Photo by Sydney Carroll
Georgetown men’s basketball (14-17, 6-14 BIG EAST) finished their regular season with a 80-79 win over the Providence College Friars (14-17, 7-13 BIG EAST) on Saturday, Mar. 7 at Capital One Arena. The Hoyas held on through a tight game to get their first conference win since Feb. 4, snapping a seven-game losing streak.
Neither team managed to gain the advantage in the first ten minutes of the game. They traded baskets and were tied at 19 with 9:25 left in the half. However, in the next five minutes, Georgetown’s intensity kicked into a higher gear and went on a 14-2 run. The Hoyas played with urgency and the Friars could not handle the defensive pressure. Georgetown forced seven steals in the first half alone.
It was not until the 4:30 mark of the first half that the Friars finally stemmed the bleeding and consistently found the back of the net again. Still, every time it looked like Providence gained momentum, the Georgetown defense found a way to smother it. With 1:03 to go in the half, Hoya sophomore guard Kayvaun Mulready locked down his player to force a key shot clock violation that left the Hoyas with a comfortable lead. The teams went into the half with Georgetown leading 43-34.
While the momentum may not have shifted much in the first half, it certainly did at the beginning of the second. Providence graduate guard Jaylin Sellers gave the spark his team needed with a pullup jumper on their first possession of the second half. After this, the Friars made seven three-pointers in the first 10 minutes of the half. Although Georgetown put on strong defensive pressure, the Friars’ shots were falling. Still, while the Hoyas looked frazzled, they also converted offensively and never trailed by more than seven points.
With 4:09 left in the game, senior center Vince Iwuchukwu fired up Capital One Arena with a statement dunk to give the Hoyas the lead 76-75. After this, the Hoyas did not lose the lead again. An alley-oop to Iwuchukwu from junior guard Malik Mack with two minutes left in the game upped the Hoyas lead to five and gave them significant momentum.
Providence didn’t give up, though. A three-pointer by Sellers brought the Friars back into the game with the score 78-80. The next two minutes brought several play stoppages, including a Georgetown coach’s challenge and an official time review that gave Providence head coach Kim English the opportunity to draw up a play for his team. With 1.4 seconds left and down by one, the Friars tried to inbound the ball on the Hoya baseline, but the Hoya defense forced a turnover on the pass to secure the win.
The Hoyas’ big story of the night was Iwuchukwu’s performance. In what may be his last game at Capital One, he secured his fourth double-double of the season. He contributed 25 points, going 9-13 from two, and making all six of his free throws. Additionally, he was able to secure 10 rebounds, which forced the Friars to leave their sophomore forward Oswin Erhunmwunse in the game even with a hand injury. Iwuchukwu’s performance gives substantial hope that the Hoyas have figured out how to utilize all the players on the floor to create opportunities for each other.
The other key player for the Hoyas was Mulready. Since KJ Lewis suffered a season ending ankle injury against Marquette, Mulready has shouldered an increased role in the Hoya rotation. He tied his career high in minutes played with 34 against Providence and finished the game with 12 points. He was especially effective defensively, earning five of Georgetown’s 13 steals. Mulready’s performance will prove crucial as Georgetown looks to pull off upsets in the BIG EAST tournament.
The BIG EAST tournament begins on Wednesday, Mar. 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York. While Georgetown was set as the No. 11 seed before the game, Providence dropped to No. 9 with the loss. The Hoyas will play No. 6 DePaul University (16-15, 8-12 BIG EAST) at 9pm EST on Wednesday Mar. 11.
Georgetown’s win against the Friars snapped their conference losing streak and set them up for success in the BIG EAST. The Hoyas have had two conference losing streaks of 6+ games this season, separated by a four game win streak. Hopefully Saturday’s game adds to the win streak pattern—the Hoyas need just four wins in a row to take the BIG EAST.
