Georgetown men’s basketball (11-10, 3-7 BIG EAST) emerged victorious against the DePaul University Blue Demons (12-9, 4-6 BIG EAST) on Jan. 28 in a heated conference matchup. Despite some offensive blunders, the Hoyas’ stellar defensive performance put them decisively ahead of the Blue Demons for much of the game, winning 70-61. This marks the pair’s rematch after DePaul beat Georgetown 56-50 on Jan. 6, where DePaul held the Hoyas to just one field goal in the second half, tying for the fewest in NCAA history.
The Hoyas started off strong, forcing two DePaul turnovers in the game’s first two minutes. Junior guard KJ Lewis began the game on fire, with a blocked layup and two defensive rebounds. Four minutes in, junior guard RJ Smith put DePaul on the board with a three-point jump shot—however, Lewis responded with a dunk of his own. The Hoyas put on an impressive defensive performance for much of the first half, earning 16 defensive rebounds. However, they largely struggled to convert possessions into points, and consistently gave up offensive rebounds as well. Meanwhile, the Blue Demons had an apparent addiction to three-point attempts, which were not going well; while the Hoyas made two of five three-point attempts in the half, DePaul made just four out of 14.
With just under eight minutes remaining in the first half, DePaul tied up the score for the first time following a 9-2 scoring run. Upon the tie, sophomore forward Caleb Williams responded with a three-pointer, and senior center Vince Iwuchuku responded with a layup and alley-oop of his own. Despite consistently winning on defense, the Hoyas still struggled to truly take the reins, having several sloppy plays towards the end of the half with missed passes and easy turnovers. When DePaul sophomore forward Théo Pierre-Justin brought the score to 24-31 with a three in the half’s last minute, sophomore center Julius Halaifonua countered with another. The half ended with an unsuccessful breakaway and three-point attempt by Lewis, but the Hoyas still entered the locker room up 34-24 after a 15-6 scoring run.
DePaul’s Smith sank a three to start the second half, and the Blue Demons proceeded to score 8 unanswered points. Junior guard Malik Mack, noticeably quiet in the first half, broke up DePaul’s scoring spree with two successful free throws. After a defensive rebound by sophomore guard Kayvaun Mulready on DePaul’s following play, Williams recovered Georgetown’s lost points with three of his own.
With 12 minutes left in the game, the Hoyas regained their 10-point lead with a dunk by Iwuchukwu. Despite Georgetown being the more successful shooting team, the game still felt frenetic and occasionally messy—several attempts at rebounds on both sides of the court felt like a game of hot potato. Georgetown also did far better staying out of foul trouble than they did in the first half: halfway through, the Hoyas had only three fouls compared to DePaul’s eight.
If the first half was the KJ Lewis Show, the game’s second half was an A24 film starring Mulready. The sophomore guard had an impressive steal-turned-dunk followed by a three-pointer as the Hoyas drove and turned up the pace. Mulready picked up six defensive rebounds, a steal, a block, and eight points when the Hoyas needed them most in the second half.
As the pace picked up in the game’s final minutes and DePaul attempted a comeback, Mack locked in. With under three minutes left, Mack pressured DePaul senior guard Brandon Maclin to dribble the ball out of bounds. Immediately after, though, Mack passed the ball directly into DePaul’s hands for Maclin to make a three. As the game came to a close, the Blue Demons’ attempts to foul themselves into a victory came up woefully short: Mack was perfect on free throws for the night, making nine in the final stretch of the matchup. In the game’s last minute, Mulready stole the ball from DePaul at half court, allowing Mack two more shots. A defensive rebound by Williams officially cemented the Hoyas’ victory, 70-61.
In the post-game press conference, Georgetown Head Coach Ed Cooley told the crowd he was excited that the team was able to earn their first home BIG EAST win, and said that he believed the team’s performance was partially owed to the prevailing excitement from the team’s comeback win over Providence on Saturday.
“These are back-to-back games where I thought we played them really well defensively,” Cooley said. “I thought we had great energy and follow-up from the last 10 minutes of our Providence game, and I thought we had carry-over with enthusiasm in our preparation.”
Mack agreed with Cooley, but added that the team has been confident in their abilities since long before the Providence matchup—the big win just helped prove to others what they’ve been practicing internally.
“We always believe that we can win games, we’re just having a tough time finishing games, so the Providence game just kind of showed that we can finish games,” he said. “We’re just trying to keep everything on lock, block out the noise, and know that we’re a good team and we can win basketball games.”
The game’s leaderboard was a tale of two Macs: Maclin led the game with 19 points, while Mack led the Hoyas with 16 and a remarkable 10/10 free throws. Overall, the Hoyas’ free throw performance and lack of fouls were impressive for a team that has struggled in this area in the past. Georgetown made 17 of 18 free throws, while DePaul made just two of five. The Hoyas also racked up 16 points on fast breaks, where the Blue Demons only garnered five. Neither team was great behind the arc: while the Hoyas only made 42% of their three-point attempts, they were relatively safe having attempted only 12. Meanwhile, DePaul made just 11 of 28 three-point shots, leaving significant points unclaimed.
Now sporting a winning record, the Hoyas will travel to Indianapolis this Saturday to face the Butler Bulldogs (13-8, 4-6 BIG EAST)—or perhaps more importantly, Jack may get to meet up with his friend and fellow bulldog, Butler Blue IV. Tip-off is at noon, and the game will stream on YouTubeTV.
