After Tuesday’s embarrassment at the hands of Providence, your Georgetown Hoyas are back in action on Friday as they visit the Seton Hall Pirates. Friday’s game, which will tip at 9 P.M., carries extra importance as Georgetown looks to avoid falling to 0-2 in Big East conference play.
For the second straight game, the biggest storyline for the Hoyas is the availability of sophomore guard Mac McClung. As of Thursday, there has been little clarification regarding McClung’s odds of suiting up.
Should Georgetown be without Mac, it would make stealing a win at the Prudential Center that much more difficult. McClung is one of the team’s primary shot creators, and without him against Providence, frankly the Hoyas looked lost offensively.
If he is out again, one of Georgetown’s other backcourt guards will need to step up and shoulder some of the scoring load. Terrell Allen and Jahvon Blair, the most likely candidates to fill in for McClung, were a combined 6/29 from the floor against the Friars. Regardless of whether Mac is active or not, both Allen and Blair will need to play better on Friday if Georgetown is to walk away with a win.
As for Seton Hall, the Pirates are 9-4 overall and coming off a road win over DePaul in their conference opener. While having four losses at this point in the season is not overly impressive, all four of Seton Hall’s have come to high-major competition, including two narrow defeats at the hands of ranked Michigan State and Oregon teams. After losing two straight games to start the month of December, the Pirates have rattled off three wins to bring their NET ranking to 25. All this is to say that Seton Hall is a much better team than their record indicates, and that a road win for Georgetown will not come easy.
Any discussion of this year’s Pirates team must start with Myles Powell, the reigning member of the 2019 All Big East First Team. After missing two games with a concussion, Powell was back to his usual antics against DePaul, scoring 27 in the Pirates’ victory. With Powell contributing a large portion of Seton Hall’s scoring, as he averages 21.7 points per game on the year, shutting him down will be priority number one for Ewing and company.
There isn’t any secret surrounding how Georgetown will go about that task. Jagan Mosely prides himself in shutting down the opposition’s top threat, and he will need his best to slow down Powell. Last season, Powell scored 30 or more points in all three meetings between the two teams. That is not to say Mosely was not at least partially successful, as he did force Powell to work for each and every point.
Still, I suspect Jagan will need to be even better and keep Powell under his season average to give the Hoyas the best chance to win.
Powell is joined in the backcourt by fellow upperclassmen Quincy McKnight and Myles Cale. While both have proven themselves as capable defenders, neither are consistent scorers. Their struggles from beyond the arc should play in the Hoyas favor. However, McKnight is usually the more dangerous of the two, as he is the Pirates’ assist leader and even began to find a scoring groove during Powell’s absence, averaging 18 points in the two game stretch.
In the frontcourt, Seton Hall boasts quite a bit of size even without Sandro Mamukelashvili, who is out for the foreseeable future with a broken wrist. While 7’2” senior Romaro Gill may not match Mamukelashvili’s offensive output, Gill certainly makes up for it on the defensive end. He is averaging 2.9 blocks per game and will be the tallest opponent Yurtseven has faced this season.
While all eyes will be keyed in on Myles Powell, it may be how well Yurtseven handles Gill’s size and shot blocking ability that decides this game.
It will be interesting to see who Coach Kevin Willard rolls out as the team’s fifth starter. In the Pirates’ Big East opener, 6’10” freshman Tyrese Samuel got his first start of the season. If Willard opts for the same line-up, Seton Hall will have the height advantage on Georgetown as Jamarko Pickett would be forced to guard Samuel. The Pirates could also go with a four guard line-up with Jared Rhoden, who has had a solid season, averaging 8 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Regardless of whether or not Samuel gets the start, both he and 7’1” center Ike Obiagu will get significant playing time. This will allow Patrick Ewing to play a two big man line-up with Yurtseven and Wahab on the floor at the same time if he so chooses.
Regardless of whether Mac McClung is available for Georgetown, this will be a tough game to win. Seton Hall has experience, a dynamic scorer in Myles Powell and size on the inside. That being said, the Hoyas should be especially motivated for Friday’s game given their abysmal performance on New Year’s Eve. There’s no such thing as a must win game in January, but Georgetown’s performance on Friday will likely give an indication of whether or not this team is for real.
Jacob’s Prediction (11-3 on the year): Seton Hall 77, Georgetown 75
Making a prediction for this game is close to impossible without knowledge about McClung’s status. Still, it’s hard to feel confident about the Hoyas’ chances regardless of Mac’s availability. Even without Mamu, Seton Hall is downright good. As I mentioned above, they have a lot of veterans, a game-changing player in Myles Powell and the muscle to protect the rim down low. That being said, I believe the Hoyas come out with a chip on their shoulder and play the Pirates tight. I don’t think it will be enough, but it should be an entertaining contest until the end.
Will’s Prediction (10-4 on the year): Georgetown 78, Seton Hall 76
This prediction is made based off of nothing but sheer optimism. It can’t possibly get that much worse than the team performed against Providence, right? Allen isn’t likely to be that bad shooting again, Omer isn’t likely to be that ineffective again, and so on.I half expect the Hoyas to lose this game in a close contest, as Jacob said. However, the second half of the Providence game gave me hope, as the team worked to cut the deficit and played hard the whole game even when it was just a bad overall night. The biggest reason I think the Hoyas win is that I believe Mac McClung will return for tonight, and that his questionable status for tonight is just gamesmanship on the part of Ewing. I have absolutely no reason to believe this or facts to support it, but Mac, Omer, and Jagan all show up for the big games, and this is certainly a big one for the team.
