Georgetown opens Big East play Thursday evening at 8 pm EST when it hosts St. John’s. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2 (Bill Raftery as the color guy!) and can be heard on AM 570.
St. John’s and Georgetown go back a ways, but most recently the Red Storm added the cherry to the crap sundae that was last season’s collapse, beating the Hoyas twice in one week despite going basically nowhere for much of the season. So, Georgetown shouldn’t lack for motivation this time around. They’ll find a worthy adversary–St. John’s has racked up nine W’s, including against (now-ranked) Temple and only lost two narrow decisions, at Duke and against expected Ivy League champ Cornell.
This year’s Red Storm plays a familiar style–long, athletic defenders, trying to get points in transition (7.8 stl pg) but struggling a bit in the half court (43.6% FG, 64.7% FT). Junior forward D. J. Kennedy leads the team in points (16.7 per) and assists (3.3 per) and is second in rebounds (6.3 per), while last year’s leading scorer, now-junior guard Paris Home, has struggled with his shot (9 ppg, 40.4 FG%) but is coming on a bit recently (double figures in his last two). The principal newcomer is juco transfer Dwight Hardy, who has averaged 11.7 ppg while showing some range (41.9 3FG%). Hoya big men Greg Monroe and Julian Vaughn will meet their matches down low in center Dele Coker (6’10″, nearly 2 blk pg but only 11 min pg) and forward Sean Evans (6’8″, 155 lb., team-high 6.7 rpg).
Georgetown comes into the game–just its third in the last 19 days–a bit rusty. The Hoyas mostly passed their nonconference tests, beating Butler, Washington and Temple, but more recently laid a disappointing egg against Old Dominion. Like ODU and Temple, St. John’s will be all to willing to exploit Georgetown’s propensity for turning the ball over. Offensive rhythm, shot selection, and crisp passing, as always, will be a priority, as will the boards: the Red Storm sport a +4.9 rebound margin, the Hoyas +7.3. On the other end of the floor, the Red Storm’s half-court struggles may hurt them against the Hoyas’ generally stingy defense. Watch the match-ups of Jason Clark and Chris Wright, both of whom have proven excellent defenders thus far this year, against Home and Hardy, whose scoring St. John’s will need in order to win.
Prediction–Georgetown 70, St. John’s 60. Dulce Venganza, I hope.
