NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Hoyas Fall to Friars in Home Finale, 71-58

Struggles continue at Capital One Arena for Georgetown

Your Georgetown Hoyas (9-21, 2-17) lost to the Providence Friars (19-11, 10-9 BE) on Tuesday night in their home finale, 71-58. While the game was close at times, it never felt polished by either party. Any time Georgetown came close to threatening, Providence’s Devin Carter had an answer, especially in the second half when he scored 20 points on 7-10 FG, 3-5 3PT.

In the first half, the Hoyas were down 30-26, shooting 10-30 from the floor and a measly 2-11 from three. Providence wasn’t a whole lot better, shooting 13-32 (40.6%) from the field and 4-16 from the perimeter. The Friars didn’t light up the Hoyas on any particular statistical category but had a pair of 7-0 runs. Georgetown had the lead down to one before “birthday boy” Rich Barron hit his second three of the half as time expired. In the post-game press conference, Cooley lamented that GU had two fouls to give and this play typified an inattention to detail that plagued them this season.

To start the second, the Hoyas kept it around within four before a third PC 7-0 run made the score 42-31 (15:09 left).

Georgetown had their own 7-0 run with Drew Fielder scoring a layup, a jump shot, and a baby hook, to pull to 50-45 under 10 minutes. Fielder had some good minutes in the second half but had a couple costly fouls, too. Providence countered with a 6-0 run before Jayden Epps hit a three to make it 57-48 with 7:33 left.

The Hoyas pressed a bit and pulled to 59-52 with 5 minutes left but the score was 61-52 at the under-4 media timeout—with PC not hitting a field goal in over three minutes and Georgetown not scoring in 2:30. They missed two great looks from three while getting some stops, but their luck ran out.

The Friars got a layup from Davonte “Ticket” Gaines but the teams struggled to get bucks and mostly traded ugly possessions, fouls, and free throws down the stretch. The game was long over when Carter got one more dunk and a long three-pointer to get to the final score, 71-58. The Hoyas finished the game by hitting only one of their last 9 field goals.

Styles led the second-half effort for the Hoyas with 9 points (3-5 FG, 1-3 3PT) despite a shaky first half (1-5 FG, 0-2 3PT). Fielder had a good run but ended the half 3-7 FG (0-1 3PT) with 3 rebounds in 15 second-half minutes.

For the game, Epps had 16 points (6-19 FG, 2-7 3PT) and Brumbaugh had 10 points (2-5 FG, 6-7 FTs) but the pair only had 3 assists. Supreme Cook had 7 points (3-5) with 2 rebounds in 16 minutes.

The Hoyas shot 20-57 (35.1%) from the field and were 4-20 (25%) from three while PC was 27-55 (49.1%) from the floor and 9-27 (33%) from the perimeter. Georgetown had fewer turnovers in this one (14-10) and their 9 steals were their most since Coppin State. The Hoyas were outscored 34-22 for points in the paint (18-10 2H) and beaten on assists 19-6.

Georgetown finishes the regular season at Madison Square Garden at noon on Saturday against the St. John’s Red Storm. As the 11th seed, the Hoyas are set to play Wednesday night at 6:30PM in the first round of the BIG EAST Tournament against St. John’s, Villanova, Providence, or Xavier.