Coming off two straight single-digit victories, the Georgetown men’s basketball team (5-1, Big East) will look to make it three wins in a row against Richmond (2-4, Atlantic 10) on Wednesday. The game is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET at Capital One Arena, with a live stream and stats available at GUHoyas.com.
Against Campbell (3-3, Big South) on Saturday, the Hoyas got off to a great start, and took a 14-point lead into halftime. However, the Fighting Camels outscored them in the second half, mostly on the shoulders of their star senior guard Chris Clemons, who had 45 points, including nine 3-pointers. Campbell made it interesting down the stretch, eventually closing the gap to just six points, but freshman guard James Akinjo made four clutch free throws to ice the game. Graduate student forward Trey Mourning, who was named to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll, had by far the best game of his Georgetown career. He led the way with 27 points and 12 rebounds in the game, which finished 93-85.
The Spiders are currently on a three game losing streak, and their last game was a blowout loss to Hampton (2-4, Big South). The Pirates opened the game on an 18-4 run and never looked back, eventually winning 86-66. Sophomore forwards Nathan Cayo and Grant Golden had 23 and 22 points, respectively, in the losing effort. On the season, Golden has been the team’s top performer, leading in both points per game (20.0) and rebounds (6.3). Sophomore guard Jacob Gilyard has also been a threat out of the backcourt with 16.6 points per game on 55 percent shooting from the field.
Rebounding has been a major issue for the Spiders this year, especially on the offensive end. Richmond ranks fifth-worst in Division I with 28.7 total rebounds per game, and last with a paltry 5.3 offensive rebounds per game. On top of that, the team’s second-leading rebounder, 6-foot-4 junior guard Nick Sherod, is out for the season with a torn ACL.
Mourning, senior center Jessie Govan, and freshman forward Josh LeBlanc all average over six rebounds a game, so expect them to be aggressive inside against the Spiders. Offensively, the Hoyas have gotten steady scoring contributions from Govan and Akinjo, who have averaged 18.3 and 13.5 points per game, respectively. Against Hampton, Richmond struggled to contain junior guard Jermaine Marrow on the perimeter, and he went off for a career-high 38 points. Georgetown’s perimeter threats, including Akinjo and sophomore guards Jamorko Pickett and Jahvon Blair, will look to take advantage of that weakness.
Georgetown leads the all-time series against the Spiders, 7-2. They met last season in Richmond and the Hoyas came out on top, 82-76.
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