Fresh off its most impressive victory of the roller coaster 2015-16 season, the Georgetown men’s basketball team (12-7, 5-2 Big East) will return to action Saturday afternoon for a rare January non-league matchup at former Big East foe Connecticut (13-5, 4-2 AAC). Tip-off is set for 12:00 p.m. and will be televised on CBS.
Maddie Vagadori
In their most recent game Tuesday night, the Hoyas picked up a signature 81-72 win over No. 5 Xavier (16-2, 4-2 Big East). Sophomore guard Tre Campbell had a career-high 21 points and senior guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera had 20 points to pace the Hoya offense, which shot 51 percent from the field. The Hoyas held the Musketeers to a season-low 35 percent shooting.
“It was definitely a confidence booster to get a win against a top-five team,” said Campbell. “That’s always a good win.”
After multiple close calls in three games against top-10 teams (Maryland, Duke, Villanova), all of which the Hoyas lost by five points or less, Thompson feels that his team limited the mistakes that were holding them back.
“It wasn’t gaping holes. It wasn’t gaping deficiencies,” said Thompson of the team’s past struggles against top-10 teams. “It was little things. In this game, we did a much better job of negating the little mistakes.”
It will be the first time that the Hoyas and Huskies have met since the latter departed the Big East for the AAC after the 2012-13 season. The last time the two teams met was a double-overtime victory for the Hoyas where Otto Porter Jr. made a game-winning shot in the final seconds.
Connecticut enters Saturday’s game on a two-game winning streak, having defeated Tulane and Houston in their two most recent games.
The Huskies possess a well-balanced offensive attack with four players averaging 12 points per game or more. Sophomore guard Daniel Hamilton leads the way as the team’s leading rebounder, at 8.7 per game, and assist man, 4.8 per game, while averaging 12.2 points. Senior forward Shonn Miller is the team’s leading scorer, with 13.5 points per game off 60 percent shooting from the floor. Another familiar Georgetown foe, Seton Hall transfer guard Sterling Gibbs, contributes as well.
