in three days.
On Wednesday, West Virginia went toe-to-toe against #1 Gonzaga in a very tight contest. Georgetown will certainly have their hands full on Sunday. The Hoyas go into the game as 10 point underdogs.
The Mountaineers have shot a respectable 31.2% beyond the arc on the season thus far and pour in an average of 77.3 points per game. Four of their players average double digits, led by junior forward Derek Culver (15.8 ppg). West Virginia is a very deep team, and while the Hoyas are deeper than last season, their bench consists largely of young, inexperienced freshmen. This should give the Mountaineers a leg up.
West Virginia is a physical team that rebounds the ball very well, giving themselves plenty of second chance opportunities. While he does not average double digits in scoring, Oscar Tshiebwe is another key contributor for the Mountaineers. He still averages just under 10 points per game in addition to 8.8 rebounds per game. Having to worry about both Culver and Tshiebwe, the Hoyas will have an uphill battle on the boards. When talking with the media on Friday, Coach Ewing said it best: “They eat glass…There’s no way to duplicate what they can do. We have to talk about in terms of boxing them out, keeping them off the glass, pushing the ball and getting our bigs involved.” The Hoyas are averaging 48 rebounds per game so far in comparison to West Virginia’s 41.8 rpg. However, they only outrebounded Navy by 2 (38 to 36) on Tuesday. Qudus Wahab and Jamorko Pickett must match West Virginia’s physicality and not shy away from the boards. The Hoyas also must improve from the free throw line, as they have only shot 58% from the charity stripe in the first two games.
It is also essential that the Hoyas get more production out of their bench on Sunday if they are to compete for the full 40 minutes. Against Navy, Georgetown received a mere one point from their bench when Chudier Bile made a single free throw. Bile and the rest of the Hoyas’ reserves will have to do more on Sunday. The team will also hope for Timothy Ighoefe to improve from his past two performances where he has struggled with turnovers and foul trouble. He will need to be physical on the boards just like Pickett and Wahab.
If the Hoyas are to have a chance, they must knock down three-point shots to spread the floor, which may be a struggle. West Virginia has only allowed their opponents to hit 24.7% of threes, and outside of Jahvon Blair and Don Carey, the Hoyas do not really have a consistent three-point shooter on the roster. Jalen Harris was a pleasant surprise beyond the arc last game (going 3 for 5), and hopefully he is able to continue this production.
Finally, it will be interesting to see if Bob Huggins implements his notorious full court press against the Hoyas early on. The infamous “Press Virginia” chews down the shot clock and makes it extremely difficult for the opposing team to bring the ball up the court. Outside of Jalen Harris, the Hoyas do not have a ball handler who is experienced handling this kind of pressure at the college level yet. We all know that Patrick Ewing likes to run his offense at a high tempo and push the ball in transition, so it will be interesting to see how the Hoyas respond to a full court press.
Jack’s Prediction (1-1 on the season): West Virginia 85, Georgetown 72
As much as I would love the Hoyas to pull off the upset, the odds of it happening are long. The team would have to be firing on all cylinders to have a chance. Hopefully, Coach Ewing has used the days following the tough Navy loss to improve his defense and watch as much film as possible on the Mountaineers. In the end, however, I think West Virginia’s ability to hit the three and crash the boards will prove to be too tall a task for Georgetown.
Jacob’s Prediction (2-0 on the season): West Virginia 80, Georgetown 75
Call me crazy, but I actually don’t see this game being a blowout. I know, Georgetown looked downright bad in Tuesday’s loss to Navy. Those issues, especially on the defensive end, won’t just go away, but I do expect the Hoyas to come out with a lot of energy and match the Mountaineers’ effort and physicality. That being said, energy and effort can only take you so far. West Virginia is a well-coached, experienced, and surprisingly deep team. The Hoyas may be able to hang around, but the Mountaineers are just too good and should leave DC with a win.
Will’s Prediction (1-1 on the season): West Virginia 83, Georgetown 61
This game is going to be ugly. The talent of a top 15 team + a full court press + the coaching of Bob Huggins. This is a bad, bad matchup for the Hoyas. West Virginia has one of the most talented frontcourts in the country, and it should be a good test for our young players. I’m just hoping to see growth and improvement on the defensive end. I’m bracing myself for the worst, though.
