Georgetown and Seton Hall are two teams heading in opposite directions as the longtime Big East rivals meet for the first time this season on Saturday in Washington.
Georgetown (9-6, 1-3 Big East) had hopes of returning to the NCAA Tournament after coach Ed Cooley doubled the Hoyas’ win total from Year 1 to Year 2. In a previous rebuilding project within the conference, Cooley took Providence to the Big Dance in his third year.
The Hoyas have now lost six of 10 after starting 5-0 and return home after one of the worst offensive performances in program history. Georgetown made just one second-half field goal (1 of 23) in a 56-50 loss at DePaul on Tuesday.
Cooley chose to be positive at a media availability on Thursday.
“Let me look at the bright side of the loss … I thought it was our best defensive performance all year,” Cooley said.
“I thought we did all the right things defensively to win the game. I thought we pitched a two-hitter if you compare it to baseball and they pitched a one-hitter.”
While KJ Lewis scored a game-high 18 points, the Arizona transfer combined with fellow backcourt starter Malik Mack to shoot 7 of 29 with just one assist.
Seton Hall (13-2, 3-1) — the surprise of the league after being picked to finish last — has been off for nearly a week since coming back from a 16-point second-half deficit to edge Creighton 56-54.
AJ Staton-McCray leads the Pirates in scoring with 12.8 points per game, which is good for 17th in the conference. With five players averaging at least eight points per game, coach Shaheen Holloway relies on different players to step up on a game-by-game basis.
Against Creighton, it was NC State transfer Trey Parker with a season-high nine points, highlighted by his ability to draw fouls and get to the line.
“I’ve been trying to tell him I want him to be more aggressive,” Holloway said. “He’s one of our more athletic guys on the team by far. I want him to start showing it.”
Parker, who has seen his playing time increase over the last three games, was 5 of 6 from the charity stripe against Creighton after only attempting 10 free throws total through the first 14 games.
Seton Hall had beaten Georgetown in seven straight before the Hoyas earned the sweep last season.
