Georgetown Basketball

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Two down, two to go.

The third of a four game gauntlet against the top ranked teams in the Big East continues Tuesday in Newark, where the Georgetown Hoyas have lost eight straight to Seton Hall dating to the 2014-15 season. For the Pirates, they are on a week-long break following a 72-39 dismantling of DePaul, ending a three game losing streak.

Three weeks ago, a 30 point effort on 9 for 18 shooting by Jayden Epps brought the Hoyas to within four of the Pirates at Capital One Arena, 74-70. Since that game, Epps' shooting has cratered: just 29 baskets in his last 92 attempts, including a futile 2 for 8 in the loss to Marquette. As Hoyas fans have become aware, the Hoyas can go as far as Epps takes them, but they'll go nowhere without him.

Seton Hall has been a surprise this season: picked for ninth, and presently third in the conference. A big part of this has been the play of 6-6 guard Kadary Richmond, who returned to the lineup against DePaul after being out two games from injury. No one is suggesting (or foretelling) a Kam Jones-like return, but Richmond's prowess versus the Hoyas is well documented. In last month's game, Richmond was 9 for 13 en route to the Pirates' win, and would be, if fully healthy, a difficult matchup for the Hoyas, just as Jones was on Saturday versus Marquette. Freshman Isaiah Coleman played well in Richmond's absence, with 19 points in two games, but Richmond is the leader and February is the time for him to lead.

Seton Hall's three guard lineup will look to veteran play among Al-Amir Dawes and Dylan Addae-Wusu. Dawes had five threes and 25 points on Georgetown last month, while Addae-Wusu had four steals and eight points in The Hall's win over DePaul. The aforementioned game also saw Dre Davis and Jason Bediako combined for 28 points and 19 rebounds inside, a sign of how valuable Davis has become to the Pirates as one of the better rebounding teams in the nation.

The Pirates enter the game ranked 9th in scoring offense in Big East games (71.4 ppg), just ahead of Georgetown: 10th at 67.0. The problem for the Hoyas remains its inability to defend, allowing Big East teams to shoot 52 percent from the floor en route to 80.8 points allowed per game. Overall, the Hoyas are trending just below its numbers from last season, and that's a huge problem.

Much has been made about Georgetown's awful road record (1-6 this season), but it goes back further than one might think. Since a win at SMU on December 7, 2019, GU has lost 40 of its last 45 games on the road, with its last win at Prudential Center coming on February 10, 2015. The Pirates are 9-3 at "The Rock" this season, but lost their prior two in setbacks to Creighton and Providence. A Quad 4 NET loss to Georgetown, winless against Quad 1 opponents this season, would do major damage to the Pirates' NCAA at-large chances; to date, SHU is 7-0 in Quad 4 games.

Keys to the game:

1. Rebounding: Seton Hall leads the conference with 40 rebounds a game, Georgetown is 10th at 30.0. The Hoyas were even in rebounds versus Seton Hall in the first meeting, holding the Pirates to just 26 rebounds. Georgetown cannot win with negative rebounding numbers.

2. Three Pointers: This is the only major statistic where Seton Hall trails Georgetown: 5.27 threes per game for the Hall versus 7.4 for the Hoyas. Georgetown's four threes versus Marquette was a season low and its 10 versus the Hall was its second best in conference play this season.

3. Defense: The Hoyas gave up 60 percent shooting to the Pirates last month, a season high. Allowing anything above 50 percent may be a bridge too far for GU to contend.

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