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Georgetown-Savannah St. Preview

Nov 20, 2009 - 5:58 PM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Georgetown (2-0) at Savannah State (2-1), 1:00 p.m. EDT

Georgetown posted its largest margin of victory in nearly 19 years last season when it routed Savannah State. A rematch in Georgia could at the very least make the final score more respectable.

The No. 19 Hoyas hit the road Saturday to face the Tigers, who are coached by former Georgetown guard Horace Broadnax.

Georgetown (2-0) has faced Savannah State (2-1) twice, winning 100-38 on Dec. 8. The Hoyas led 57-15 at halftime in their biggest win since a 112-39 victory over the University of the District of Columbia on Dec. 16, 1989.

No Hoya logged more than 24 minutes in the December meeting, and Georgetown shot 72.4 percent (21 of 29) in the first half and turned in its highest point total of the season.

Broadnax, a member of Georgetown's 1984 NCAA championship team, came up with an apt description of his program - an independent since moving up to Division I in 2002 - after the loss.

"It's a Mercedes-Benz with no gas in it," Broadnax said. "We're a Division I team in name (only)."

The heavy defeat did not deter Broadnax from hosting the high-profile Hoyas a year later. The biggest crowd at tiny Tiger Arena was 3,727 on Nov. 28, 2006, when Savannah State lost 72-49 to Massachusetts, and a similar attendance figure is expected Saturday.

This rematch could be more competitive, judging by Georgetown's early season results. The Hoyas won 74-58 at Tulane last Friday before struggling to a 46-45 victory over Temple in their home opener Tuesday.

Georgetown finished with more fouls (18) and turnovers (16) than baskets (15) against the Owls, but prevailed when Greg Monroe scored the winning basket with 6.5 seconds to play.

"The growth of this team, I think we're definitely not going to lose these games this year," Monroe said. "I think everybody's really focused, and everybody understands what they need to do personally and what we need to do as a team to win games like this."

Chris Wright had a game-high 15 points and Monroe added 11 for Georgetown, which blew a 12-point second-half lead. The Hoyas went 3 of 18 on 3-pointers.

"It was ugly - don't get me wrong," coach John Thompson III said. "They do a good job of making the game ugly."

Playing ugly has been the style for Savannah State through three games. The Tigers won their first two at home before falling 57-46 at North Florida on Wednesday.

Tracy Rankins was the only Tiger in double figures with 17 points and added a team-high four assists.

Savannah State, which went 15-14 in 2008-09, has 28 assists to 46 turnovers this season and is 7 of 40 from 3-point range.