Both Georgetown and DePaul are looking for momentum heading into the Big East tournament.
The Hoyas and Blue Demons each can close the regular season with two straight victories in their matchup Saturday afternoon in Chicago.
Georgetown (17-13, 8-11 Big East) snapped a three-game losing streak with Tuesday’s 75-73 home victory over Villanova. Jayden Epps had 20 points and Micah Peavy 19 for the Hoyas, who closed on a 15-4 run to win for just fifth time in the last 16 games.
“I just feel like all year we’ve shown that we just don’t quit,” said Peavy, who has averaged 23 points and has gone 22 of 47 from 3-point range in the last nine games.
“Even league games, we’ve gone down, and we just keep fighting to the end.”
Georgetown, headed for a seventh seed in next week’s Big East tournament after totaling just four league victories in the previous three seasons, hasn’t won consecutive contests since a five-game run from Dec. 14-Jan. 3. It’s also been outscored by an average margin of 10.2 points during a five-game road slide.
In addition, the Hoyas will try to avoid being swept by DePaul (12-18, 3-16), which won 73-68 at Georgetown on Jan. 17 to snap its 39-game Big East regular-season losing streak.
CJ Gunn had 17 points for the Blue Demons, who shot 50 percent from the field and held the hosts to 41.5 percent.
In an 80-77 victory Wednesday at Providence, Gunn, averaging a team-best 12.6 points a game, scored 23 points and JJ Traynor added 21. DePaul shot 53.6 percent from the floor and made 10 3-pointers to end a six-game skid.
DePaul hasn’t won back-to-back league games since a three-game winning streak from Feb. 24-March 2, 2022.
“Our program was what it was when we took over as a staff, but certainly there have been improvements made,” said Blue Demons coach Chris Holtmann, whose team has set a school record with 280 made 3-pointers. “That’s really our only focus here.”
Already without starting point guard Conor Enright and forward David Skogman, it’s uncertain if injured DePaul big man NJ Benson, who hasn’t played since Feb. 11, will return Saturday.
–Field Level Media
