It still hurts (and probably will for a long time), but there’s no changing the result of Wednesday’s crushing defeat at DePaul. What the Hoyas can determine is how they respond to this bump in the road when they visit #16 Marquette Golden Eagles on Saturday afternoon. As evident by the 11-point spread in favor of the Golden Eagles, Georgetown is the heavy underdog heading into the contest, and it will require an all-around effort from the Hoyas to pull off the upset.
When the teams first met, a January 15th matchup in the nation’s capital, Marquette was happy to escape with a 74-71 victory after star guard, and likely Big East Player of the Year, Markus Howard (24.9 PPG) played only 3 minutes before leaving with an injury. In his absence, inside-out threat Sam Hauser torched the Hoyas for 31 points, which included four three-pointers.
In the clip above, Govan gets a hand-up far too late and pays the price when Hauser’s shot finds the bottom of the net. For Georgetown, Mac McClung turned in one of his best shooting performances of the year, tallying 24 points while knocking down 4 of his 6 attempts from beyond the arc. However, McClung’s fellow freshman teammate James Akinjo struggled from the field, including a critical blocked lay-up attempt which would have put the Hoyas ahead with just a few seconds to play (calling off Ewing’s play in the process).
Given that Howard will almost certainly play close to the full 40 minutes this time around, the Blue and Gray must be firing on all cylinders if this game is to be as competitive as the last one. Additionally, forward Ed Morrow, who was also absent in the teams’ first meeting, will be available off the bench. This may allow starter Theo John, the Golden Eagles’ rim-protector in the paint, to guard Georgetown’s Jessie Govan more aggressively with the assurance of help off the bench should John find himself in foul trouble. The cherry on top? Saturday’s contest is set to be played at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, where the Golden Eagles have lost just two games on the year, although both have been to Big East Opponents. On their senior night no less.
While all these factors point towards a heavy Marquette advantage, the last few games tell a far different tale for the Golden Eagles. Steve Wojciechowski’s team has lost three in a row, most recently falling to Seton Hall, in a game that the Pirates rattled off 18 straight points to end the contest. Marquette’s recent missteps can largely be attributed to their struggles with turning the ball over; over the three-game losing streak, the Golden Eagles have turned the ball over 17 times or more in each outing. While Ewing’s Hoyas are no poster-child in terms of taking care of the basketball, they have done so much more successfully than the Golden Eagles, who rank last in the Big East in total turnovers during conference play.
To take advantage of this tendency to cough the ball-up, Georgetown will need to be engaged on the defensive end. Though the Hoyas have struggled overall in producing turnovers, these struggles have been much more pronounced in losses. In Wednesday’s defeat, Georgetown forced turnovers on just 9.2% of DePaul’s possessions, compared with 16.6% and 18.3% of possessions in their previous two victories over Seton Hall and DePaul respectively. If the Hoyas are to make this a game and possibly come away with a victory, it is imperative that they are disruptive on the defensive end and get a handful of easy buckets in transition.
In terms of slowing down the Golden Eagles’ offense, the primary concern for Georgetown must be slowing down Markus Howard without allowing Marquette’s role players to explode for big nights. To do this, Jagan Mosely should once again draw a matchup with the opposition’s top guard, though Howard may be the toughest test he has faced to date (need proof? Take a look at this video).
Still, Mosely’s relative success against Seton Hall’s Myles Powell provides some hope that he will be up to the challenge. What’s more concerning for Ewing and his staff is the rest of the Hoyas starting rotation. Outside of Josh LeBlanc, the rest of the starters have been inconsistent at best, and Govan and McClung have both been weak links of the defensive unit at times. Still, Ewing will feel compelled to keep these two on the floor, as he should, due to their large contributions on the offensive end. With this in mind, no member of this Hoyas team can afford to be lackadaisical on defense, especially given the caliber of their opponent.
Coming into Saturday, both teams have something to prove; Georgetown just got embarrassed by DePaul and Marquette surely wants to reverse their negative momentum before postseason play. Because of this, expect both sides to be well-prepared, come out with energy, and play better basketball than they have of late. However, when all is said and done, Marquette’s best basketball (Markus Howard included) is better than the best Georgetown has to offer, and thus the Golden Eagles will likely emerge victorious in a close contest.
Prediction: Marquette 77, Georgetown 71
