Two teams, both moving in the wrong direction, will wrap up their season series when Georgetown hosts Marquette on Tuesday night in Washington.
Just one game separates Georgetown (13-14, 5-11 Big East) and Marquette (9-18, 4-12) at the bottom of the conference standings. Xavier, Providence and Butler have also each recorded 11 conference losses in a crowded league basement with two weeks remaining.
As struggling teams often do, Georgetown has been finding different ways to lose during its current four-game slide.
Caleb Williams led five Hoyas in double figures with 16 points as Georgetown lost a 93-89 shootout to Butler on Feb. 18. Three days later, the Hoyas shot 27.3% from the field and scored a season low in coming out on the short end of a 51-47 rock fight at Seton Hall despite the Pirates’ inability to connect on a 3-pointer (0 for 18).
“We did everything we could do to lose this game — everything possible to lose this game,” head coach Ed Cooley said after the Seton Hall defeat, where Georgetown had almost as many turnovers (13) as field goals (15).
Earlier this season, Georgetown snapped an eight-game losing streak to Marquette with a 78-69 win in Milwaukee on Dec. 17, marking their first victory over the Golden Eagles since 2021.
Georgetown has dropped eight straight at home to Marquette, last winning in 2017. The Hoyas’ lone season sweep of the Golden Eagles came back in 2015.
During their current three-game skid, the Golden Eagles secured their first losing record in Big East play since 2020-21, which was the last season before Shaka Smart arrived. Anything less than winning the Big East tournament in 2026 will break Smart’s streak of guiding teams to five straight NCAA Tournament appearances — the last four with Marquette and 2021 with Texas.
Despite his first real struggles in Milwaukee, Smart is excited about the future thanks to freshman guard Nigel James Jr., who on Monday was named to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll after shooting 11 for 21 and scoring 25 in a 76-70 loss to St. John’s on Feb. 18. Previously, James had been named conference Freshman of the Week three times.
“He’s got the ball in his hands so much I think he’s in the top one percentile in the country for usage, meaning that there’s a lot of times where the possession ends with a shot, an assist or a turnover from him and a lot of times good things are happening when that occurs,” Smart said about his young star.
James leads Marquette in scoring (16.1 ppg) and assists (4.9 per game) and ranks second in scoring in Big East play at 19.6 ppg.
–Field Level Media
