The Georgetown men’s basketball team (8-5, 0-1 Big East) opened Big East conference play with a 76-66 loss to Marquette (10-3, 1-0 Big East) at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Wednesday. Graduate senior guard Rodney Pryor led the Hoyas with 23 points and seven rebounds, while sophomore forward Marcus Derrickson and sophomore center Jessie Govan both added 11 points.
The Marquette Golden Eagles started the game hot and quickly jumped out to a 16-2 lead with 14:30 left in the first half, making four of five from behind the arc. The Hoyas stormed back with an 8-0 run of their own, eventually tying the game up at 26 a piece with 7:22 left in the first half. That would be the only point in the game where Georgetown did not trail.
Marquette brought their lead up to five, and a loose ball foul on Derrickson with 0.1 seconds left in the first half gave the Golden Eagles aa 42-35 lead at the half. The second half started eerily similarly to the first, as Marquette went on an 8-2 run, bringing their lead up to 13. This time, the Hoyas were unable to respond. The Golden Eagles maintained a steady double digit lead until the end of the second half when the Hoyas used a ¾ court press to force turnovers and cut the lead to eight with 3:08 remaining. Georgetown was unable to capitalize on its late momentum and finished the game just 1-7 from the field.
Marquette freshman guard Markus Howard and senior guard Jajuan Johnson led the way for the Golden Eagles with 23 and 20 points, respectively. The Golden Eagles shot 44 percent from the field and 43.5 percent from three.
The Hoyas shot the ball relatively well, shooting 42.4% from the field and 42.9% from three. However, they committed 15 turnovers and only attempted 11 free throws. Before the game, the Hoyas were averaging 27.5 free throw attempts a game. Junior forward Akoy Agau played just six minutes and scored zero points for the Hoyas, despite starting both halves. The usually reliable junior guard, LJ Peak, went 1-8 from the field, only scoring four points and grabbing three rebounds in 22 minutes of play. Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III announced in the post game press conference that Peak suffered a groin injury that limited his minutes. His status moving forward is unknown.
The loss snaps a six game winning streak as Georgetown begins Big East play 0-1. The Hoyas return home to the Verizon Center to host No. 17 Xavier (11-2, 1-0 Big East) at 11:00 am EST on December 31st. The game will be broadcast live on Fox Sports One.
