College Basketball Preview: Big East Tournament, #6 Georgetown (19-12) vs. #3 Seton Hall (18-12)

The Georgetown Hoyas enter the Big East Tournament that they may need to advance to the finals in order to make their way into the NCAA tournament. The Freshman led Hoyas enter their game against the Senior laden Seton Hall team on Thursday evening at 9:30 P.M. at Madison Square Garden as the Big East’s highest scoring team, averaging over 80 points a game. Like the Hoyas, the Seton Hall Pirates enter the quarterfinal game with a 9-9 Big East record. The Hoyas come in riding high after a victory over #16 Marquette last weekend, though consistency has been a huge problem for Georgetown as they have not won more than two in a row since early December. Seton Hall enters the tournament as the hottest team in the conference coming off two-straight wins over ranked opponents with its last loss coming at the hands of the Hoyas on March 2. Seton Hall went on to defeat Marquette 73-63 then-No. 23/23 Villanova 79-75.

Georgetown has been led by Senior, Jessie Govan who leads the team in points per game with 17.6, rebounds per game, 7.6 and blocks per game with 1.2. The Hoyas have been helped tremendously this year with the play of its trio of Freshmen, James Akinjo (13 points, 5 assists per game), Mac McClung (13 points, 2 assists per game), and Josh LeBlanc (9 points, 7.5 rebounds per game). Seton Hall tends to be more of a one man show, with Junior Myles Powell doubling the scoring output on anyone else on the team with 22 points per game.

Keys to the Game:

  • Defend the three, shoot the three. All year, the Hoyas have struggled defending the three point shot, often leading shooters wide open. The Pirates are the worst shooting team in the Big East. The Hoyas will need to hold them at or below their 32% shooting from beyond the arc and look to outperform their own 36% per game.
  • Win on the boards. The Hoyas are the best rebounding team in the Big East and out rebound Seton Hall by almost five per game. The Hoyas will look to use their size to gain second chance shots and avoid allowing the Pirates to have many.
  • Keep Powell and Govan out of foul trouble. Both players have tended to become invisible this year when getting into early foul trouble. This will mean that each player needs to play smart away from the ball.
  • Make the Pirates one dimentional. It is a given that Powell is going to get his points. The key for the Hoyas is to hold the remainder of the team to less than 45 points.

The game will air on FS1 with tip at 9:30 P.M.

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Leroy Travers

Follow my coverage of Lacrosse (College and MLL) as well as Georgetown Hoyas Basketball, the Washington Redskins, and most other sports here on the MSB. Living in neighboring Sussex County, Delaware, I have been a huge Maryland Sports fan for almost 40 years. Follow me on Twitter @el_travs, and on Instagram @Letrav.

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