Georgetown
vs.
Xavier
College Basketball Pick
1/22/17
It wasn’t long ago that Xavier was looking like one of the best teams in the nation yet again, sporting a 13-2 record and at the top of the Big East. But then their Schedule picked up and the Musketeers are looking at three-straight losses. To help, they almost get a full week off before hosting Georgetown on Sunday.
The Hoyas haven’t been good all season, so their expectations were shot early after losses to Maryland and Arkansas State. The consistency just hasn’t been there for them. They have wins over Oregon and at Syracuse, but have already been swept by a mediocre Providence team in Conference play, most recently an 18-point home loss on Monday.
This Game was close in the first meeting and Georgetown actually led for a good portion of the Game. But when the eight-minute mark came and Xavier finally got over the hump, Georgetown had no answers with the clock winding down. The combination of Edmond Sumner (28 points, 8 boards, 6 assists) and J.P. MACura (23 points) was too much to handle for the Hoyas. The bigger problem and the good news for Xavier is that leading scorer Trevon Blueitt didn’t make a shot from the field and scored just one point. If Blueitt has merely an average Game this time around, Georgetown will have a huge hill to climb.
LJ Peak (21 points) and Rodney Pryor (20 points) both had good Games in that prior meeting, but as has been the case for most of the season, no one else has done much outside of Marcus Derrickson. The Hoyas have just Four guys that average more than 5.4 points per Game, while Xavier has three guys scoring more than 14 per Game. Because of that limited depth, Georgetown’s offense has struggled all season and that was seen when they scored just 56 points at home against Providence last time out.
To at least cover in this road Game, someone else will have to step up and that could mean their two forwards, Derrickson and Jessie Govan. Govan has had his moments this season, but his three points and three boards in the last meeting clearly wasn’t enough. However, there’s more bad news for the Hoyas. They shot 50% from the field in that first Game and haven’t had a true road Game since Jan. 4. In addition to Peak and Pryor, they’ll need their bigs to do something and that could simply mean rebounding the ball.
The Musketeers are far from a big team and have little depth even with Myles Davis returning. The hope for them is that Davis gets acclimated a little more in a Game that they should be leading the entire way. Davis has yet to make a field goal in his three Games since returning to the lineup after averaging more than 10 points per Game a year ago.
Here and there Georgetown will put it all together and look like a good team. That usually happens because Govan becomes a presence in the middle. If he plays only 14 minutes again, the ways for the Hoyas to cover will be even less.
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