Georgetown Basketball: Pre-Game Report

Game Notes

• This is the 105th meeting between the schools, most of any Georgetown opponent.
• Georgetown has won ten straight at home over the Redmen dating to the 2002-03 season.
• St. John's has never lost more than 19 games in a season. With seven games to go, they have dropped 17.
• Georgetown is 16-13 all-time in games played on Feb. 8, 4-6 in the Big East era.

Preview

They're giving away St. John's-styled sweaters to Georgetown students in this game, which is a reflection that this is a rivalry of the past. No undergraduate students were alive when the Sweater Game was played and where once both schools were the titans of Eastern basketball, Monday's game is anything but.

Georgetown is stumbling to its worst finish since Craig Esherick was coach, while the St. John's Redmen have not won since Dec. 13 and have dropped 14 straight, most in school history. Where the Redmen went to 11 NCAA's in 12 seasons under Lou Carnesecca, they have not won a game in the NCAA's in 15 years, the date of their last Big East title. Georgetown will likely see the 2015-16 season conclude as its ninth straight without advancing to the NCAA regionals, which had never been more than a five year gap from 1980 through 2008.

Some fans will wince when remembering that bad St. John's teams of the recent past saved some of their best efforts against Georgetown, most recently in the 2009 Big East tournament, but this is a team without the firepower or the experience to stay with most Big East teams. Can they stay close in this one? An upset Monday would rip open a wound in the Georgetown program, while a Georgetown win could give the Hoyas some badly needed momentum.

Head coach Chris Mullin has started nine different players this season and none of the lineups has been particularly effective. With only two natural guards, St. John's relies on a lot of 6-6 tweener help, getting point production from Durand Johnson (12.1 ppg) and Ron Mvouika (12.0 ppg). The best option for St. John's continues to be center Yankuba Sima, who was held out of its last seven games with an injury but who possesses the inside game St. John's has lacked in Big East play. A good game by Sima could keep St. John's competitive in this game.

As befitting a winless team in Big East play, the Redmen trail in almost every Big East stat - ninth in offense, last in defense, last in field goals, last in free throws, last in rebound margin. St. John's does lead the conference in blocks and is third in steals, so the Redmen need a frenetic, wheels-off game where they can get the Hoyas in early foul trouble. Georgetown has obliged in recent games, of course, but should be smarter than that in this game.

Keys To The Game follow that in the opening match between the schools:

Bench Points: Georgetown has a sizable advantage from its bench, and it must use it.

Inside Play: can St. John's successfully defend a taller Georgetown group inside?

Turnovers: St. John's is a surprising fourth in turnover margin, Georgetown eighth. GU must limit its turnovers.

Local Kids: It's unusual that St. John's does not have a single New York area product on its roster. A pair of local products, Queens area product Jessie Govan and New Jersey's Reggie Cameron, stand ready to step it up.

© 2016. All rights reserved

Design: HTML5 UP

AMDG