On Dec. 2, Georgetown men’s basketball (7-1, BIG EAST) extended their winning streak to five against the UMBC Retrievers (5-5, America East), 86-62. With only a two day turnaround after their win over UAlbany, the Hoyas responded well, winning another in blowout fashion.
Coming into the contest, experts (us) predicted a fast-paced, up-and-down game, with UMBC entering the game 28th in adjusted tempo per Kenpom and Georgetown 95th. It largely lived up to the billing.
The first half started very back and forth, with each team exchanging early blows. But the Hoyas, led early by freshman center Thomas Sorber, graduate guard Micah Peavy, junior guard Jayden Epps and sophomore guard Malik Mack, found themselves down early to the Retrievers 12-9 behind strong shooting from behind the arc. Coming in as the 21st best three point shooting team in the country at 39.4%, UMBC got going from distance early, nailing 3-6 in the early stages.
Compounding good shooting by their opponent with multiple missed layups, the Georgetown offense struggled to find a rhythm the first five minutes of the game. After falling behind 17-11 though, the Hoyas found life as their four aforementioned primary scorers caught fire, driving Georgetown on a 21-4 run to take a commanding 32-21 lead going into the final minutes of the half.
Give the Retrieves credit though—they didn’t give up early, scratching their way back into the game through a couple opportunistic steals that narrowed the gap to 37-35 with little time left in the half. Senior forward Josh Odunowo led the charge with 14 first half points for UMBC.
However, buoyed by their hounding defense, the Hoyas ended the half on a 4-0 spurt aided by Peavy’s third steal of the half, taking a 41-35 lead into the locker room. Surprisingly, the smaller in stature retrievers led the rebounding margin 21-16 despite only having one primary rotation player 6’8” or taller compared to five on the Hoyas.
Coming out of halftime, trouble struck early for UMBC. Their only rotation player above 6’6”, junior forward Louie Jordan, picked up two quick fouls, bringing his personal total to four. With him being forced off the floor due to foul trouble, the Hoyas—particularly Sorber—got to work inside, expanding the lead quickly to 51-41 with 14:54 to play.
In addition to better offense, the Hoyas also tightened up on the defensive side, with Peavy picking up his fourth steal and Sorber his third block as the Retrievers offense sputtered. They started off 0-3 from deep on the half and continued to fall behind the pace, forcing a UMBC timeout with 12:11 to play and the Hoya lead now 59-43. After struggling early on the boards, the Hoyas had now stormed back to lead the rebounding margin 24-22.
With just under 10 minutes to play, the Hoyas took their first 20 point lead of the game, Sorber still leading the team with 19 points.
The Hoyas cruised for the rest of the half. Georgetown seemingly scored at will via a variety of contributors and the lead continued to balloon. By the final media timeout with 2:42 remaining, the Hoyas led 84-56. After coming out of the gates hot from distance, UMBC shot only 1-12 from three throughout the rest of the game.
Freshman wing Caleb Williams in particular had a nice second half, setting a new high for points scored in his young college career with 10, 8 of them in the second 20 minutes.
After a couple minutes of back and forth as head coach Ed Cooley cleared out his bench and the final buzzer sounded, Georgetown had won their fifth game in a row, 86-62.
Sorber led the Hoyas and the game with 23 points, and Odunowo led the Retrievers with 16. Seven Hoyas finished with 7 or more points. Georgetown’s stingy defense finished with 13 steals and 21 total forced turnovers leading to an 18-8 Hoya advantage in fast break points.
An underrated storyline for the Hoyas: After scoring only 22 points in the first five games of the season, Burks has scored 30 points total over the last three games.
As a part of the Big 12-BIG EAST Battle, the Hoyas will head on the road for the first time this season on Friday, Dec. 6th, taking on the West Virginia Mountaineers (5-2, Big 12) at 7:00 p.m. EST. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2. For continued coverage and updates on Georgetown sports, follow @GUVoiceSports on Twitter.
Author’s note: in light of me having fun at the game today I have decided to forgive Malik, Curtis and Michael for missing our linguistics presentation earlier today. So if any of you are reading this (for whatever reason), now you know.
