GAME THREAD: Georgetown at No. 20 Providence

Feb 8, 2023 - 9:39 PM

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Game 25: Georgetown Hoyas (6-18, 1-12) at No. 20 Providence Friars (17-6 8-3)

When: Wednesday, 8 PM

Where: Amica Mutual Pavilion

TV: CBS Sports Network (Andrew Catalon and Steve Lapppas)

Radio: 99.1 FM, Sirius XM 388 (Rich Chvotkin - 49th season)

Series: Hoyas lead 47-32

Last Meeting: Providence swept the Hoyas last season

Georgetown Quick Look:
KenPom: 210 - Offense (170), Defense (254)
Best Two Wins: DePaul (137), Siena (159)
Net: 233
Last 5: LLLWL
KenPom Projected Record: 7-24 (2-18)

No. 20 Providence Quick Look:
KenPom: 28 - Offense (17), Defense (61)
Best Two Wins: UConn (6), Marquette (10)
Net: 36
Last 5: LWWWL
KenPom Projected Record: 22-9 (14-6)

KenPom Game Prediction: No. 20 Providence 83, Georgetown 65 (94%)

Line: Georgetown +13, 0/U 147

Well it’s gameday and once again Georgetown is a big underdog. The Hoyas are double-digit underdogs for the fourth straight game. This is the third straight game of being +13 or +13.5.

Including tonight, Georgetown will have been a double-digit underdog in 6 of 7 conference road games and 9 of 14 overall Big East games. Two home games - Seton Hall and Villanova - settled between 8.5 and 9.5 points. Georgetown was also a 16.5 point underdog at Texas Tech in the non-conference portion of the schedule. This just isn’t a competitive program right now and honestly it hasn’t been since March 2021.

If you want to look on the bright side, Georgetown has a shot to end quite a few streaks tonight with what would be a massive upset against No. 20 Providence.

So obviously THE STREAK ended two weeks ago when Georgetown beat DePaul but others remain active.

By my count I’ve got four streaks that Georgetown could put to bed tonight with a single, yet highly-improbable road victory.

Here they are:

Georgetown has lost 20 straight overall road games, 17 straight Big East road games, 10 straight overall to AP Top 25 teams and six straight on the road to ranked teams.

Overall Road Losses: 20 (DePaul, 2/27/21)
Big East road Losses: 17 (DePaul, 2/27/21)
AP Top 25 Losses: 10 (Creighton BET, 3/13/21)
Road Losses to AP Top 25: 6 (Creighton, 2/3/21)

Along with being a huge underdog, recent history is also working against Georgetown tonight given the locale. Since the formation of the new league ahead of the 2013-14 season, the Hoyas are just 1-7 at Providence. That one win, however, did come under Patrick Ewing. Before this poor run of form against the Friars, Georgetown had won eight straight in the series, including three on the road.

As far as the actual game, Ewing will likely need leading scorer Primo Spears to take more than one shot which is exactly what he did in the narrow home loss to No. 24 UConn. A pass first Spears is not a bad thing but he can’t be a complete passenger on that end as he’s too talented and important. Also it would be good if Georgetown’s defense limited wide open three-pointers.

OK that’s all.

For the few of you that remain, leave your comments below!