Jan. 9, 2009

Georgetown Game Notes | Providence Game Notes

The No. 9-ranked Georgetown University men's basketball team hosts Providence in a key BIG EAST Conference Weekend matchup on Saturday, Jan. 10 at Verizon Center. Tip-off is slated for 1 p.m. The game will be shown live on ESPNU, with Lou Canellis and Jack Armstrong calling the action, alongside Georgetown University student Matthew Rabinowitz, who won the "Campus Connection" contest. The game can be heard locally on ESPN 980 AM, with Rich Chvotkin providing all the action.

Georgetown enters the game with a 10-3 overall record and a 1-2 mark in the BIG EAST following a 73-67 loss at Notre Dame on Monday. The Hoyas, who beat No. 2 Connecticut in the BIG EAST Conference opener, are ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and No. 10 in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 Coaches' poll.

The Series With Providence
Today's game with Providence is the 57th meeting all-time between the schools...The Hoyas lead the head-to-head series, 37-19, and has won the last two games...This is only the fourth time the schools have played since John Thompson III was named head coach at Georgetown, with the Hoyas winning two of three games...The Hoyas are 18-4 at home against the Friars.

About The Friars
Providence enters today's game having won its last four contests, including three-straight against BIG EAST opponents, beating St. John's (75-54), DePaul (62-54) and Cincinnati (87-79) to open the conference slate...The Friars have been led by a scoring offense that ranks fifth in the BIG EAST in scoring (79.1 points per game)...Providence is 15th in the league in scoring defense (69.7 ppg)...Senior guard Weyinmi Efejuku leads a balanced lineup that has eight players averaging at least 16 minutes per game and at least 5.4 points per game...Efejuku is scoring a team-best 13.9 ppg, is grabbing 3.8 rebounds, has handed out 1.7 assists and has hit 20 three-pointers...The Friars are fifth in the league in three-pointers made (6.9 per game)...Sophomore guard Marshon Brooks is second on the team with 12.6 points and senior forward Jonathan Kale is third on the team with 10.4 points per game...Senior forward Geoff McDermott is sixth on the team with 8.3 points per game and is grabbing a team-best 8.8 rebounds...The Friars are shooting 45.6 percent from the floor, 31.0 percent from the arc and 67.6 percent from the free throw line.

Through 13 games, Georgetown has featured a balanced lineup with different players stepping up each night...Five different players have led the team in scoring, seven different players have led the team in rebounds and four different players have led the team in assists...For the team scoring lead, only 31 points separate the team's leading scorers - DaJuan Summers (14.9 ppg, 194 points), Greg Monroe (13.5 ppg, 176 points), Chris Wright (12.8 ppg, 166 points) Austin Freeman (12.5 ppg, 162 points), .

Youth Gone Wild
Georgetown is a young team featuring a starting lineup that has included two sophomores and a freshman...Off the bench, Head Coach John Thompson III has turned to a rotation that includes three sophomores and two freshmen...Through 13 games, the Hoyas have received 68.5 percent of the team's scoring - 654-of-955 points - from underlcassmen...Here's a closer look at the percentages contributed from underclassmen:

Summers Time
Junior forward DaJuan Summers is approaching the 1,000-point mark for his career at Georgetown...Summers scored a season-high 22 points against Pittsburgh on Jan. 3...He needs 100 more points to reach the 1,000-point mark and become the 40th player in program history to reach that mark...Summers has scored 900 points in 83 career games, a 10.8 per game average...In the last six games, Summers is averaging 16.3 points per game while shooting 50.0 percent from the floor (30-of-60) and 43.5 percent from three-point land (10-of-23).

The Monroe Doctrine
Freshman center Greg Monroe has made a big impact in his first season...Monroe is second on the team in scoring and leads the team in rebounding, averaging 13.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per game...He has scored in double figures in 11 games this season...Monroe ranks eighth in the BIG EAST in field goal percentage (56.2%)...He is also fifth in the league, and 64th nationally, in blocked shots per game (1.8)...Monroe registered a career-high five steals against FIU and leads the team with 23 steals (1.8 per game), which ranks 10th in the BIG EAST...He recorded his first career double-double, scoring 21 points and grabbing 10 rebounds at Notre Dame, on Jan. 5.

The Wright Stuff
Sophomore guard Chris Wright has begun to carve his own niche as he takes over a starting role for Georgetown this season...Wright, who missed most of last season with a foot injury, is third on the team in scoring (12.8 ppg), fifth in rebounding (3.4 rpg) and leads the team in assists (3.8 apg), which ranks 14th in the BIG EAST...Wright also ranks 10th in the BIG EAST in assist/turnover ratio at 1.9...He has handed out 50 assists to only 26 turnovers...Wright has handed out at least five assists four times this season...The sophomore has also stepped things up at the free throw line...After hitting 3-of-8 shots from the charity stripe in the season opener against Jacksonville, Wright has hit 79.1 percent of his shots from the sin stripe (34-of-43)...He scored a career-high 22 points in the win over American on Dec. 6, the first 20-point game for a Hoya this season.

Upperclassmen Lead The Way On The Line, From Three-Point Land
Senior Jessie Sapp and DaJuan Summers are the two most experienced players on the team...The duo has combined for 160 starts, were part of the 2007 Final Four team, won the BIG EAST Tournament Championship and were starters on the back-to-back BIG EAST Regular Season teams...The duo have contributed in many ways this year...At the free throw line, they have helped the team rank third in the BIG EAST in shooting percentage...Combined, the duo is shooting 76.3 percent from the free throw line (71-of-93)...Sapp has missed only six free throws all year (20-of-26, 76.9 percent)...The duo has been just as important from three-point land, where they have combined to shoot 41.2 percent (40-of-97)...Sapp and Summers have accounted for nearly half - 48.2 percent (40-of-83) of Georgetown's three-point field goals this year.