MARQ’D UP: Georgetown Dominated by Marquette, 91-57

The Hoyas get ripped apart in another home conference matchup

Your Georgetown Hoyas (8-13, 1-9) lost to the No. 9/10 Marquette Golden Eagles (17-5, 8-3), 91-57. The game was over pretty early on, with Marquette outscoring Georgetown 21-0 on turnovers in the first half and shooting 50% on 16 three-point attempts.

After the game, Ed Cooley talked about a lack of connectivity. He also mentioned that there was a flu running through the team this week but said there’s no excuse to ever play like that at home. He promises to continue to battle and stay aggressive in the remaining 10 games.

Cooley also addressed the challenge of getting through these bumps in the road and reiterated that he has Athletic Director Lee Reed and President Jack DeGioia’s support as they experience “change.”

It continues to be hard to measure progress this season with injuries and illness disrupting practice and games.

Links:

Georgetown is crushed by No. 9 Marquette for worst Big East home loss | Washington Post

Cooley’s first season with the Hoyas has not featured an eye-catching victory, though Georgetown played well in stretches against TCU, Seton Hall, Connecticut, Xavier and Providence. Yet it also turned in two of its worst outings in its past two home games. A 90-66 loss to Butler on Jan. 23 left Cooley fuming. That defeat and the latest drubbing evoked memories of various forgettable moments during the tenure of Cooley’s predecessor, Patrick Ewing.

Saturday’s setback sunk lower than any of those. Georgetown’s previous worst home Big East loss was an 88-56 pounding administered by Villanova in January 2018 during Ewing’s first season.

“I can feel the angst of some of our people — ‘Is this the same? What’s going on here?’ ” Cooley said. “… That’s the challenge of change. Sometimes it’s not as quick as everybody wants it to be. I knew coming in it would probably be the hardest challenge I’ve had as a head coach.”

#MUBB Pulls Away For 91-57 Victory at Georgetown | Marquette University Athletics

Marquette, which defeated Georgetown by 30 points (81-51) in the first meeting this year, claimed a 34-point victory on Saturday, which tied a program-best margin in BIG EAST play. MU defeated Cincinnati 84-50 on Jan. 4, 2009.

The Golden Eagles shot 57.9 percent for the game, it’s sixth-straight outing over 50 percent from the floor and turned 19 Georgetown turnovers into 35 points.

The Golden Eagles used a 16-0 run midway through the first half to build a 44-22 advantage at the intermission. MU shot 51.6 percent from the floor and turned 11 Georgetown turnovers into 21 points. Kolek led the way offensively with 15 points and Ighodaro had nine boards.

Kam Jones, Tyler Kolek lead No. 9 Marquette over Georgetown 91-57 for 6th straight win | AP News

David Joplin scored 15 points and Oso Ighodaro added 10 points and 10 rebounds. Marquette (17-5, 8-3 Big East) forced 19 turnovers and outscored the Hoyas 35-5 in points off turnovers.

Rowan Brumbaugh scored 12 points to lead Georgetown (8-13, 1-9), which lost its sixth straight game. The 34-point loss is the largest home Big East defeat for the Hoyas.

Georgetown’s Jayden Epps entered the game as the leading scorer in the conference at 19.1 points per game, but was held without a field goal until just under seven minutes left. Epps finished with seven points.

Kam Jones scores career high to push No. 9 Marquette past Georgetown – Field Level Media – Professional sports content solutions | Field Level Media

Firing when open and with defenders in his face, Jones made his first six attempts from 3-point range. He finished 7 of 9 from beyond the arc and 12 of 15 from the floor.

Marquette led from start to finish as Georgetown had no answer for Kolek, the reigning Big East player of the year who mixed perimeter shots and no-look passes with bursts to the rim.

Rowan Brumbaugh scored 12 points and Drew Fielder scored all 11 of his points in the second half to pace the Hoyas (8-13, 1-9) who committed 19 turnovers in losing their sixth straight.

Kam Jones scores career-high 31 points in 91-57 win over Georgetown – Marquette Wire | Marquette Wire

In the first half, the Golden Eagles forced 11 turnovers and turned them into 21 points. Overall, Marquette earned 35 points off 19 turnovers compared to Georgetown’s five, which marked its highest total since recording 38 against Southern Nov. 28.

“We really put a big premium on getting our hands on the basketball in this game – we always do — but particularly in this game, we thought we could be disruptive,” Smart said. “The guys got a high number of deflections, we got our eight kills and that’s the recipe for going on the road and winning…

“You always take things one game at a time, but we did know that we had four out of five games on the road. The way that the guys have approached that has been huge.”

BIG EAST RECAP: #9 Marquette Men’s Basketball 91, Georgetown Hoyas 57 | Anonymous Eagle

Marquette scored first, never let Georgetown tie the game, figured out what was going on, and then took off. Jay Heath scored for the Hoyas on a break with 10:17 left in the first half, and MU took control from there. A 16-0 run punched the margin to 20 points after an and-1 by David Joplin, and it took just barely over three minutes for MU to do it.

Georgetown never got closer than 17 for the remaining six minutes and change of the first half, and a 7-2 burst over the final 3:40 for Marquette left the margin at the largest gap of the game so far: 22 points at 44-22 favoring the visitors.

Hoyas Fall to No. 9/10 Marquette

WASHINGTON – The Georgetown University men’s basketball team could not contain a hot-shooting No. 9/10 Marquette squad, falling 91-57 to the Golden Eagles. With the loss, the Hoyas slip to 8-13 overall with a 1-9 mark in BIG EAST play while MU improves to 17-5 on the year with an 8-3 record in league action.

ON THE RECORD

“This is some uncharted waters for us as a group, as a staff. First of all, give Marquette a lot of credit. They came, they played with a sense of desperation, Kam [Jones] coming off of not playing his last game, having a career day. I want to thank our crowd for coming out; our fans, our students. We have to find a way to play better at home. Our last two home games just haven’t been good, it’s not a good look … Very disappointed in our energy, effort and connectedness … we have to figure it out … We have to do a better job as a staff, I have to do a much, much better job as a head coach to get our guys connected, to buy into where we’re trying to go. We take five steps forward and 32 steps backwards … We have ten games left, we have a lot of soul searching, mirror watching … we have to keep battling, not pointing fingers, and make sure we stay together.” – Head Coach Ed Cooley

HOYA HIGHLIGHTS

• A trio of Hoyas finished the game in double figures with Rowan Brumbaugh leading the way with 12 points off the bench. He was 4-for-6 from the field and 3-for-4 from the charity stripe to go along with a squad-best three assists.
• Drew Fielder also came off the bench to tally 11 points on 4-for-6 shooting and a 3-for-5 performance from the free throw line. He pulled down a squad-best seven rebounds.
• Dontrez Styles scored 10 points to round out those in double figures.
• Georgetown shot 42.2% (19-45) for the game but allowed Marquette to shoot 55.6% (35-63) from the floor.
• MU held the advantage on the glass, 32-26.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Marquette jumped out a quick nine-point lead (16-7) despite the Hoyas knocking down a pair of early 3-pointers, one each from Ismael Massoud and Jay Heath.
• Styles reeled off three quick points of his own to pull the Blue & Gray within six points but MU extended it right back to eight points.
• Back-to-back layups from Styles and Heath cut the deficit to four and got the crowd on their feet with 10:17 remaining in the first frame.
• However, the Golden Eagles would use a 19-2 run to push the lead to 21 (37-16) with 6:20 remaining in the half. MU took a 44-22 lead into the locker room.
• The second half was more of the same as the Hoyas could not contain a hot-shooting Golden Eagle squad. Marquette went on for the 91-57 win.

UP NEXT

The Hoyas will return to action on Wednesday, February 7 when they hit the road to face Seton Hall in Newark, New Jersey. Tipoff at Prudential Center is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on FS2 with John Fanta calling the play-by-play and Sarah Kustok providing analysis. The radio call of Rich Chvotkin, in his 50th season as the Voice of the Hoyas, can be heard locally on 106.7 The Fan and nationally on the SiriusXM app.