IN THE BOOKS: Georgetown Overmatched by Providence in First Round of BIG EAST Tournament, 74-56

“Just wasn’t our type of year.”

Your Georgetown Hoyas (9-23, 2-18) lost to the Providence Friars (20-12) in the first round of the BIG EAST Tournament to end the season for the Hoyas. While both teams appeared evenly matched at times, Providence was able to get stops at-will and the better team ended up victorious. As the BIG EAST Tournament continues without the Hoyas, Ed Cooley and Georgetown likely get to take their first steps for filling spots on the roster and staff.

Poor free throw shooting (2-5 1H, 2-14 2H) jumps off the stat page but Georgetown had no answer for Providence. Providence leveraged Devin Carter, Josh Oduro, and Ticket Gaines to score 54 points. Carter was not perfect but effective offensively (19 points, 7-16 FG, 3-9 3PT) and Oduro worked down low well enough to get buckets or free throws (20 points, 5-10 FG, 9-9 FT).

If you can’t get stops, you have to outscore and no one wearing blue wanted to help Epps in this one. Georgetown squeezed 30 points out of Jayden Epps on 12-23 FG (3-8 3PT, 3-11 FT) as their only double-digit scorer. Dontrez Styles was 3-7 FG and 0-3 3PT (7 pts, 9 reb, 1-5 FT), Drew Fielder scored 8 points (3-7 FG, 2-5 3PT, 0-2 FT), Jay Heath was 1-5 FG (1-2 3PT) for 3 points, and Supreme Cook was 1-4 FG (0-0 FT) for 2 points, with 6 rebounds. Wayne Bristol hit a three (1-3 3PT, 28 mins), Ismael Massoud hit a three (1-3 FG, 1-2 3PT), Rowan Brumbaugh was 0-2 FG (0-1 3PT) in 1 5 minutes. It was a cold night shooting, but the looks weren’t great.

PC was 12-32 FG (7-20 3PT) in the first and 12-24 FG (5-13 3PT) in the second. Georgetown was 10-31 FG (5-15 FT) in the first and 12-23 FG (3-9 3PT) in the second. So it wasn’t the rim that was broken. Georgetown finished on the wrong end of a 3-minute 10-0 run.

With that, the Georgetown season is presumably over. Unless 8 BIG EAST teams make the NCAA Tournament and the NIT (or some other tournament) gets super desperate, this marks the end of year 1 for Ed Cooley and crew. Stay tuned.

Here are some other links:

Tenth-Seeded Hoyas Fall to Seventh-Seeded Providence in BIG EAST First Round | Georgetown University Athletics

The Georgetown University men’s basketball team could not overcome a 13-point first half deficit as the #10 Hoyas fell 74-56 to #7 Providence in the BIG EAST Tournament First Round on Wednesday. With the loss, Georgetown closes the season with a 9-23 overall record with a 2-18 record in BIG EAST play. Providence moves on to the BIG EAST Quarterfinals with a record of 20-12 on the season…

“There’s a lot of ways to start. First, I want to thank my team. This has been a very challenging year, an emotional year. I wish I could have done a much better job with them over the course of the 32 games we played. It didn’t turn out the way we wanted, but it’s an opportunity for us to grow, get better.” – Head Coach Ed Cooley

“It’s good to be in the company and beside a name like Allen Iverson. You know how great he was. Like Coach said, it’s always good to play in this building as well. Growing up as a kid, you see so much about it. You watch games here. You hear how legendary it is. It’s just a dream come true playing in this building, getting an opportunity like that, and I just gotta keep working and trying to keep getting better.” – Jayden Epps on being only the second Hoya, along with Allen Iverson, to score 30 points in a BIG EAST Tournament game

Providence basketball takes care of business against Georgetown. Tough test comes Thursday | The Providence Journal

Devin Carter helped key a closing run like a star should. Providence advanced in the Big East Tournament courtesy of a 74-56 victory, and the sellout crowd largely made up of Friars fans gained some extra satisfaction in ending Ed Cooley’s debut season on the Georgetown sideline.

“Proud of our guys,” Providence coach Kim English said. “It’s a new season – the mission is to go 1-0. The most important game in tournament settings is to win the first game.”

Providence held the Hoyas at an arm’s length throughout but never truly finished them until the last 3:40. Jayden Epps missed a pair of free throws with 3:08 to play as part of his team’s miserable night at the line and the Friars sped the other way. Carter faded from out high and launched a 3-pointer that touched every part of the rim before settling through the cylinder.

Josh Oduro, Providence put away Georgetown | Field Level Media

Georgetown (9-23) saw its first season under coach Ed Cooley come to an end in ignominious fashion. Cooley, Providence’s coach for 12 years, finished the season 0-3 against the Friars.

Jayden Epps poured in 30 points on 12-of-23 shooting to power the Hoyas’ offense.

Georgetown turned an 18-point deficit into a 64-56 game with 3:40 left after Drew Fielder contributed eight points, including two 3-pointers, and Epps made a driving layup.

Oduro made two free throws, and after Epps missed a pair of his own, Carter pulled up for a long 3-pointer that rattled around the rim and dropped to give the Friars a 13-point lead with 2:51 to go. From there, they were not seriously threatened.

Josh Oduro puts up 20, Providence knocks off Georgetown in Big East Conference Tournament | The Washington Times

Josh Oduro had 20 points in Providence’s 74-56 win over Georgetown on Wednesday night in the Big East Conference Tournament.

The seventh-seeded Friars (20-12) face eighth-ranked Creighton, the second seed, in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

Oduro added nine rebounds for the Friars. Devin Carter scored 19 points while going 7 of 16 (3 for 9 from 3-point range) and added nine rebounds and six assists. Ticket Gaines had 15 points and shot 5 for 8 (4 for 7 from 3-point range) and 1 of 4 from the free-throw line.

Friars get the better of Cooley’s Hoyas for third and final time this season | Sports | Call & Times

“Credit Providence. They made the right plays. They withstood a run,” said Cooley.

Specifically, it was a 13-4 run that helped rescue the Hoyas after the Friars added five points to their halftime lead. Cooley called a timeout after Georgetown sank into a 45-27 hole, yet regrouped and moved to within nine (49-40) with plenty of time remaining (14:12).

Both teams floundered offensively as the Hoyas went multiple trips without a basket after making it a nine-point. Meanwhile, the Friars went 4 minutes, 50 seconds without a field goal as the Hoyas found something by mixing up their defensive coverages.

Then came arguably the game’s sequence that was authored by the two George Mason transfers who followed English to Providence. Oduro splashed in a three before the under-12-minute timeout, then Oduro drilled a corner three – his specialty – that gave PC some breathing room at 55-41.

As Providence routs Georgetown, Ed Cooley remains upbeat | Washington Post

But Epps, an 80 percent shooter at the free throw line during the regular season, made just 3 of 11 on Wednesday. Free throw shooting was a teamwide issue — the Hoyas were just 4 of 19 at the line, severely hindering their comeback bid. Providence finished 14 of 18.

Epps’s 30 points were the most by a Georgetown player in the conference tournament since Jeff Green scored 30 against Notre Dame in 2007.

“Our game plan was just to force him left,” Providence guard Devin Carter said. “Like Coach Kim [English] said, he made tough shots on our terms, what we call it. Credit to Jayden. He’s a great player.”

Behind its dynamic duo, Providence advances to Big East Tournament quarterfinals by sweeping Georgetown | friarbasketball.substack.com

There’s certainly irony in Providence ending the season of Cooley on his favorite stage. Georgetown was uncharacteristically subpar defensively this season, and late in the year Cooley had been more forthcoming about his team needing to make changes. He simply didn’t think his group was physical enough.

“I want to thank my team. This has been a very challenging year, an emotional year. I wish I could have done a much better job with them over the course of the 32 games we played. It didn’t turn out the way we wanted, but it’s an opportunity for us to grow, get better,” Cooley shared.

“And it wasn’t a good year, and I think all these losses, I take. I gotta do a better job as a leader, and I’ll continue to get better. But I thought the struggles this year helped me become a much better coach, helped me become a better listener, more attention to detail.”