Georgetown men’s basketball (11-2, 2-0 BIG EAST) blew out the Coppin State Eagles (1-13, MEAC) 83-53 at Capital One Arena on Dec. 28. With sophomore guard Malik Mack and freshman guard Kayvaun Mulready returning to the court, the Hoyas were able to more than just survive the absence of their leading scorer: junior guard Jayden Epps.
Georgetown got out of the gates quick, with Mack getting in the scoring column early after missing the last two games with injury. With Epps out, however, freshman forward Caleb Williams picked up another start. Facing an injured and small Coppin State team, the Hoyas made an early focus on getting the ball inside, shoveling the ball inside to freshman center Thomas Sorber for an early and-1 to get the Hoyas out to a 6-0 start.
However, 11 points from Coppin State junior guard Toby Nnadozie and a flurry of Georgetown turnovers prevented the Hoyas from pulling away early, and Ed Cooley called an early timeout with the score 12-11 Georgetown. Sophomore forward Drew Fielder had the Hoyas other six points as he got going early inside. Despite coming into the game as the worst three-point shooting team in America, the Eagles made shots from the distance early, going 5-for-8 from three in the first half.
After the timeout, Georgetown responded with two three-pointers from sophomore guard Curtis Williams Jr. and the Hoyas extended their lead to 21-13 by the under-12 media timeout. Still, the key to the game for the Hoyas continued to be their inside dominance. At this point, they held an 11-3 rebounding advantage over the road team. However, Hoya turnovers and Coppin State threes kept the Hoyas from pulling away once again.
Despite Sorber and Sophomore forward Drew Fielder’s best efforts, the Hoyas headed into halftime up only 37-30. Coppin State’s Nnadozie led the game with 16 points. Sorber and Fielder were both in double figures with 13 and 12 points respectively and six rebounds apiece. After coming into the game averaging only 13 turnovers per game, the Hoyas had already turned it over 10 times by halftime.
Sorber got the Hoyas rolling early out of the half with another basket in the paint. Georgetown also hunkered down on defense as well, forcing five early Coppin State misses and a shot clock violation.
While the defensive intensity did change for the Hoyas coming out of the break, the turnover issues did not as the Hoyas had more turnovers (3) than made baskets (2) in the first five minutes . As such, the two teams played mostly to a draw until four Georgetown buckets all in succession extended the Hoyas’ lead to 56-37, their largest of the game to this point with just under 12 minutes to play. After struggling on the defensive end during the first half, the Hoyas only conceded nine points on the Eagles in the first 10 minutes of action in the second half.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, the return of the Mack could not be stopped, with the guard hitting a three right out of the timeout, and graduate guard Micah Peavy chipped in as well with a two of his own. To this point, the Eagles were now 1-18 from the field in the second half and 0-8 from three. To Coppin State’s credit, though, they didn’t give up. After Georgetown went up by 26, the Eagles prevented the game from getting even further out of reach, at one point using a 7-0 run to get the game to within 19.
But while the Eagles battled, it wasn’t enough to make it a game again. After struggling with turnovers throughout the game, the Hoyas were able to clean it up just enough in the second half to pull away. Fielder posted career highs in points (20) and rebounds (13) to achieve his first ever double-double. Not to be outdone, Sorber matched Fielder with a double-double of his own, recording 22 points and 12 rebounds. In his first game back from injury, Mack too pitched in a double-double 15 points and 11 assists. Nnadozie led the Eagles with 22. The Hoyas finished with 19 turnovers, a slight blemish on their otherwise spotless 83-53 victory
Next, the Hoyas will look to move to 3-0 in BIG EAST play, staying home on Friday, Jan. 3 to take on the Xavier Musketeers (8-5, 0-2 BIG EAST) at 8:00 p.m. EST at Capital One Arena The game will be broadcast on CBSSN. For continued coverage and updates on Georgetown sports, follow @GUVoiceSports on Twitter.
