Over the Hilltop

Georgetown seeks to avoid a second straight mid-week trap on the front end of a two-game road trip Tuesday when heads to Providence to face the Friars.  Tip is at 7 pm EST; you can watch on EPSN2 or listen on ESPN 980.

Providence is wading its way through another middling season at 4-7 in conference.  While the Friars are not exactly matching the heyday of Austin Croshere and God Shammgod, they are a dangerous match-up on their home floor.  Here’s what you need to know about this squad:

• Star–Jamine Peterson.  The sophomore forward averages 18.7 ppg and 10.1 rpg, and is a double-double machine, leading the conferece with 13. Having dropped the “R” from Jermaine, he’s in esteemed company, .  Peterson is a bad match-up for the Hoyas–too big for Austin Freeman, too quick for the posts.  Maybe a zone?  Syracuse found out that even its vaunted 2-3 can’t always lock down Peterson:

• Supporting cast–Senior guard Sharaud Curry, who’s either 35 of 53 years old,.  This year, is averaging 15.5 points, but taking a lot of shots to get there (41.1% FG), while dropping 3.6 dimes per.  Also keep an eye on junior swingman Marshon Brooks, who chips in 14.4 ppg and 4.4 rpg.
  
• X factor–Bilal Dixon.  The freshman post seems to come up big (13 pts, 14 reb v. Marquette) or not at all (0 pts, 4 reb v.  Syracuse).  He’s also the Friars’ best interior defender, blocking 2.1 shots per, and is the only Friar regular over 6′6″, and so will be needed if Providence is going to rein in Greg Monroe and Julian Vaughn.
  
• Strength–scoring.  The Friars score over 80 points per game, don’t turn the ball over much, and crash the offensive boards when they miss–in fact, they lead the Big East in rebounding.
  
• Weakness–defense.  Providence’s opponents shoot over 50%, and don’t have to worry about the Friars forcing many turnovers, meaning Georgetown should have plenty of good looks at the basket.
  
• Trivia–Despite the fact that the Hoyas own the Friars in the series, 38-19, the Friars are actually 13-12 in the series when played at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center (the Big Donut?).
  
• Trivia II–Big John Thompson played ball at Providence, while Rick Pitino got his second collegiate coaching gig there, taking the Friars to the 1987 Final Four.  Oh, the tangled web the Big East weaves.

Georgetown comes into the game off an up-and-down two weeks, with impressive wins over Duke and Villanova covering the wounds left by equally dispiriting losses against Syracuse and South Florida.  Every game in conference is seemingly a must-win. Tuesday’s match-up followed by Saturday’s game at Rutgers are particularly essential, not because the Hoyas’ season hangs in the balance, but because these two are games that top-10 teams win.  If the Hoyas have a hard time getting excited for this game, they need only glance ahead at the difficulty of the remaining conference slate (Syracuse again, ND, L’ville, WV, Cincinnati).  The Hoyas are currently 7-4 in conference, tied with Pitt and Louisville in the loss column for fourth place.  On their best days, the Hoyas are better than either of those two, but they must show as much consistently.

Prediction–Georgetown 85, Providence 75.