Think Georgetown’s NCAA Tournament hopes have vanished? Think again.
Despite losing consecutive games to Providence and DePaul last week, the Hoyas still have an outside chance to sneak into the Big Dance. However, almost any road to an at-large must start with a win Wednesday, as Georgetown visits the Marquette Golden Eagles for an 8:30 p.m. tip-off.
Not a lot of things have gone the Hoyas’ way this season, but they may be catching Marquette at the perfect. The Golden Eagles started Big East play 7-4, including an 84-80 win over Georgetown on Jan. 18. Of late, Marquette’s luck has turned, as the Golden Eagles have dropped three games in a row. This rough patch reached its peak last Saturday, when Marquette lost by double-digits to Providence. Steve Wojciechowki can only hope that his team can turn it around before Wednesday and the subsequent stretch run to the end of the season.
Marquette’s chances at a deep postseason run will likely be dictated by the play of senior guard Markus Howard. The Big East Player of the Year candidate is responsible for over 35% of the Golden Eagles’ scoring and thus will command the attention of every defense Marquette will face. Back in January, the Hoyas were unsuccessful in slowing Howard down, allowing him to explode for 42 points.
If Howard comes anywhere close to 40 points this time around, it will be a tall task for Georgetown to emerge victorious on the road.
While it was Howard who went for a big night the last time around, it may have been the play of Marquette’s supporting cast that made the difference. Sacar Anim, the Golden Eagles’ second leading scorer at 12.8 points per game, knocked down three three-pointers when the two teams met in Washington. Anim, Brendan Bailey and sixth-man Greg Elliot are all shooting above 38% from deep on the year. While stopping Howard will be priority number one, as it should be, the Hoyas cannot do so at the expense of allowing Golden Eagles role players to rain three pointers.
While Bailey is listed at 6’8”, he is similar to Jamorko Pickett in the sense that he plays mostly on the perimeter. That leaves Marquette’s bruiser Theo John as the big man in the middle. While John stands at just 6’9”, he packs 255 pounds of brute force and will pose a challenge for the Hoyas’ frontcourt. In the first meeting, John was limited to just 18 minutes of action due to foul trouble. This allowed Omer Yurtseven to dominate the paint, tallying 22 points and 11 rebounds. I would like Yurtseven and Qudus Wahab to attack John from the opening tip to assert their dominance and perhaps relegate John to the bench once again.
This could be slightly more difficult if Yurtseven is at all limited due to his nagging ankle injury. While Yurtseven did make his return from injury against DePaul, he appeared noticeably hindered by the injury and failed to make a significant impact on the game. Let’s hope he is back to full strength on Wednesday.
What we are close to certain of on the injury front is that Mac McClung will miss yet another game with a foot injury. After reaggravating the injury against Providence, McClung was in a walking boot for Saturday’s game. Though the program has provided no additional information on the extent of McClung’s injury, I wouldn’t count on him back before the Big East Tournament.
LIkely without McClung, Georgetown’s depth will once again be tested. In their last two outings, the Hoyas impressed in the first half, but ran out of steam after halftime on both occasions. I’m not sure if there’s much the coaching staff can do to counteract fatigue, but we’ll see if Ewing can pull a rabbit out of his hat.
Wednesday’s contest feels eerily similar to last year’s regular season finale in Milwaukee. Marquette was also riding a three-game losing streak heading into that game, and the Hoyas took advantage, clawing out an 86-84 victory, perhaps Georgetown’s most impressive win of the year. While almost a year has passed since that upset, the Hoyas can hope that they can harness that same magic Wednesday night.
Jacob’s Prediction (18-9 on the year): Georgetown 79, Marquette 77
Blind faith. That’s what I’m running on at this point. That and the fact that Marquette isn’t good and has lost three games in a row. If there’s any Big East team I feel more confused about than Georgetown, it’s the Golden Eagles. One night, they look like a top-25 team in the country. Then they do something like lose to Providence by double-digits. Oh wait, Georgetown did that too…
Will’s Prediction (17-10 on the year): Marquette 73, Georgetown 68
Marquette is in its annual end-of-season freefall. However, after seeing the Hoyas lose to the Golden Eagles at home when we had more available players than we do now, I’m not confident that we’ll be able to pull it out if we have to ride with six players again. That doesn’t mean I won’t be tuning in- this team’s performance this year deserves our support and I’ll be showing mine.
