The Georgetown men’s basketball team (6-0, Big East) defeated the Coppin State Eagles (0-8, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) 76-60 Sunday evening at the Capital One Arena. Junior center Jessie Govan once again led the Hoyas to victory, posting 26 points and 16 rebounds. Graduate student guard Karonn Davis led the Eagles with 20 points and 8 rebounds.
The Hoyas remain undefeated on the season and in the Patrick Ewing era while the Eagles remain winless. Govan’s performance marks the junior’s fourth double-double on the young season, after recording just one in his first two years in a Hoya uniform.
While the Hoyas came out of the game with a win, it was not one of their better outings. Dealt an easy non-conference schedule, the Blue and Gray have managed to dominate their opponents thus far, but faced a resilient Coppin State team. Coach Patrick Ewing was content with the win, but mentioned that they could have done a lot more against a smaller team in Coppin State. Despite the Eagles’ tallest player being 6-foot-8, the Hoyas managed a only 6 offensive rebounds.
“They’re not a very good rebounding team, so we should have done a much better job of securing a lot more rebounds than we did,” Ewing said. “He got 14 rebounds tonight, he should have had 20, or 30,” he added when asked about Govan’s rebounding prowess.
Freshman forward Jamorko Pickett started off the scoring with a three pointer. Coppin State started off slow, shooting just 1-8 from the floor with all of their attempts coming from behind the three-point arc. Despite the Eagles’ shooting woes, the Hoyas could not pull away and maintained just a 10 point lead at the half. The fluctuating proximity of the score was a common theme throughout the entire game.
Dickerson rises for a layup. (Photo by Annie Coyne/The Georgetown Voice)
The second half saw more of the same with Coppin State coming within five points with just under nine minutes left to play. However, the Hoyas would respond with a scoring run. Junior forward Marcus Derrickson immediately answered with a three pointer that energized the crowd. Graduate student guard Trey Dickerson followed up Derrickson’s shot with a steal and a three point play to give the Hoyas a comfortable 57-46 lead.
“We just locked in defensively. You know, just really focus on end of possession rebounds and then execute our offense,” Govan said of the late second half surge.
Govan played a solid game amidst a sloppy team effort. The team missed 12 free throws and recorded 16 turnovers against just 15 assists. In addition to the turnovers, the Hoyas struggled with the full court press that the Eagles employed towards the end of the game.
“I am still disappointed in the way that we handled it today, especially since we worked on it so much,” Ewing said. “We have to do a much better job of handling it.”
The Hoyas return to action Thursday night in a D.C. classic versus the Howard Bison at the Capital One Arena. The game tips off at 8:30 and can be streamed on FS1. Follow @GUVoiceSports on Twitter for breaking news and game day updates.
