The Georgetown men’s basketball team (4-4, Big East) defeated Coppin State (0-9, MEAC), 96-44, on Wednesday evening. Georgetown graduate student guard Rodney Pryor led all scorers with 30 points. Sophomore center Jessie Govan added eight points and a career-high 11 rebounds.
The win marks the first time the Hoyas have won consecutive games since January 13th. Rodney Pryor became the third Georgetown player (D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, Austin Freeman) to score 30 points in multiple games under Head Coach John Thompson III. Unfortunately for Georgetown, the win came in front of a crowd of 3996 spectators, a record low for the team when playing in the Verizon Center.
After steadily building a 41 point lead over the course of the first half, Georgetown started the second half on a hot streak, thanks to three straight three pointers from Pryor that extended the home team’s lead to 50 within the first two minutes of the half. From that point on, the Hoyas only outscored their opponents 26-24, but Coppin State never closed the gap to less than 49.
Georgetown shot the ball well throughout the game, making 50 percent (34-68) from the field and 45 percent (14-31) from three. Pryor was 10-13 on all shot attempts, including 7-8 from beyond the arc.
“I was able to get really good looks at the basket due to my teammates moving the ball and running the floor,” said Pryor.
Despite the Hoyas’ good shooting, Thompson was critical of the team’s shot selection.
“31 [three point] attempts is probably too many. We have to do a better job of attacking and getting into the heart [of the defense] off the dribble. I thought we settled for too many threes,” said Thompson. The Georgetown coach instead praised junior guard LJ Peak, who led the team with 10 assists and had no turnovers.
“LJ’s a scorer, everybody knows that. But I think he’s really grown this year with getting his teammates shots. That’s progression,” said Thompson.
The Hoyas dominated the game around the basket, outrebounding Coppin State 55-28, thanks to the 11 from Govan, eight from sophomore forward Marcus Derrickson, and seven from graduate student center Bradley Hayes, who also recorded three of the team’s nine blocks.
“Their size … we had no answer for it. We were just overmatched tonight,” said Coppin State Head Coach Michael Grant. Georgetown scored 36 points in the paint, while 21 offensive rebounds led to 31 second chance points.
Senior forward Reggie Cameron played for the first time this season for the Hoyas, scoring three points and grabbing three rebounds in 11 minutes of action. “We’ll see,” replied Thompson when asked about Cameron’s role for the rest of the season.
Junior forward Isaac Copeland missed his second straight game with a facial injury he sustained against Oklahoma State one week ago in the Maui Invitational third-place game.
Georgetown remains at the Verizon Center for their next game, which will take place on Sunday, December 4th against Elon (6-1, CAA).
