No. 20 Georgetown Tips Off 2010-11 Season at ODU on Friday Night

Nov. 11, 2010

WASHINGTON -

The Georgetown University men's basketball team opens the 2010-11 season on Friday, Nov. 12, visiting Old Dominion at the Ted Constant Convocation Center on the Monarchs' campus in Norfolk, Va.

The game will be shown live on CSN+, which is available on Channel 8 for Comcast subscribers in Montgomery County (Md.); Channel 21 for those in Northern Virginia and Channel 643 for DirecTV subscribers. Fans who have RCN cable at home can watch the game on Channel 371 for residents in Northern Virginia, Montgomery County (Md.) and Washington, D.C. The game will also be shown live on SNY in New York and CSN in Chicago. Other channel availabilities can be seen on the Georgetown Athletics Website, www.guhoyas.com.

Verizon FiOS subscribers can view the game on Channel 1 or 334, pending residence areas, and Cox cable subscribers can watch the game on Channels 11, 56, 74 or 77.

Locally, fans can listen to the Hoya broadcast on ESPN 980 AM, with Rich Chvotkin handling all of the action.

The Hoyas were picked to finish in fourth place in the BIG EAST Conference Preseason poll and have been ranked in both national polls, appearing at No. 20 in the Associated Press Preseason rankings and No. 21 in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 Coaches' poll.

Georgetown finished the 2009-10 season with a 23-11 overall record, advanced to the BIG EAST Tournament Championship game for the third time in six seasons under Head Coach John Thompson III, was selected for the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in six years and were the only school in the country to post wins over the teams that played for this year's national championship (Duke and Butler).

The Hoyas return four starters to their team this season, led by senior guards Austin Freeman (Mitchellville, Md./DeMatha), and Chris Wright (Bowie, Md./St. John's College H.S. [D.C.]).

Freeman, an All-BIG EAST Second Team selection last year as a junior, was named the BIG EAST's Preseason Player of the Year at the league's annual media day last month. Freeman is coming off a junior season in which he led the team in scoring, and ranked 11th in the BIG EAST, with 16.5 points per game. He was fourth on the team in rebounds (3.5), third in assists (2.4), second in three-point field goals made (59) and second in minutes played (34.4). Freeman connected on 52.5 percent of his field goals (11th in the league) and ranked fourth in the league, connecting on 85.6 percent of his free throws (83-of-97). In BIG EAST games, Freeman ranked fifth in the league, averaging 19.5 points per game.

Wright, an All-BIG EAST Second Team preseason selection, averaged 15.2 points and 4.1 assists per game last season. In BIG EAST games, he scored 14.0 points per game and handed out 4.4 assists. He enters the 2010-11 season needing five points to become the 42nd 1,000-point scorer in Georgetown history.

Also back for the Hoyas are senior forward Julian Vaughn (Reston, Va./Oak Hill Academy) and junior guard Jason Clark (Arlington, Va./Bishop O'Connell). Vaughn averaged 7.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 1.4 assists last season, while Clark averaged 10.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists. Clark connected on a team-high 67 three-point field goals last season, the sixth-best single season mark in Georgetown history.

Friday night's game will be fourth time in the last five years the Hoyas have played ODU. The Monarchs lead the head-to-head series, 3-2, with wins in two of the last three games. ODU posted a 61-57 win over Georgetown last year at McDonough Arena, while the Hoyas beat Old Dominion, 66-48, on the road during the 2007-08 season.

The Hoyas are 5-1 in season openers under Thompson, including a 2-0 mark in games away from home (a 72-49 win at Navy in 2005-06 and a 74-58 win at Tulane in 2009-10). For his career, Thompson-coached teams are 7-1 all-time in season openers, including a 2-2 mark while at Princeton. His teams are 3-2 all-time in season openers on the road.

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