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Game 31 - Georgetown (9-21) @ St. John’s (18-12)
Nuts & Bolts
Date: March 9, 2024
Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
Venue: Madison Square Garden - New York City, New York
How to Watch: FOX
Matchup History: St. John’s leads all-time series 66-57
Last Meeting: St. John’s def. Georgetown 90-85 on 2/21/24
Betting Lines: Via DraftKings
Spread: Georgetown +19
Over/Under: 153.5
Prediction: Georgetown 61, St. John’s 85
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Head Coach: Ed Cooley (1st season, 9-21 record at Georgetown)
Record: 9-21 (2-17, 10th in Big East)
Last Time Out: Lost vs. Providence 71-958 on 3/5/24
Player to Watch: Rowan Brumbaugh
For the last time in the regular season, Georgetown will lace it up and take the floor, this time at the Mecca of college hoops, Madison Square Garden.
The Hoyas enter Saturday’s game against St. John’s having lost back-to-back winnable games, losing a heartbreaker against Xavier last weekend and falling at home to Providence on Tuesday.
Georgetown won just one Big East game at home, and it was by just two points against the worst team in the league, DePaul. It’s been nowhere near the season that new Head Coach Ed Cooley envisioned.
“I want to make sure I give due credit to our fans this year…We did not have the home record we wanted to, but I appreciate how the fans showed up and supported our guys through a really, really difficult season,” Cooley said after Tuesday’s 71-58 loss to Providence. “Our guys fought today…but were a little disappointed in our attention to detail.”
Georgetown is locked in to the 10 seed in next week’s Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden, playing against the to-be-determined 7 seed at 6:30pm on Wednesday night.
Despite the disappointing 9-21 season up to this point, there is still optimism for the future. The Hoyas boast the top 2024 recruiting class in the Big East and have been linked to a few big-name transfers who could be program-shifting gets if Cooley is able to bring them in.
Regardless, even though it’ll be just his second season, the pressure is going to be on Cooley’s Hoyas to deliver next season, unless he can lead his team on a miracle run and win four Big East games in four days next week, which would equal the conference win total from the previous three seasons combined.
Head Coach: Rick Pitino (1st season, 18-12 record at St. John’s)
Record: 18-12 (10-9, 7th in Big East)
Last Time Out: Won @ DePaul 0-0 on 3/5/24
Player to Watch: Jordan Dingle
St. John’s has been on an absolute tear over the last three weeks.
Since Head Coach Rick Pitino ripped into his team in the media following a 68-62 loss to Seton Hall on February 18, referring to his players as ‘slow laterally’ and ‘physically weak,’ the Johnnies haven’t lost, ripping off four straight wins, including victories over #15 Creighton and a 23 point road win against Butler.
On Saturday, St. John’s can move to 19-12 and potentially slide into the 5 seed of the Big East Tournament, which is played in basically their home building, Madison Square Garden.
The Johnnies have scored at least 80 points in each game of the four game winning streak, averaging 89 PPG in that stretch.
All the sudden, Pitino’s team is back in the NCAA Tournament bubble conversation and, as of Saturday, is looking like they’ll make the field of 68.
As long as the Johnnies don’t stumble against Georgetown, they should be in the tournament. Of course, a win or two at MSG next week at the Big East Tournament certainly wouldn’t hurt.
Quite the miraculous turnaround for a team that was 14-12 three weeks ago. Now the question is, can they get over the hump and not only make the Dance, but win a tournament game for the first time since 2000.