Georgetown and DePaul Rematch in DC
The Setup
DePaul travels to DC to play the Georgetown Hoyas on Wednesday, 1/24/2018 at 7:30 pm Central at Capital One Arena. It will be carried on FS1 (Channel 237 on Comcast) and on the Score (Radio 670).
Georgetown comes into the game with 3 wins in the Big East against the Vincentian bottom dwellers. The Hoyas have continued to beat the teams that they are supposed to beat, and have come agonizingly close to getting a big win.
Gambling Corner
Vegas has Georgetown favored by 4.5. Kenpom expects Georgetown to win by 4.
Recent History
Last Meeting: Georgetown came into the Losetrust Arena, wait check that, the Wintrust Area and smack the Demons around like impudent children, 90-81. It was a disappointing loss.
Rerunning a picture from that game:
Looking at the above statistic, you would think it was a one or two possession game. However, let’s just say the Hoyas took a couple more free-throws in the game, yeah that’s it.
The Hoyas got to the line 37 times in the last game. They made 31 of them for 83.8%. DePaul made 17 less free throws. DePaul lost due to that little stat.
Here is a nugget for you, last meeting in DC, DePaul prevailed 67-65.
Things have not gone well for DePaul with Georgetown, but then again, which Big East team has DePaul had success against? Since DePaul joined the Big East in 2006, the Demons have gone 2-17 against Georgetown (the other win was in 2014 BE Tournament).
All time: This is the 38th meeting between the two teams. Georgetown leads the all-time series, 30-8.
Fun Facts
Religious affiliation: Still are Jesuit
The Current Flavor of Hoyas
Who Should Scare the Blue out of Us?
Best Player: Jessie Govan
6’ 10” 270 pound Junior center. He gets a huge percentage of available offensive and defensive rebounds as his among the national leaders in both categories. He was the game MVP in the first meeting this year.
Quick Note
This is a winnable game. If DePaul fouls less, and shoots above average we might have a game.
Beatable team
The Hoyas like to turn the ball over a ton. They turn the ball over more than 1 in every 5 possessions, which would be 317th out of 351 teams. Big East play has exposed their shooting deficiencies.
Going into the last meeting, the Hoyas were near the top in 2pt percentage, they are now 164th in the country. They are a below average 3pt shooting team, which is generally DePaul’s Achilles heel. The bang the ball inside, and they shoot free-throws incredibly well (8th best in D1). They draw a ton of fouls, and they get a ton of offensive rebounds. They pass the ball and are 4th best in the nation at assist rate. They take shots early in the shot clock. They are a tall team (28th tallest), although this may also be skewed with 7’3” 9th man Chris Sodom.
The start 2 Freshman, Jahvon Blair and Jamorko Pinkett. Pinkett was awful last meeting, while Blair played well.
In games against top 60 opponents, G’Town has not shot the 3 well (11.8%, 31.8%, and 32.1%), and has turned the ball over 16, 21, and 25 times. Their opponents shot 43%, 14.3%, and 50% from 3pt. land. Marcus Derrickson has been there most consistent player in these games.
Big East Play Has Shown the Hoyas’ Warts
In Big East Play Georgetown is Dead last in the following Categories:
Offensive Efficiency
Effective FG%
Turnover %
2P %
Blcock %
Steal %
How does DePaul Matchup?
Let’s go to the tail of the tape.
Offense
In Big East Play, it is ridiculous how similar these 2 teams are:
This blog has been railing on how awful the Blue Demon offense has been all year. Well, Georgetown’s is worse. Of course, the Hoyas are barely worse in many of the categories.
The one clear advantage that has held true from non-conference to conference play is Georgetown’s ability to get to the free-throw line. They are the best in the Big East, and 29th in the nation. This was how the Hoyas beat the Demons earlier this month.
Advantage: These are 2 highly flawed offenses. DePaul Slightly
Defense
In Big East games Georgetown has had a more efficient defense ranking 3rd in the conference; DePaul ranks 7th.
The big difference lies in the fact that DePaul gives up many more free-throw attempt then the Hoyas do. As been mentioned multiple times in this article, this is how Georgetown won last time.
All other factors are virtually the same.
Advantage: Georgetown
Other Stuff: Which lineup are we going to see?
It will be interesting to see which lineups Coach Leitao deploys. Georgetown’s front line is 6’ 10”, 6’ 8”, 6’7”.
Will Marin Maric’s knee be healthy? Will Jaylen Butz be back from missing 2 games due to sickness? Has sickness hit anyone else? (Full disclosure: I have a cold now. My status is day to day, but I will muster energy to watch on FS1 on Wednesday night!)
Last time around, Coach Leitao stuck with his starters for most of the game. Maric and Butz rotated but both got into severe foul trouble. Strus and Maric fouled out.
If one or both big men cannot go, I would hope that DePaul counters with Paul Reed who had if not his best, one of his best games of the year against Butler.
If the Demons have to rely on the dynamic walk-on duo of Peter Ryckbosch and Joe Hanel against the Hoya front line, it will be a LONG game.
Flynn Cameron Update
17 year old Flynn Cameron became eligible as of January 1st. Paul Steeno of the DePaulia posted an interesting tweet. Also, a good tweet from Eli Hershkovich mentioning that Cameron has been practicing and that red shirting is still an option.
In Conclusion
The game will come down to whether the Hoyas protect the ball and whether DePaul fouls on jump shots or not. It could go either way for sure. Will Georgetown do the Vincentian sweep in Big East Play, or will DePaul take over DC? Here is to the Blue Demons getting their 2nd Big East Road victory of the year!
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