Georgetown At 236
Thursday marks the traditional anniversary of the founding of Georgetown University on this day, January 23, 1789.
Historians and scholars have considered the selection of this year as somewhat arbitrary: the school could have claimed a founding date as early as 1787, 1788, or even as late as 1792. January 23 is noted as the day where the purchase of the campus was finalized.As noted in the bicentennial history of the University, a clerical error by a visiting Jesuit affixed its first building as having been built in 1789, and the year became noted in the college prospectus as early as 1851.
Then, as now, the date of 1789 is evocative of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, the dawn of the federal government, and the founding of the first Catholic diocese in the nation under the auspices of then-Bishop John Carroll, the University's founder. Though there once was a roundabout effort to change the school's founding date to 1634 (making it two years older than Harvard), 1789 (and today's date) remains for the nation's oldest Catholic university and for Georgetown Prep as the nation's oldest Catholic high school.
Happy birthday, Georgetown.
Georgetown 64, Villanova 63
Holding the Villanova Wildcats scoreless in the final 4:52, the Georgetown Hoyas ended a four game losing streak with its first road win at Villanova in 14 years, 64-63, before an announced sellout of 6,501 at the Finneran Pavilion.
POST-GAME COVERAGE
The win was somewhat unexpected given the Hoyas' injuries and continuing struggles on offense, having failed to score 70 points in any of its prior four losses, not to mention facing a team ranked ninth nationally in offensive efficiency who beat the Hoyas by 28 in this building a year earlier. Instead, its defense carried them late in a game which will not go unnoticed at season's end.
After Georgetown officials declared center Thomas Sorber and guard Jayden Epps out "indefinitely" with injuries following the DePaul game, well, indefinitely isn't that long of a time anymore: both were ready for this game, with Sorber getting the start and Epps coming off the bench. Sorber scored the opening basket for GU but was limited to 1-7 shooting thereafter in the first half, while Epps was 1 for 4 in 14 minutes of first half action.
An early run of threes piloted the Wildcats to an 13-7 lead and triggered a Georgetown timeout at the 13:35 mark. A three by Micah Peavy and free throws from Sorber brought Georgetown to 13-12 at the 12:37 mark. Ten seconds later, Sorber lost the ball out of bounds near the Georgetown bench. If words were exchanged, they were not evident as Sorber appeared to walk away. Villanova guard Wooga Poplar, who was away from the original play, suddenly walked up and moved to swing at Sorber through the crowd. Though Poplar made no contact, the wild swing was judged as a "flagrant-2" technical foul and he was ejected.
The Wildcats regained the lead at 15-14 and held it the remainder of the first half, thanks to six three pointers and and 16 second chance points. Villanova outscored Georgetown 10-2 to end the first half at 34-27, behind 16 points from Eric Dixon, averaging 23 points per game entering Monday's matchup. Georgetown ended the half shooting 30 percent from the floor from both two (4-13) and three point (4-13) distance.
The second half opened poorly for the Hoyas. An early basket by Sorber was the only points Georgetown could muster over the first three minutes, as the Wildcats scored eight straight to go up 13 at the 16:40 mark, 42-29. A much needed three from Peavy brought the Hoyas back to 10 at the first media time out of the half, 42-32.
Defense was the order of the day for the Hoyas after halftime, but they could not gain ground. A 6-0 run over 39 seconds brought Georgetown to 46-41 with 12:32 to play, highlighted by a falling Thomas Sorber finding Caleb Williams with a pass in the lane for a score.
Assist from the big man?? @ThomasSorber_ #HoyaSaxa pic.twitter.com/ecb7PzLgIK
— Georgetown Hoops (@GeorgetownHoops) January 21, 2025
A Kris Parker layup and an Eric Dixon three helped the Wildcats answer en route to seven straight, 53-41. Neither team was effective from outside in the second half, save an unusual run where the teams traded six threes over six consecutive scoring possessions, with four from the Hoyas: two from Epps, two from Peavy, bringing the score to 59-53 with 6:10 to play.
Neither team scored from three for the remainder of the game but what had changed? Villanova had given up only two turnovers for the first ten minutes of the second half but four in the next four and three in the final six. Georgetown had cut off the feeds that had allowed Dixon to score with ease, and forced Villanova into bad passes.
The Wildcats weren't quite done, however. Dixon drove down the lane, 61-53. Georgetown answered with an clean look from Epps for Jordan Burks, 61-55. Jordan Longino's short jumper kept the lead at eight, 63-55, with 4:52 to play.
A defensive stalemate took hold over the next two minutes. Epps missed a three, Dixon missed an open jumper. Peavy was picked off by Perkins, but Burks picked off as pass from Longino 16 seconds later. A Peavy drive was swatted away by Tyler Perkins, but the Hoyas maintained possession on an offensive rebound heading into the media timeout.
Each team missed on their next possession until a foul by Peavy sent Dixon to the line with 2:40 remaining. For all his heroics, Dixon entered the line shooting just 5 for 9. Dixon missed the first and a lane violation on the second was for naught. Off an offensive rebound, Sorber was fouled with 2:34 to play and sank two from the line, 63-57.
A Malik Mack steal offered the Hoyas some unrequited hope: a pair of missed shots at the two minute mark could not close the gap. Still up six, Tyler Perkins could not get the ball inside and launched up a poor three point attempt. Off the rebound, Sorber got the ball to Epps, who opened the door for Mack, now 0-8 from the field and razzed by the Villanova student section every time he touched the ball. Mack drove the lane and picked up the basket and the foul, 63-60, with 1:25 to play.
MACK ON THE ATTACK??#HoyaSaxa pic.twitter.com/dyEi5Vdag0
— Georgetown Hoops (@GeorgetownHoops) January 21, 2025
Off a Villanova time out, the Wildcats struggled to maintain its passing lanes, and a pass from Dixon to Longino was picked off by Peavy, who drove the lane to close to 63-62 with 48 seconds to play. On its next series, Dixon's inside shot was off, and the Hoyas took over with 22 seconds to play, down one.
Villanova had three fouls to give before the bonus took effect and used each to whittle down the clock; thus, the Hoyas began its final drive with 12 seconds to play. If the Wildcats were expecting Epps to pop outside or Sorber to patrol the pivot, they found neither. Instead it was Peavy, who drove the lane to put the Hoyas up one, 64-63, with 1.7 seconds remaining, later ticked up to 1.8 after video review.
HOYAS TAKE THE LEAD??#HoyaSaxa | @BIGEASTMBB | @mjpv5 pic.twitter.com/v78PqbqvSI
— Georgetown Hoops (@GeorgetownHoops) January 21, 2025
"On the last play, I thought we did a good job," said Villanova coach Kyle Neptune in post-game comments. "Peavy made a tough shot. He went to his weak side. I thought he got a little separation with a jab."
"They called the play for me to go get a bucket, and I just trusted my work," Peavy said.
"Today was a resilient win, today was a culture win, today was a program win."
--Georgetown coach Ed Cooley
A pair of players led each team, especially after halftime. A total of 24 of Georgetown's 37 second half points were from either Micah Peavy (13) or Jayden Epps (11), shooting a combined 9 for 18 from the field; the remainder of the team managed just 4 for 14 between them. For the game, Peavy and Epps combined for 39 while Thomas Sorber, who struggled inside for most of this game and shot just 3 for 14, was a sterling 9 for 10 from the foul line and finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
A total of 47 of Villanova's 63 points, and 20 of 29 after halftime, belonged to Eric Dixon and Jordan Longino. Dixon scored 29 points but gave up a season high six turnovers, while Longino was just short of a career high with 18. Jahmir Brickus, identified in the Pre-Game Report as struggling with putting together back to back games, had 18 points and one turnover versus Providence but just three points in this game, along with a season high five turnovers.
The loss of Wooga Poplar after halftime was evident. Averaging 14.5 points per game, his emotions got the best of him and Villanova never replaced his scoring, with reserve guard Tyler Perkins finishing 1 for 6 in 34 minutes of action and scoreless in the second half.
The Wildcats ended the game with a 41-30 advantage on rebounds, 22-10 on second chance points, and a lead it held for all of 1.8 seconds of the final 34 minutes of the game. But the late numbers were crushing: 0 for 5 from the field, a missed free throw, a lane violation, and three turnovers, all of which led to nine straight Georgetown points to close out the game.
"A lot of the credit goes to Georgetown," said Neptune. "I thought our guys battled. Georgetown stuck in there the entire game and locked us up in the final few minutes. We just didn't have enough in the end."
"To be down the way we were, with things not going our way, for our men to fight back, I think we had nine straight stops on the defensive side of the ball," said Cooley, who arrived in the press room wearing a Washington Commanders sweatshirt. "Just a great team win and to do it on Martin Luther King Day means more to me than any of you will ever understand. Those opportunities weren't there to coaches, players, people without that vision, without that love and compassion for humanity.
"So MLK, I appreciate you, bro."
The Georgetown half of the box score:
MIN 2FG 3FG FT REB A PF PTS
Starters:
Mack 34 1-5 0-4 1-1 2 2 2 3
Peavy 36 3-7 6-9 0-0 4 1 4 24
Ca. Williams 22 1-1 1-2 0-0 5 1 1 5
Fielder 21 0-0 0-1 0-0 1 2 2 0
Sorber 35 3-13 0-1 9-10 11 4 3 15
Reserves:
Epps 31 2-5 3-6 2-2 2 4 1 15
Cu. Williams 10 0-0 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0
Burks 12 1-1 0-1 0-0 2 0 0 2
Team Rebounds 3
Injured: Halaifonua, Moses
DNP: Mckenna, Fort, Montgomery, Asadallah,
Van Raaphorst, Diouf, Mulready
TOTALS 200 11-32 10-26 12-13 30 14 13 64
Georgetown’s Coach Ed Cooley’s Opening Statement after the Hoyas’ win over @NovaMBB: pic.twitter.com/U4mnmmvDxb
— David Szczepanski (@WXVUDavidS) January 21, 2025
Peavy for the win!
— Indigenous Hip Hopper (@KyleWilliamsD2i) January 21, 2025
Dalessandro’s for the win!
HOYA SAXA for the win!!
Special shout out to the Hoyas student section who took a bus load on the road and played a HUGE role in the comeback win down the stretch!
THANK YOU TO THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE!! pic.twitter.com/p41e2qQJTM
