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Game 25 - Georgetown (8-16) vs. Villanova (13-11)
Nuts & Bolts
Date: February 16, 2024
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Venue: Capital One Arena - Washington, DC
How to Watch: CBS Sports Network
Matchup History: Villanova leads all-time series 49-44
Last Meeting: Villanova def. Georgetown 80-48 on 3/8/23
Betting Lines: Via DraftKings
Spread: Georgetown +10
Over/Under: 139.5
Prediction: Georgetown 67, Villanova 79
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Head Coach: Ed Cooley (1st season, 8-16 record at Georgetown)
Record: 8-16 (1-12, 10th in Big East)
Last Time Out: Lost @ #17 Creighton 94-72 on 2/13/24
Player to Watch: Supreme Cook
Georgetown lost its ninth consecutive game on Tuesday night in a 94-72 blowout loss in Omaha against the Creighton Bluejays.
The Hoyas came out strong and trailed 15-14 in the opening minutes, before CU went on a 31-13 run to close out the first half and lead 46-27 at the break.
Game over.
“Creighton shot the ball really, really well,” Georgetown Head Coach Ed Cooley said after the loss. “I think today was more about how well Creighton played…We’ve gotta give ourselves a chance from a defensive standpoint but in saying that, I thought they were just clicking on all cylinders and we just had a tough time matching up to them. I liked our energy to start but again, our turnovers, our lack of alertness, many of those things caught up to us against a top 20 team.”
Supreme Cook put up another great performance for Georgetown, scoring 19 points and bringing in 11 rebounds going up against one of the best big men in the Big East, Ryan Kalkbrenner.
For CU, Baylor Scheierman put up the first triple double featuring points, rebounds, and assists in Creighton history, scoring 15 points, dishing out 11 assists, and hauling in 11 rebounds.
The Jays made 17 three’s, lighting it up from deep while dishing out 25 assists, one number less than the total amount of Georgetown made baskets.
The 22-point defeat is Georgetown’s fourth loss by 20 points or more in their last six games. Not only are they not winning, the Hoyas are getting blown out.
With Villanova coming to DC on Friday night as the first of seven remaining games on the regular season schedule, I think the goal for Ed Cooley remains the same as it was before the season started: Close the gap from the bottom of the Big East to the upper nine teams in the conference.
At this point, Georgetown feels closer to ‘DePaul level’ than it does to the rest of the league. The good news for Cooley is that he still has a month to change that narrative and build some palpable momentum heading into next year.
Unfortunately, there’s nothing that I have seen up to this point to expect that Georgetown will turn things around over the final seven games.
The mountain for Cooley may be steeper than originally thought.
Head Coach: Kyle Neptune (2nd season, 30-28 record at Villanova)
Record: 13-11 (6-7, 8th in Big East)
Last Time Out: Won vs. Seton Hall 80-54 on 2/11/24
Player to Watch: Eric Dixon
It’s been a weird year for the Villanova Wildcats, who are rapidly approaching a potential crossroads for their program.
In year two under Head Coach Kyle Neptune, the Wildcats have been wildly inconsistent, winning the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament in November and rising to #18 in the AP rankings while losing non-conference games to Penn, Drexel, and Saint Joseph’s.
In Big East play, Villanova is 6-7 and 8th in the Big East with its only road wins coming at Creighton and at DePaul.
Over the last few weeks, however, ‘Nova has been playing better. In losing three of their last five games, the Wildcats’ three losses were by 7, 5, and 3, respectively, while the two wins were both by 18+.
With seven games remaining in the regular season, all eyes are on Neptune.
From the start, the young head coach was in a very tough position. Neptune replaced one of the best college basketball coaches of all time in Jay Wright, who coached Villanova for 21 years, taking the Wildcats to 16 NCAA Tournament’s, 4 Final Four’s, and 2 National Championships.
Under Neptune, Villanova is barely above .500 at 30-28, and is in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament back-to-back years for the first time since 2002-04.
Should he miss the tournament, I’d be surprised to see Neptune and Villanova part ways. However, heading into year three he will be firmly on the hot seat.
For ‘Nova, although not much, there is still time left to salvage the season, make a late run, and make some noise in the Big East tournament to sneak into an NCAA Tournament spot.
They own quality wins over Texas Tech, North Carolina, Memphis, Kansas State, and Creighton, with a few more quality win opportunities remaining in the regular season.
One thing is for certain: Late run or not, there’s pressure building on Neptune as every game passes.