Georgetown men’s basketball (12-4, 3-2 BIG EAST) fell to the No. 9 UConn Huskies (13-4, 5-1 BIG EAST) 68-60 at Capital One Arena on Jan. 11. In front of a packed house, the Huskies offensive onslaught overwhelmed the Hoyas in the return of junior guard Jayden Epps, as well as the season debut of their Tidal Blue uniforms.
The storyline coming into this game: could the stout Hoya defense quench the roaring Huskies offense on one end, and could either the Georgetown offense or UConn defense find a rhythm on the other side. Since Nov. 17, the Hoya defense has been rated as the ninth best in the country in adjusted efficiency, per Barttorvik.com, and the UConn offense fourth. On the other hand the Hoyas were just 132nd on offense and the Husky defense 173rd in that same span.
The early flow of the game tilted in the Hoyas’ favor as the Huskies offense sputtered to just a 2–for-7 start from the field with redshirt junior forward Alex Karaban going 0-for-2 himself. Georgetown had jumped out to an early 13-7 lead punctuated by a steal then dunk by graduate guard Micah Peavy.
At the 11:22 mark, Epps made his return to the court for the Hoyas after being out with an ankle injury. However, in a nightmare for the Hoyas, star freshman forward Thomas Sorber picked up two quick fouls and exited the game with 10:54 still left in the half.
Without Sorber’s rim protection, the Huskies had a much easier time getting to the basket. Junior guard Aidan Mahaney got to the rim and gave UConn their first lead of the game at 15-13, followed by Karaban getting on the board with a putback moments later forcing a Georgetown timeout. Sorber returned to the court with his two fouls following the sequence. While Sorber kept the paint safe, the UConn offense got going from three, having rained in four triples by the under-8 media timeout and built their lead out to 23-17. The game script had shifted from the type of game Georgetown likes to play, and win, to more of what the Huskies are used to doing to their opponents. Typical of this year’s Hoya team, however, they didn’t go away.
Following a series of strong defensive sequences, the Hoyas pulled within two points as sophomore guard Curtis Williams Jr. hit a pull-up three over Karaban, bringing the substantial crowd at Capital One Arena to their feet with the score 27-25 favoring the road team. Yet, much as he did throughout the first half, Huskies sophomore guard Solo Ball brought the game back firmly under UConn control with his third three-pointer of the half, which Karaban then followed with one of his own. With time winding down in the half, the Hoyas threw a big counterpunch. First a Sorber dish to sophomore forward Jordan Burks cut the lead to 7, then the Hoyas defense stepped up on the other end forcing a shot clock violation. With just 14 ticks left on the clock, Epps got himself on the board with a corner three, once again bringing the crowd to their feet.
At halftime the score favored UConn 35-31. Ball led the game with 9, Sorber led the Hoyas with 7 in a half, and the only Hoya who touched the floor but didn’t score was the freshman guard Caleb Williams.
Coming out of the break, the Huskies landed the first punch, and it was a big one, stringing together strong offensive possessions to extend the lead to a game high 14 points on an 11-1 run, 46-32, forcing the game into the danger zone for the Hoyas. Ball and Karaban imposed their will on Cooley’s squad. If the Hoyas were going to make a comeback, they needed a miracle. Unfortunately for the Hoyas, there would be no miracles on this day. By the under-16, the lead sat at 52-33 and all the energy that was once in the crowd drained.
For every Georgetown bucket, UConn had an answer, and oftentimes an answer and then some, as the normally stout Georgetown defense struggled as much as they had all season. While Georgetown was occasionally able to take chunks into the lead, the Huskies advantage grew to in excess of 20 points with nine minutes to play on Karaban’s fourth triple of the day.
On the positive side for the Hoyas, Williams Jr.’s recent hot streak shooting off the bench continued, with the Louisville transfer putting up 15 points and 3-4 from distance.
As the final buzzer sounded, the Hoyas affirmatively put out to the tune of a, somewhat misleading, score of 68-60. Karaban led the game with 19 points, Ball 15, and Peavy with 14 for the Hoyas before fouling out.
Next up, the Hoyas will look to stop their two game skid, going on the road Jan. 14 to take on Rick Pitino and the St. John’s Red Storm (13-3, 4-1 BIG EAST) at 7:30 p.m. at Madison Square Garden. The game will be broadcast on Peacock. For continued coverage and updates on Georgetown sports, follow @GUVoiceSports on Twitter.
Writers note:
In the 9 men’s or women’s basketball games my dear friend Evan has attended across his almost four years on the Hilltop, the Hoyas are now 0-9. Perhaps Capital One Arena should just do the right thing and ban him from the premises until future notice at this point. It’s not personal Evan, you’re just clearly bad luck.
