Game 29: Georgetown Hoyas (13-15, 5-12) at Xavier Musketeers (13-15, 5-12)
When: Saturday February 28, 1:30 p.m.
Or: Cintas Center
TV: TNT and truTV (JB Long and Chris Spatola)
Radio: Team 980 AM (Rich Chvotkin), Sirius XM Online (Hoyas), 388 (Xavier)
Series: Xavier leads 23-7 and has won 12 of 13 all-time at home.
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Last meeting: Xavier won the first meeting this season 80-77 on December 20.
Traces: Xavier has won two in a row overall and eight in a row at home against Georgetown
Net Rankings: Xavier 98 years, Georgetown 99 years
KenPom ranking: Georgetown 87, Xavier 97
KenPom odds: Xavier has a 60% chance of winning, with a projected score of 78-76.
Double: Xavier -4.5, including 153.5 (Fox)
The Musketeers report: Richard Pitino has done a very good job in his first season considering the entire roster is new. Full disclosure, I picked Xavier last in my preseason Omaha Herald Conference Preview ballot. Tre Carroll leads the conference with 18.4 points per game while Filip Borovicanin comes in as the fourth-leading rebounder in the league with 7.8 per game and fifth in the Big East with 4.5 assists per game, just ahead of Malik Mack (4.2). Georgetown is the only sweep Xavier can still achieve in Richard Pitino’s first season. Xavier’s best wins are non-conference victories against our old Big East friends West Virginia and Cincinnati.
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Injury Update: On Thursday, Georgetown announced that leading scorer KJ Lewis (14.9 points per game) would miss the remainder of the season with a left ankle injury. Lewis has one more year of college eligibility remaining. Jeremiah Williams or Isaiah Abraham seem most likely to slide into the starting lineup with Lewis unavailable.
WHAT IS THE ISSUE?
Oh, just the chance to end another long conference losing streak against a conference foe on the road and maybe avoid last place in the Big East, that’s all.
The Hoyas have another chance to end an eight-game losing streak in another opponent’s gym. Earlier this season, the Hoyas picked up the rare road victory in Milwaukee against Marquette and will now attempt to achieve something even rarer: victory against Xavier.
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Georgetown has lost 12 of 13 games all-time against Xavier, with all but two games since the Musketeers joined the league in 2014.
The Hoyas’ only win in Cincinnati came against then-No. 5 Musketeers on January 19, 2016 in what will forever be known as the Tre Campbell Game, as the DC native scored 21 and made 5 of 7 3-pointers. DSR added 20 and seven assists. It was a thing of beauty in real time and is even better considering the results of the last decade. It was also the last time the Hoyas beat a Top 5 opponent.
Cooley nearly won at Xaver in his first season with the Hoyas in 2024. Jayden Epps scored 32 points in a 92-91 loss at Georgetown where the Hoyas led by 14 in another example of a plane not landing.
Another win this season from Cooley and Georgetown will be a surprise with Lewis now out. KenPom still has Georgetown as the least favorite in the season finale against Providence on March 7.
